Pre-pandemic, businesses were highly focused on the funding and government incentives available to locate their companies in a particular area. “The question was, ‘What kind of grants and incentives can you get me?’” said Ken Adamczyk, Economic Development Specialist for the Fulton County Center for Regional Growth (FCCRG).
“After the pandemic, and I think it was moving that way before COVID, the first questions became ‘Can you fill my workforce needs?’ and ‘Can you fill my power needs?’” Funding and incentives dropped down on the list of importance.
This was a colossal shift.
Counties seeking to better serve their business communities and future enterprises looking to move into their counties have to address these issues collaboratively in order to be successful. This is especially critical with a projected 2.8-million-person gap in the number of employees available to work the anticipated number of jobs that will need to be filled.
Fulton County is working to be at the top of its game in workforce development. If there’s one thing county workforce development professionals understand well, it’s this:
WE’RE BETTER TOGETHER.
“We all know that none of us can solve these big problems by ourselves,” said Gina Papa, the executive director of FMS Solutions, the Workforce Development Board of Fulton, Montgomery and Schoharie Counties. “We all have different strengths and funding sources. The more we work together, the better services get provided for the people and businesses in our communities.”
To that end, FMS Workforce Solutions serves as a convener of workforce system partners which include Fulton Montgomery Community College and the State University of New York at Cobleskill, the FCCRG, the Montgomery County Business Development Center, the Schoharie Economic Enterprise Corporation and local departments of social services.
“The reason that the board exists really is to manage these [federal] funds in an effort to provide quality jobs for our community members and to provide quality employees for our local businesses,” she said.
FMS Workforce Solutions oversees and funds the three Workforce Solutions Career Centers in the counties it serves. It is here that people searching for employment or a better job can receive services to help them look, as well as access training to prepare them for new jobs.
The organization also assesses the labor market to determine which skills local businesses seek so that they can help get individuals trained to fill those jobs. FMS Solutions can help fund that training. If a business is willing to assist in training an individual to fill a position in its company, FMS Workforce Solutions can provide a 50 percent reimbursement of that employee’s wages while they are in training.
If a business is looking to uplevel the skills of existing employees, FMS Workforce Solutions can bring in a local agency to do the training and help pay for it.
FMS Workforce Solutions is a member of the New York Association of Training and Employment Professionals (NYATEP), a nonprofit representing New York’s 33 Workforce Boards. “The bulk of our work is policy and advocacy, working with the state and federal governments to advocate on behalf of the workforce system of New York,” said executive director Chris Nardone.
For example, at an advocacy day at the state capital in Albany, NYATEP puts employer partners, community organizations, and professionals in the public workforce development systems together with representatives of the New York State Assembly and Senate to bring the issues and concerns of the workforce development community to lawmakers. “We work really closely with the legislature in New York,” Nardone said.
NYATEP is also dedicated to developing the employee base for the semiconductor industry in New York. “The historic investment in semiconductor manufacture coming into New York is going to impact every area across the state,” he said. This includes training the young people who are going to be filling positions in the industry.
LENGTHENING THE PIPELINE
“We need a good focus on the next set of individuals to meet the needs of the nanotech industry,” said Adamczyk. Located in the Technology Triangle formed by Global Foundries to the east, State University of New York (SUNY) Polytechnic College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering to the south, and Marcy Nanocenter at SUNY Polytechnic Institute to the west, Fulton County is anticipating a significant influx of high-tech companies and is working to develop the employees those businesses will require.
“My vision is that we can build a better pipeline through the K-12 system and work with BOCES,” Adamczyk said. “If we can start getting students to see what options there are locally, regionally, and throughout New York State, it will help educators build pathways within their schools and help direct students to relevant career paths.”
One successful initiative instituted in Fulton County for the past four years is the Enterprise Project at Northville High School. The program is the brainchild of Mike Baron and Daniel O’Sullivan.
The Enterprise Project puts students into an immersive learning experience with several local employers while at the same time creating an engagement tool available for other students’ career exploration and for employers to use in recruiting new employees.
Over the course of the semester, students create 3D videos of several Fulton County businesses, learning about the companies and what could be their own future employment opportunities. They interviewed employees on site at their businesses. The interviews informed employers about students’ curiosities, giving them clues about how their companies could tailor their recruitment efforts towards the next generation of workers.
“In talking with these businesses, we realized that there is this blossoming population of the emerging workforce that didn’t realize how many connections there were within 15 to 20 minutes of where they all live,” said Northville High School principal Samuel Ratti. The project even prompted some students to apply for jobs at the companies they were exposed to during the video making.
Adamczyk notes that building the awareness of college-bound students about career opportunities will better prepare them to accept the commitment that comes along with their course of study and make them more likely to finish their degrees. “It’s creating a better workforce for the businesses that are here or moving here.”
BUILDING COMPANY INVESTMENT AND RETENTION
Another major element of Fulton County’s workforce development efforts is its recognition as an Apprentice Ambassador by the U.S. Department of Labor. “There were only 303 of those in the first two cohorts nationwide, and Fulton County is one of those,” Adamczyk said. “We support apprenticeships because we know how important they are. Currently, there is a lot of money out there for businesses to do apprenticeship programs.”
The advantage of Fulton County’s apprenticeship program is that the apprenticeships can be tailored to a business’ specific needs. “We work with the Department of Labor to build an apprenticeship program for that business,” Adamczyk said, noting that there are now pathways that help pay for the apprenticeships.
Apprenticeships demonstrate to employees that a company is invested in them. “If you treat apprentices with that respect to help build them, then they in turn retain longer with the organization,” Adamczyk said.
PRESSING THE EASY BUTTON
Fulton County seeks to make, in Adamczyk’s words, a “one-stop shop” for addressing the workforce needs of local employers. “In Fulton County, we have a very close–knit, collaborative team for workforce development,” he said. “We have put a big focus on all our agency leaders, workforce boards, economic development organizations, and chambers of commerce working together as one. That’s the only way we’re going to drive things forward.”
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