SUNY Delhi to Host Regional Economic Development Planning Meeting

The community open forum will be held on October 19.

DELHI, NY (10/13/2023) As the Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council (STREDC) works on refining its vision for the economic future of the region, SUNY Delhi will host a public open forum to solicit feedback and priorities from the community. The event will be held on October 19 at 5:30 p.m. in the Okun Theatre at SUNY Delhi. Led by Omar Sanders, regional director of the Southern Tier Regional Council, and representatives from River Street Planning and Development of Troy, NY, the program will focus on the Southern Tier's Regional Challenge topic of talent attraction and retention.

Dr. Mary Bonderoff, acting president of SUNY Delhi, who recently joined the STREDC's education subcommittee, is eager to ensure that Delaware County and the communities surrounding the college have a voice in developing the council's new strategic plan.

"The Regional Economic Development Council provides a pathway to important resources for businesses and organizations in our community," said Dr. Bonderoff. "As the strategic plan for the region is being updated for the first time since 2011, we volunteered to host this planning session at SUNY Delhi to bring our partners and neighbors into the fold in developing the Southern Tier's economic future."

The Southern Tier Regional Economic Development Council, one of ten regional councils in New York State, represents Steuben, Schuyler, Chemung, Tompkins, Tioga, Broome, Chenango, and Delaware Counties. Each council seeks to facilitate collaboration between business and academia to ensure employer workforce needs are met and business support services are provided to start-up companies seeking to commercialize academic research. As part of the strategic planning challenge, the ten councils will compete for an additional $10 million in funding for their region.

Since its inception, the Regional Economic Development Council Initiative has awarded over $7.8 billion to more than 9,600 projects. The REDCs have also played a critical role in selecting the nearly 70 Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) communities and 24 New York Forward communities to receive $800 million for transformative projects to revitalize their downtowns.

A Zoom link for the October 19 event as well as an online community survey can be found at www.regionalcouncils.ny.gov/southern-tier