The Adirondack North Country Association, on behalf of the Adiron-dack Nonprofit Network and Adirondack Common Ground Alliance, will be hosting a one-day summit on to examine the impact of the region’s nonprofit organizations.
It will be held Thursday, November 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
The event will also serve as the unveiling of a study that analyzes the regional impact of 36 nonprofits. Continue reading
Dick Bird was unanimously elected as the new president of the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) at the organization’s annual meeting held on Thursday, September 26 at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake.
Bird, who has been on ANCA’s board for over 25 years, joined during the time he served as Director of Planning, Tourism and Economic Development for Hamilton County. He is replacing out-going president Stephen Erman.
“Dick’s opinion on issues is sought by everyone on the board—he is the go-to guy. He has a great grasp on not only this region, but of the entire north country,” said fellow director Mike Farmer.
“I’m very excited. It’s an opportunity to bring attention to this part of the region,” Bird said.
Bird is owner of Bird’s Marine and Adirondack Real Estate of Old Forge and Raquette Lake.
He has been actively involved with the local Central Adirondack Association (CAA) for years, serving for a period as president.
He is also past-president of the Adirondack Regional Tourism Council (ARTC).
ANCA is the longest running not-for-profit rural development organization in northern New York and the only economic development organization that reaches across the entire 14 county North Country region.
A plan that maps sustainability strategies for the North Country region has achieved recognition from the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA), a professional institute for certified planners.
Produced as part of the Statewide “Cleaner Green Communities” initiative created by Governor Andrew Cuomo, the North Country’s plan, titled “Our Economy,” features the combined efforts of leadership from a seven-county consortium, that was assisted by the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) and Ecology and Environment (E&E), and hundreds of participants across the region. Continue reading
A panel of economists made presentations on the state of the Adirondack North Country to a crowd of nearly 200 during the Adirondack North County Association’s 56th annual meeting at the Conference Center at Lake Placid on Monday, October 3.
The event covered a wide range of topics including New
York State’s new regional economic development initiative, people and industries, as well as the state of education in the area and the current economic conditions.
Jaison Abel, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve
Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group reported that while the 14 counties that ANCA serves were hit by the 2009 recession, the North Country never saw the extremes felt in other areas of the country.
According to Abel, since 2009 the region has seen a period of slow growth at an annual rate of about 2.5 percent, which is due,in part, to counties in the ANCA region being spared the worst of the housing cycle and seeing more of a rebound in it.
Abel said home prices in the North Country were down 10 percent through 2009, but have jumped by 4 percent in the last year.
However, despite the growth, he said consumer confidence in the region is still very low. “Housing and credit problems haven’t hit upstate as hard, but weak consumer confidence remains a major area of concern,” he said.
Jen McCormick of Empire State Development, who also spoke at the conference, believes that this is largely due to the unemployment rate of the area remaining above 7 percent, the lack of high paying jobs being created in the area, and a lack of educational opportunities.
“If you look across regional studies, the one factor that pointsto more growth and more activity is more highly educated and highly skilled work forces,” McCormick said.
She believes this is due to the lack of colleges and universities in the region. And ANCA Central Region Vice President Richard Bird agrees.
He feels that educating people is an asset to all and that expanding educational opportunities creates a win-win situation for everyone.
“Colleges are good vehicles for bringing people to the area. The students are essentially four-year tourists, which is good for the economy. Then their parents come to visit which helps to make them more aware of the area and
what we have to offer here,” Bird said.
Compared to the state and national averages, educational attainment is down in the North Country, McCormick said.
According to her research, less than 22 percent of people in the ANCA region hold at least a Bachelors Degree, with the number dropping down to around 9 percent at the graduate level.
Which, according to McCormick, is lower than the state average. Currently, there are 22 colleges and universities within the 14 county region. In Herkimer County, there is only one. There are none in Hamilton County.
Both McCormick and Abel believe that private schools, colleges and universities can become critical for economic growth because they have the ability to bring in money from outside the region.
“In addition to employment,schools do something very
unique—they produce human capital. They need to be recognized as an extremely valuable industry,” Abel said.
Bird echoed his statement by acknowledging plans for the creation of nano-technology centers in Utica at Utica College as well as in Saratoga County which, according
to Bird, will create hundreds of high tech jobs for the area.
Despite the concerns, at the end of the day, Abel said the upstate economy has proven to be “more stable than average.”
The 56th annual meeting of the Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) will be held at the Lake Placid Conference Center on Monday, October 3 from 1 to 5 p.m.
During the meeting, ANCA and some of its partners will present an overview of the “State of the Adirondack North Country: Economic and Demographic Changes Since 2000.”
The day will begin with a presentation by Jaison Abel, Senior Economist in the Research and Statistics Group of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
His presentation will focus on the current economic conditions of upstate New York as well as the economic forces that have shaped the recession and recovery to date, as well as their implications for the region’s economy. Continue reading
The Adirondack North Country Association (ANCA) will unveil its new Bike the Byways website on Friday, June17 at a meeting at the Tug Hill Vineyard in Lowville.
During the meeting, ANCA will introduce its state-of-the-art website that is designed to increase state, national, and international visibility for the cities, villages and towns along 15 New York State Scenic Byways. Continue reading
