Strategies to Stem the Outmigration of Young Professionals in New York State

1. Strategies to Stem the Outmigration of Young Professionals in New York State

2. Today’s Conversation & Take Away • The emergence of young professional groups • The story and impact of WE LIVE NY • Facts & Figures – the statewide problem of the outmigration of young talent • “Brain Drain” vs. “Brain Gain” • Strategies for attraction and retention • Questions & Answers

3. New York Young Professional Groups

4. Young Leaders Congress  WLNY New York Young Leaders Congress Formed in 2007 under First Lady Silda Wall Spitzer “I Live NY Summit” in Cortland, NY Upstate Focus We Live NY Re-branded in 2010 Statewide Focus 50-person steering committee

5. We Live NY • A statewide organization of young professionals that seeks to attract and retain young talent across New York State. • A coalition of emerging leaders, representing diverse backgrounds, dedicated to • It serves as: • (1) a convener of young professional organizations across the State, collaborating to provide a statewide voice among young professionals; • (2) an organization seeking to create a culture that fosters innovation among different geographic regions through communication and strategic partnerships; • (3) an organization addressing issues of importance to the next generation of leadership in New York State.

6. We Live NY Initiatives Regional Jobs & Internship Web Portal: A one-stop-shop website allowing visitors to browse current jobs and internship listings by NYS region. The website distinguishes itself from other search-sites in that it pairs listings with regional cultural and lifestyle information. [www.essentialnyjobs.com] Livable Community Capacity Grant Program: A matching grant program funded by ESDC and administered through the New York State Urban Council.  Grant awards will be made to assist young professional organizations across New York State in attraction and retention efforts and in developing and implementing programs or activities that will have a significant impact on the quality of life and the revitalization of the state’s downtown cores.  Young Professional Organization Start-Up Program: An initiative that seeks to encourage and support the development of new young professional organizations in all regions of New York State. The program will provide “best practices” and online resources to young leaders looking to start a new group in their community. This program is funded in part by ESDC.

7. March 24-26, Cornell University • 550 Attendees from Mineola to Jamestown, Binghamton to Plattsburgh • Weekend included 50 workshops with over 60 presenters • Keynote delivered by Dr. Nancy Zimpher, SUNY Chancellor • Volunteers raised over $100k in support to keep the registration cost to $30.00

8. We Live NY Summit Tracks • Business and Entrepreneurship • Civic and Political Engagement • Cuisine and Culture • Health and Wellness • Neighborhood and Community Revitalization

9. We Live NY Summit Outcomes

10. 75% 70 60 50 60% 5% 40 20% 30 20 10 2005 20%  0 20% Unskilled 1956 Professional Skilled Workforce Skills Have Changed Percent of the Jobs Percent of jobs

11. What keeps HRP up at night? Skilled Worker Shortage Greatest staffing challenges facing executives: Source: USA SNAPSHOTS®

12. Leaving New York State Out-migration in Upstate NY 1995-2000 Migration of Young Adults in Upstate New York, 1995-2000, by Robert Scardamalia, New York State Department of Economic Development and Warren Brown, Program on Applied Demographics, Cornell University

13. Upstate - Where are we moving? Source: Internal Revenue Service data. IRS only reports inter-county moves for more than 10 people, so some moves are not shown on this map.

14. Downstate - Where are we moving? Source: Internal Revenue Service data. IRS only reports inter-county moves for more than 10 people, so some moves are not shown on this map.

15. Young People Follow Jobs Source: Cluster Mapping Project, Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, Harvard Business School, 2005

16. Brain Drain vs. Brain Gain 2007 Study by Richard Dietz, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

17. Our Strategies for Retention of Young Talent • "What Does Our Demographic Think?" Report -- We Live NY is currently implementing the second stage of survey targeting students and young professionals. This survey will be analyzed and generate a report that captures the current thoughts, feelings, actions and opinions of a generation of young leaders in New York State. The survey will be released around August 1 and provide critical data to economic development organizations and businesses across New York State that are working to attract and retain young talent in their communities. • Young Professionals Group Start-Up Program -- We Live NY is a statewide convener and supporter of local and regionally-based young professionals groups. Often times, these organizations are better able to engage directly with the young professionals and students from their community. In fact, many of these groups have been running successful programming in their communities for years. We Live NY will develop a curriculum that includes both in-person assistance and an online toolkit to help communities establish sustainable YPGs and network with other YPGs across the state to share best practices and collectively troubleshoot on issues that confront the development, retention and attraction of young professionals and students in New York. • Offer Existing YPOs Strategic Guidance on Programming -- As part of We Live NY's survey efforts, it is leading respondents through an exercise that will result in a specific strategic direction for future programming. Armed with programmatic suggestions based on clear metrics of support, We Live NY will partner with local and regional young professional organizations to design programs that are consistent across all regions of the state. These programs could include but are not limited to the following: • Half day events based on highly ranked aspects of the Summit (business idea pitch competitions, political training courses, financial planning courses, etc.) • Networking receptions • Discussion groups and charette-type brainstorming sessions • Advocacy-oriented events • Collective Advocacy -- We Live NY is currently developing a plan to give a collective voice to the young professionals and students in New York State on policies directly related to the development, attraction, and retention of young talent in our communities. INVESTMENT + ENGAGEMENT

18. Questions & Answers