The Empire Page

In a recent visit to Hudson Valley Community College in the Capital Region, President Barack Obama issued a poignant challenge. He said that technology is a key driving factor of our future economy and it is essential that we cultivate the skilled workforce we need for the multitude of technology jobs that will thrive and grow here in New York State and across the nation. President Obama praised Hudson Valley Community College for its leadership, innovation and ability to prepare the workforce of that future.

President Obama wants to empower community colleges in New York and across the nation with emulating Hudson Valley’s success at workforce training in new technology innovations, such as solar energy and nanotechnology sectors.

One of the reasons the president choose to come to Hudson Valley is its proximity to a Saratoga County technology park that will be the future home of Global Foundries, a state of the art semiconductor plant; currently under construction. Many of New York’s county leaders toured the Luther Forest Technology Park in September when they attended the Fall Seminar of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC).

Our county leaders not only saw the footprint of the state of the art facility, but also the site of TEC SMART; a cutting edge training facility that will be operated by Hudson Valley Community College. TEC SMART will open alongside Global Foundries and the other supporting businesses that will be located at Luther Forest. This is a potential model for many future educational efforts-technical training for relevant skills for real jobs right around the corner in all areas of the state.

One of the greatest economic development assets we have in the State of New York is our fine academic institutions, from our county-sponsored community colleges to our excellent crop of public and private colleges and universities.

County leaders who toured Luther Forest were impressed with the partnership of government, education, and business that brought this massive effort into being. Many viewed this as a necessary future approach that could be a model for their communities. President Obama was impressed with Hudson Valley Community College, and how the entire regional community has embraced a shared economic development vision and is now working to sow the seeds that will grow along with these technology manufacturing facilities.

As our communities struggle through this recession and set to work on rebuilding our economy, which has been too long a victim of clashing political priorities in Albany—it is more imperative than ever for local leaders to build partnership with their higher educational institutions. It is working in the Capital Region, and I am sure in other communities across the state as well.

The road to economic recovery has many supporting paths. One of those paths—the superhighway to recovery—is education. A highly skilled workforce is a cornerstone to emerging technology industries which are critical to New York's economic future. Our community colleges are an integral vessel to further the pipeline of success.

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Stephen J. Acquario is Executive Director, New York Association of Counties