Broome Talent Task Force Work on Job Development on Southern Tier Close Up

For the past year-and-a-half, a panel of local business leaders, non-profits, educators, government development officials and others have been working on a report on Broome County's workforce needs.

Broome Talent Task Force chairs, Stacey Duncan, Deputy Director of The Agency and regional president of M&T Bank, Peter Newman are this week's guests on the weekly, local public affairs program Southern Tier Close Up to talk about what the panel has found.

Duncan says the work started with problems many companies said they were having filling thousands of available jobs with qualified workers.  Newman says that issue resulted in a collaborative effort to examine the perceptions of people looking for work and the companies seeking employees and how to explore opportunities in the long-run.

Newman says an exciting aspect of the work has been pairing with educational institutions as early as middle-schools in encouraging the development of career paths whether those paths involve a college education or a trip directly into the workforce.

Duncan says one of the highlights that has come up is the ability of the workforce to quickly pivot to respond to changing trends like the development of energy storage, medical science and engineering being seen in growth at Binghamton University.

Hear more about the first-ever progress report from the Broome Talent Task Force on The Southern Tier Close Up, Saturday at 16 am on 98.1 The Hawk.

Meanwhile, congratulations to Stacey Duncan who has been named the new Executive Director of The Agency, replacing long-time director, Kevin McLaughlin when he retires June 1.