FIVE South College Drive is a newly constructed economic and business development center that is home to the new Southern Tier office of ABC Creative Group. The building also houses The Agency (Broome County IDA/LDC), the Alliance for Manufacturing and Technology, the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, the National Development Council, the New York Business Development Corporation, and Visions Federal Credit Union. (Photo by Adam Rombel/ BJNN)
DICKINSON, N.Y. — Participants in the Broome Tioga talent task force say that the COVID-19 pandemic is having a lasting impact on workforce development in the region as the nature of work and learning changes.
The Agency on Thursday released details of the final progress report of the Broome Tioga talent task force during the final year of its four-year strategic plan.
“As we continue to face the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that now more than ever, regional partnerships are critical to success. Collaboration between the diverse collection of business leaders, educators, nonprofits that make up the talent task force will help identify ongoing needs and concerns within the communities we aim to serve,” said Stacey Duncan, executive director of the Agency and president and CEO of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce.
The Agency is the rebranded name of the Broome County Industrial Development Agency and the Local Development Corporation.
Included in the progress report are key initiatives led by community partners such as the Agency, Broome-Tioga Workforce, Broome-Tioga Board of Cooperative Educatonal Services (BOCES), Team Tioga, SUNY Broome, and the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce.
Pandemic impact
Going forward, “due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the landscape of workforce development will be “drastically different” as social-distancing measures, remote learning, and work-from-home models “become the new norm.”
Despite this, the talent task force says it “remains committed to delivering quality workforce-development programs to the Broome-Tioga area.” Prior to the pandemic, the regional economic outlook was one of the most optimistic to date, it says.
“The coronavirus pandemic has had an impact on our community and will have an impact going forward. We remain committed to this broad community effort that we know is more important now than ever before. We are a strong community. When we come together to solve challenging issues we bring out the best in each other,” noted Broome Tioga Talent Task Force co-chairs, Peter Newman and Anthony Paniccia.
The talent task force will revisit the question of target industries, skills gaps, and new barriers to workforce development as data indicates that there has been a shift in hiring practices and employment numbers across different industries due to COVID-19.
Additionally, the Broome Tioga talent task force will now be housed under the Greater Binghamton Education Outreach Program (GBEOP), a nonprofit affiliate of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce. GBEOP serves as a “key liaison” between regional school districts, employers, and workforce-development efforts.
About the group
The talent task force was first brought together in 2017, then just known as the Broome talent task force. Consisting of business leaders from key industries, local nonprofits, regional educators, and community partners in economic development, the talent task force was asked to identify target industries, gaps in the workforce, and key assets to furthering regional workforce-development efforts.
Together, they developed the Broome County Workforce & Talent Attraction Strategic Action Plan for 2017-2020.
The plan’s priorities included efforts to address “urgent and immediate” vacancies in “critical” industries, to address these shortages over the next one to three years, and to create a career-pathway program for grades K-12.
In 2019, the Broome talent task force expanded to include Tioga County in its efforts, becoming the Broome Tioga talent task force.
“TEAM Tioga looks forward to our continued partnership with the Agency by way of the Broome-Tioga Talent Task Force. It is vitally important, now more than ever, to take a cohesive approach to identifying and addressing workforce challenges within our two communities, in order to explore opportunities for collaboration, resource sharing, and knowledge exchange,” Brittany Woodburn, deputy director for Tioga County Economic Development and Planning, said.
Those interested can download a copy of the progress report from the following website: www.theagency-ny.com/economic-development-resources.
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