Executive Summary

For decades, the rural three-county Southern Tier West region, located in southwestern New York State at the northern tip of the historically economically distressed Appalachian region, has experienced economic distress that very often has exceeded that of either the State or the nation as a whole. In recent decades, regional unemployment rates often have exceeded State and national unemployment rates; regional per capita income levels often have been significantly below State and national per capita income levels; regional per capita income levels often have failed to keep pace with inflation; and businesses and residents have emigrated from the region.

The nation’s economy continues to recover from a recession. The Southern Tier West region’s economy also has experienced a revival of its economy of sorts, but our region nonetheless continues to be more economically depressed than the State and the nation as a whole. Our region continues to experience economic dislocation in the form of business closures, business departures (often of non-locally owned plants), layoffs, unemployment, and population outmigration. Our region struggles to remain economically competitive with other regions and the global economy, and struggles to maintain and grow value added, high paying jobs.

The Future

In the Future our region’s economic health and quality of life will be dependent upon its ability to regain and improve on its economic competitiveness, a goal whose achievement is made more difficult because of the dynamic restructuring of and challenges facing the regional, national, and global economies. Our region, like the nation as a whole, is experiencing a long-term transformation from a commodity-based manufacturing-based economy into a technology-based and service-based economy. Developing foreign economies, domestic relative comparative disadvantages, and the restructuring of the global financial, product, and services markets all present challenges to domestic regional economies such as ours.

To maintain and improve its standard of living, our region must transform its regional economy into a regional-netexport-surplus, knowledge-based, innovation-based economy that is more internally self-sufficient, i.e., that is less dependent upon the extra-regional economy. It is essential for our region to maintain and cultivate the value-added regional-net-export-surplus sectors of the regional economy – be they manufacturing, service, or agricultural – in industry clusters and occupation clusters in which our region enjoys a competitive or niche advantage, in which there is opportunity and capacity for innovation, and in which there is significant growth potential.

Traditional economic development strategies generally fall into one of two camps: needs-based economic development or asset-based economic development. Needs-based economic development focuses on identifying gaps and deficiencies in the local economy and attracting new investment or industries to fill those gaps. Needs-based economic development can be more sensitive to the boom-and-bust cycle or to changes in State or federal policy environments, and it is a strategy that often will have a lower probability of success. In contrast, asset-based economic development builds on existing local resources (“assets”) to strengthen the regional economy. Asset-based economic development typically (1) is easier to motivate, (2) is a higher-probability-of-success type of strategy, and (3) is more likely to result in long-term sustained economic growth. This CEDS essentially is primarily an asset-based economic development strategy.

Fortunately, our region has a number of significant economic and human resource assets that form the foundation for our current regional economy and can be utilized to achieve sustainable and globally competitive economic development. It is essential that, at the regional, county, and local levels, our region builds upon these assets to capture opportunities that are available.

This CEDS sets forth the following Vision for the future of the Southern Tier West region:

The Southern Tier West region will become a region whose economy is globally competitive, is dynamic and growing, and provides meaningful and sustaining employment for its residents. The Southern Tier West region will transform its regional economy into a regional-net-export-surplus, knowledge-based, innovation-based economy that is more internally self-sufficient, i.e., that is less dependent upon the extra-regional economy. The Southern Tier West region will maintain and cultivate the value-added regional-net-export-surplus sectors of the regional economy – be they manufacturing, service, or agricultural – in industry clusters and occupation clusters in which our region enjoys a competitive or niche advantage, in which there is opportunity and capacity for innovation, and in which there is significant growth potential.

GOALS

To achieve this Vision, the region should attempt to achieve the following five economic development goals:

Human Capital

To develop a skilled labor force capable of creating a knowledge-based and innovation-based economy, and that encourages businesses to start, locate, and expand in the region

Traditional and Non-Traditional Infrastructure

To maintain and improve the region’s built environment and services that are requisite for retaining and expanding existing businesses and attracting new businesses

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

To catalyze innovation and new business development and growth, especially as regards technology-based, value added, and net export businesses

Quality, Connected Places

To create quality, connected, safe, convenient and healthy places to live and work, that make the region attractive as a place to live, work and do business

Collaborative Leadership

To encourage coordinated governance and rational and coordinated systemic investment in targeted economic development initiatives

The strategic recommendations (i.e., strategies, projects, programs, and other activities) contained in this CEDS are consistent with and designed to achieve these five stated goals.

This CEDS document uses data-driven analytical techniques to inform its SWOT analysis, to evaluate the region’s capacity for innovation, to identify significant target industry clusters, to identify significant target occupational clusters, and to discuss the development of strategies and projects based on these analytical results.

By incorporating these analytical techniques relating to innovation and clusters, and by incorporating the Vision of moving toward a more regional-net-export-surplus, knowledge-based, innovation-based economy, Southern Tier West is using this CEDS to attempt to transform the paradigm of economic development within our region from a philosophy that often is “deal-driven” or “specific-opportunity-driven” – sometimes even reactive – to a philosophy that clearly also embraces and encourages – as a primary strategy – a reinvigorated emphasis on proactive initiatives related to economic inputs, knowledge, and innovation. The result is the following CEDS strategic foci.

CEDS Strategic Foci

1.     Target economic development activities and initiatives toward significant regional industry clusters and occupation clusters that are value-added and net export clusters

2.     Promote and catalyze entrepreneurship

3.     Increase the quantity and quality of human capital through education and job training, to develop a highly skilled, tech-savvy regional labor force

4.     Augment our region’s educational services to encourage improved STEAM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics skills) and entrepreneurial skills

5.     Maintain and improve transportation infrastructure, consistent with smart growth principles

6.     Maintain and improve utility infrastructure, including broadband and energy infrastructure, consistent with smart growth principles and with green infrastructure principles

7.    Develop, improve, and expand industrial sites, acreage, parks, and buildings (“shovel readiness”), consistent with smart growth principles

8.     Improve communities through initiatives including downtown revitalization and building renovation / redevelopment; development of more sustainable neighborhoods and walkable communities; brownfield remediation and redevelopment; protection and restoration of water resources, waterfronts, open spaces, and habitats; enhancement of public access to waterfront areas; and enhancement of recreational / tourism assets

9.     Incentivize and catalyze innovation, technology transfer, and adoption of new technologies

10.    Provide adequate and innovative development finance resources and technical assistance as needed to catalyze and incentivize (new and existing) private sector business development

11.    Assist in the retention and expansion of existing regional businesses

12.    Attract new businesses to the region

13.    Maintain and improve the region’s cornerstone and community-based and civic institutions and quality of life assets, capacities, and services to improve area quality of life

14.    Encourage, at the community, county, and regional levels, comprehensive and strategic economic development planning; and develop and implement community and economic development projects consistent with those plans and with smart growth principles and sound environment principles

15.     Improve quality of life assets that impact economic development

16.     Improve collaborative leadership, including increased strategic comprehensive planning and economic development planning and project implementation; enhanced levels of partnership and collaboration; increased investment in business development / business assistance capacity, entrepreneurial development, and innovation; and innovation with respect to government operating practices

17.     Capture the potential of the Seneca Nation of Indians as a driver of economic development

18.     Improve economic resilience in response to natural disasters and other (non-natural) disasters

PARADIGM SHIFT

It will be a challenge in our rural, economically challenged region, which often must limit the expenditure of its financial resources to essential services, programs, and initiatives, to bring about an evolution of the region’s economic development paradigm. Future returns from building economic development capacity initially may not seem as guaranteed or even as intuitive as a case-by-case development focus on immediate opportunities. However, it is Southern Tier West’s hope that this CEDS will encourage an ongoing regional dialogue that will result in a shared consensus that capacity building is essential to the region’s economic future. As this vision becomes more generally accepted and incorporated into our regional strategy, our region will become a national leader in making progress toward becoming a rural region with a healthy, competitive, and sustainable economy.

In developing this CEDS, Southern Tier West is pleased to play a coordinating and catalyzing role in helping to guide the region’s future.

– September 2020

Southern Tier West Regional Planning and Development Board

H. Kier Dirlam, Chairman

Richard Zink, Executive Director

Thomas Barnes, Senior Regional Economic Development Coordinator