I wanted to share with you the following article that was published by the Utica Observer-Dispatch:

Utica Observer-Dispatch: GUEST VIEW: Investing in work force by building on dreams

By ALICE SAVINO Posted Aug. 10, 2014 @ 3:00 am

The economic transformation of our region begins with the transformation of the dreams of our children.

This summer, the Workforce Investment Board of Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties (WIB) is taking steps to transform those dreams by taking high school students whose dreams buffeted by clouds of negativity day in and day out and showing them a future that can be theirs.

Using funding provided by the New York State Higher Education Services Corp. (HESC) to help low-income areas, the WIB is busing more than 500 students from our region to tour the SUNY College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany. Students also receive career and college guidance that can help them understand the vast potential Nano Utica is bringing to their lives.

The WIB believes that for Nano Utica to achieve the full impact sought by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and our other state leaders who have worked so hard to create this opportunity, our youth need to envision themselves holding one of the 1,000-plus jobs being created. That begins by opening the eyes of our students to the exciting world of nanotechnology.

The bus trips to CNSE, where students see hands-on activities and learn about the many pathways offered in STEM, make these careers and the education needed to enter them real. Throughout this month, the WIB will be sending tour groups to CNSE. There are still some dates with a few openings. Please e-mail info@working-solutions.org if you are interested or know a young person who is interested.

The college tours funded by HESC are one piece of our Summer of Opportunity. Thanks to the support of Empire State Development Corp. and the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council, about 75 young people in the Young Scholars program are leapfrogging ahead academically this summer through our STEM Scholars program. Students in that program recently toured CNSE as part of their summer activities.

This is a beginning. For the Mohawk Valley to fully achieve its potential in the technology sectors that have the region on the verge of new greatness, its workforce must be prepared. The WIB, which provides programming all along the education/workforce pipeline, implemented these long-range education/workforce projects to begin the growth of a home-grown STEM workforce by ensuring that students with the greatest challenges have a share in the greatest opportunities.

With the rich diversity of our region, we have has a tremendous opportunity to become an incubator community for young people of all races and incomes to become energized about the potential of STEM careers. Students can’t choose jobs they’ve never heard of. Thus, the CNSE tours are transformative because they not only show students a cutting-edge facility, the presence of career counselors and admissions counselors on the buses helps youth learn about careers and academic preparation for those careers.

The Mohawk Valley’s need for STEM-proficient individuals is only likely to grow in the coming years. Our efforts to connect these young people with local colleges and potential future employers must grow also. The entire Mohawk Valley community must embrace STEM career preparation at all ages and harnessing the potential of minority students as two vital strands in the tapestry of the region’s future.

This summer, we have made a beginning. There is more to be done. The WIB is looking for partners to help take our first steps and develop sustained projects that can build a STEM talent pipeline that will transform our region, and the lives of its young people. Join us.

Alice Savino is the executive director of the Workforce Investment Board. She invites partner organizations that want to assist the WIB in sustaining STEM Pipeline projects to contact her at asavino@working-solutions.org.