Page 75 - Westchester 2022 Relocation & Moving Guide

stream, and is also looking into fostering more apprenticeships.
With the focus on essential workers and fears of taking on student-loan debt for college, the skilled trades are gaining in popularity as potential careers in the Hudson Valley, according to The Council of Industry, an association based in Newburgh. Local business groups are working with employers, as well as colleges and vocational schools in the area, to help ensure that there is a pipeline of workers with the right credentials to fill the jobs that exist in the post-pandemic economy. To introduce young people to jobs that they may not have considered, the Workforce Development Institute, a statewide nonprofit in Albany, started piloting a career exploration program focused on general work readiness.
There are also efforts afoot in the county to encourage young people to consider entering the healthcare field, where local employers are citing high demand for workers. Westchester Community Foundation (WCF), for instance, funds a program at Westchester Community College to recruit and train students for an 11-week boot camp for healthcare occupations.
Helping fuel optimism is $175 million the state set aside in former Governor Cuomo’s Workforce Development Initiative in 2019 that will help address some of the challenges the region is facing. The funding was allocated — in two rounds, with the second, $48 million round, becoming available in August 2021 — for strategic regional efforts to meet short-term workforce needs, improve talent pipelines, enhance the flexibility and adaptability of local workforce entities, expand apprenticeships, and address the long-term needs of growing industries.
The business scene in Westchester County and the Hudson Valley is poised to come back better than ever, with opportunities and new jobs for countless residents.
BUSINESS RESOURCES
WESTCHESTER COUNTY
The Business Council of Westchester
White Plains, 914.948.2110;
thebcw.org
Westchester County Office of Economic Development White Plains, 914.995.2963; business.westchestergov.com
Westchester County Industrial
Development Agency (IDA) White Plains, 914.995.2000; westchestercatalyst.com
ORANGE COUNTY
Empire State Development
845.567.4882 (Mid-Hudson Region office in New Windsor); esd.ny.gov
Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress
Newburgh, 845.565.4900;
pattern-for-progress.org
Orange County Chamber of Commerce
Orange County Partnership
Goshen, 845.294.2323;
ocpartnership.org
ROCKLAND COUNTY
Rockland Business Association
Nyack, 845.735.2100;
rocklandbusiness.org
Rockland Economic
Development Corporation
Pearl River, 845.735.7040; redc.org
PUTNAM COUNTY
Putnam County Business Council
Mahopac, 845.228.8595;
putnamcountybusinesscouncil.org
Putnam County Economic Development Corporation Carmel, 845.808.1021; putnamed.org
DUTCHESS COUNTY
Dutchess County Regional
Chamber of Commerce
Poughkeepsie; 845-454-1700; dcrcoc.org
Montgomery, 845.457.9700; orangeny.com
LIVING IN WESTCHESTER AND THE HUDSON VALLEY | RELOCATION & MOVING GUIDE 65
A Regeneron scientist works in the infectious disease preclinical research laboratory on the company’s Tarrytown campus.
© COURTESY OF REGENERON