Business Group Focuses on Region's Critical Need for Skilled Workers with 3 Initiatives

A new training program called the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy will provide essential skills training for the region’s workers—with a focus and curriculum designed by and for employers, and a coordinated effort that includes local college presidents and city mayors.

There are 2,500 jobs now open in the healthcare, technology and business sectors in the Hudson Valley, and a real need for workers with advanced skills, according to William Harrington, chairman of the Westchester County Association.

“The healthcare sector is the Hudson Valley’s largest economic engine, contributing more than $15 billion to the regional economy,” he said at a press conference today. “It is critical to develop a qualified healthcare workforce to keep that engine from stalling. The Hudson Valley Workforce Academy, in cooperation with members of our integrated healthcare consortium and WCA Higher Education Committee, will help our region attract and retain talent, upgrade the skills of the currently employed, and foster job creation for the unemployed and underemployed.”

Look for healthcare employment opportunities in the Jobs section on Yorktown-Somers Patch.

The first Hudson Valley Workforce Academy session, a five-week course in healthcare analytics, starts Feb. 24. The WCA and the region’s 16 colleges and universities are working on a full roster of courses, which officials promised to release soon.

In addition to the Workforce Academy, the WCA announced today that the members of the Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium have signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to address the need for skilled workers.

That consortium, comprised of healthcare providers serving Putnam, Rockland, Westchester, Dutchess, and Orange counties, will help develop the HVWA curriculum. A full roster of course offerings in collaboration with the region’s 16 colleges and universities, with whom the WCA also has a memorandum of understanding, is coming up.

The WCA also announced that, leveraging all this, it will apply for a $9.8 million grant from the Westchester-Putnam Workforce Investment Board to create the Hudson Valley Healthcare Connection to provide 75 healthcare workers with advanced training and 425 long-term unemployed people with intensive training for healthcare jobs.

Here’s the full text of the WCA’s statement:

At a news conference today, William P. Harrington, Chairman of the Westchester County Association (WCA), announced bold new initiatives to address the region’s critical need for skilled workers, particularly in the healthcare and biotech sectors.

Building on years of working with area businesses, healthcare organizations, and institutions of higher learning, he said that the WCA has launched the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy and that the members of the WCA Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium have signed a historic Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together to address the critical need for skilled workers and help fill the 2,500+ jobs presently open in the healthcare, technology, and business sectors here.

“The healthcare sector is the Hudson Valley’s largest economic engine, contributing more than $15 billion to the regional economy,” Mr. Harrington noted. “It is critical to develop a qualified healthcare workforce to keep that engine from stalling. The Hudson Valley Workforce Academy, in cooperation with members of our integrated healthcare consortium and WCA Higher Education Committee, will help our region attract and retain talent, upgrade the skills of the currently employed, and foster job creation for the unemployed and underemployed. Talent development is an essential part of the WCA’s BLUEPRINT for Westchester, our aggressive economic development initiative.”

The Westchester County Association is the region’s preeminent business organization, and is widely credited with accelerating economic development in Westchester in recent years through the BLUEPRINT for Westchester, which among other things, fosters strong collaborations with the healthcare, higher education, technology, real estate, municipal governments, and general business communities.

In addition to the new MOU signed by members of the WCA Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium, Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) were signed during the past four years with the area college presidents and city mayors to collaborate with the WCA’s BLUEPRINT initiative to drive economic development and create jobs. Mr. Harrington said that the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy is a result of the WCA’s close collaboration with the healthcare sector, business community, and 16 higher education organizations, and that the Academy’s certificate-based short-term courses will complement those planned or already in progress at various colleges and universities.

“Healthcare organizations and business turned to the WCA for a solution to a perennial problem: there are over 2,500 healthcare and technology jobs waiting to be filled in the Hudson Valley, but not enough qualified candidates to fill them,” Mr. Harrington explained. “The concept of the Academy evolved by working closely with these key stakeholders. It will help better position workers to fill the vacant positions, create jobs, and help our regional economy grow. This is a time for action.”

The Academy will launch February 24, 2015 with a five-week course in healthcare analytics. Upon successful completion, participants will receive a certificate. A full roster of course offerings in collaboration with the region’s 16 colleges and universities will be announced shortly.

WCA Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium to Bring Collaboration to the Next Level

The Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium of healthcare providers serving Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange counties will expand its work to bring together the general business community and the academic sector with healthcare providers to produce a healthcare workforce with the skills and analytic capabilities needed to fill healthcare job vacancies. The Consortium will play a vital role in developing curricula for the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy. To date, 15 regional healthcare providers plus the Suburban Hospital Alliance, comprised of over 50 hospitals on Long Island and the Hudson Valley, have signed on.

“Because of our long history of collaboration with all the stakeholders, we were in a singular position to help,” said Marissa Brett, president of the Westchester County Association.

Amy Allen, WCA vice president and executive director of the new Academy added:

“The healthcare industry is undergoing radical transformation, and the WCA has a proven track record, of more than a decade, of staying ahead of the curve through legislative advocacy, creating alliances deep and wide, and launching economic development initiatives. The Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium will be a further catalyst for addressing the collective challenges faced by the healthcare, business, and higher education communities.”

WCA Will Apply to Manage $9.8 Million Workforce Grant

The WCA also announced that it will respond to a forthcoming Westchester-Putnam Workforce Investment Board RFP to serve as project manager of the “Hudson Valley Healthcare Connection.” Funded by a $9.8 million Federal Ready to Work Partnership grant, the Hudson Valley Healthcare Connection will provide 425 long-term unemployed individuals with intensive training for healthcare jobs. The grant also will train 75 people who are already working but seek to improve their skills. Targeted professions include registered nurses; medical coders; radiologic and MRI technicians, and other occupations as required by business.

Noting that the Hudson Valley Healthcare Connection is a regional partnership between the public sector, healthcare providers, and colleges, Ms. Brett described the WCA as an ideal project manager.

“The WCA has proven it can turn a vision into a successful, tangible program,” she said. She cited as examples WCA’s BLUEPRINT for Westchester, four groundbreaking economic development and healthcare conferences, the BLUEPRINT Accelerator Network, creation of biotech, tech, and healthcare networking groups, and the work of the original WCA Blue Ribbon Task Force on Healthcare Reform, created in 2005.

“All of these initiatives started as bright ideas,” Mr. Harrington added. “We brought different groups to the table and figured out how to get things done. We are fast, effective, and strategic, and we get results. These are the attributes needed to manage a project of this importance and scope.”

The Hudson Valley Workforce Academy: Designed By and For Employers

When students come to the Academy’s first class on February 24th, they will usher in a new era of workforce training, one in which employers have a real say in the curricula. The subject matter of the first course came about through roundtables and discussions with our healthcare providers, who identified healthcare analytics as a major skill set to address. The WCA is partnering with Mercy College’s Strategic Consulting Institute to conduct interviews with WCA’s employer membership—both in and outside of the healthcare field—to identify additional training needs.

“The Academy will focus on training the existing workforce in the skills employers really need, explained Ms. Allen, who said that employers have asked that the Academy offer courses in critical thinking, empathy training, communication, and management, among other areas.

The Academy is uniquely positioned to leverage resources from the WCA’s higher education consortium, as well as private sector subject matter experts, to conduct classes.

According to Bill Mooney, CEO of the Westchester County Association, Westchester and the surrounding counties of the Hudson Valley have become one of the nation’s major hubs of health tech and biotech.

“Technology is moving at the speed of light,” he pointed out, “which means that our workforce needs to be nimble and think critically. The Westchester County Association recognized the trend years ago and set to work with the healthcare sector, other business sectors, and academia on how to create and fill a talent pipeline to sustain our growth as a health tech hub.”

A Chorus of Support

A virtual who’s who of major Hudson Valley leaders voiced their support for the Academy and the Westchester County Association’s proactive approach:

Congresswoman Nita Lowey, (Westchester-Rockland):“The Westchester County Association’s announcement about their Hudson Valley Workforce Academy is an exciting initiative that will help raise the skill level of our workforce and fill the many positions in our region that remain vacant, particularly in the life sciences sector. I congratulate the WCA on this new program and their on-going leadership role in bringing together the health care, business and academic sectors. I look forward to continuing to work with them on this collaborative approach to fostering economic development.”

Westchester County Executive, Rob Astorino:“The county’s healthcare sector, which the WCA has championed, needs talented and skilled workers to continue its growth. The WCA’s Hudson Valley Workforce Academy matches training to jobs, similar to the county’s Westchester Smart Jobs Training program. Going forward I look forward to working with the WCA to connect residents and businesses to these new resources that will strengthen Westchester’s economy. I applaud the WCA on their new initiative.”

Jeffrey Menkes, senior vice president, system network development, Montefiore Medical Center:“The WCA truly recognized the need that all healthcare providers, and employers in general, are facing in keeping their workforce trained in the skills needed in today’s workplace. The Hudson Valley Workforce Academy will be an essential resource to every healthcare employer in the region.”

Tony Mahler, senior vice president, strategic planning, Westchester Medical Center:“As the largest healthcare employer in the region, we have a vested interest in ensuring that our workforce has the skills required to get the job done, today and well into the future. We are proud to partner with the Hudson Valley Healthcare Consortium and the WCA on an initiative that will improve the provision of healthcare and aligns with our mission as an advanced care organization and teaching institution.”

Tim Hall, president, Mercy College:“We thank the WCA for convening the stakeholders to dialogue about the training needs that employers are facing. It opens up new doors of opportunity for us. It’s an amazing collaboration in which everyone benefits.”

Donna McGregor, CFO, Crystal Run Healthcare:“As a large multi-specialty physician group in the Hudson Valley region, we are acutely aware that the healthcare business today is very different than what it was in the past. Critical skills such as data analytics are vitally important in managing population health across multiple settings and we are excited about the Academy’s first course in healthcare analytics. We look forward to continuing to work with the WCA in its efforts to grow the Hudson’s Valley’s emerging healthcare innovation sector.”

Robert Glazer, CEO, ENT & Allergy Associates:“Healthcare providers have needed something like the Academy to help employers update their employees’ knowledge and skills in a field that’s rapidly changing. We don’t have enough expertise to train them ourselves, but we want to have input on what type of training they need. The WCA has created a unique opportunity for us to do that.”

Kevin Dahill, president of the Suburban Hospital Alliance:“The pace of change in healthcare is unprecedented. The WCA has demonstrated it understands the urgent needs of the healthcare sector throughout the region and is taking appropriate action. Through leveraging the collaborative resources of the WCA, the Hudson Valley Workforce Academy provides an innovative way for healthcare providers to instill new skills in employees. This will go a long way in helping healthcare providers in Westchester and the region have the most qualified employees possible.”

Judith Huntington, president of The College of New Rochelle:“The College of New Rochelle proudly participates with the Westchester County Association to develop programs designed to advance the healthcare sector. Collaborative partnerships between Institutions of Higher Education and local businesses provide invaluable data that contributes to designing and tailoring curriculum that best serves the community. This process enables us to gradate well prepared healthcare employees ready to meet the demand in today’s changing workforce.”

The Westchester County Association is the preeminent business leadership organization serving Westchester County and the region. The Association is committed to business advocacy, economic vitality, and to providing a strong and clear voice for the interests of businesses on the local, regional, and national levels. Its key objectives are to promote positive economic development in the region, foster business development, and provide its members with access and interaction with key public and private sector individuals, agencies, and organizations. (http://westchester.org/).

The BLUEPRINT for Westchester is the WCA’s aggressive initiative to accelerate Westchester’s economic development. This multi-million dollar, multi-year initiative is organized and driven by the private sector, in collaboration with the county’s real estate, business, and academic communities, with strong participation from Westchester’s six cities. (http://www.blueprintforwestchester.com/).