"I Live NY" is an Idea Whose Time Has Come

New York State’s First Lady, Silda Spitzer, is leading a new effort to invigorate Upstate Communities. It’s called “I Live NY” and its focused on recruiting and retaining young professionals.

We often hear people say that they want economic development opportunities in Geneva so that “our kids will stay.” Capraro can understand that, with kids in college, and Augustine is living it as a kid who never left! With all of the colleges and universities in our area, it seems that we should be focused on finding a way to harness all that talent to keep graduates in the area. Job creation and a focus on entreprenurial support can help graduates call the Geneva area “home” for the long term and can encourage children who’ve gone away to college to come back and raise their families locally.

So what are Mrs. Spitzer’s plans to make this happen? Well it began with a “summit” on September 17th at SUNY Cortland to outline five core principles of the effort. They are:

1. Livable communities- creating the conditions that will make younger people choose our area to build their future.
2. Community-specific plans- rather than one big statewide ‘solution’ being imposed from Albany upon us; a focus on regionally-driven initiatives.
3. Incremental changes- breaking the issue into smaller pieces that lend themselves to more manageable solutions.
4. Community engagement- energizing local communities around issues related to keeping and attracting young people.
5. “Surplus thinking”- itemizing and emphasizing what each region has to offer.

We’ve posted quite a bit about some of these ideas already. But the last point is worth noting again. Geneva, and our Finger Lakes region in general, is a magnificent place to live, work, and raise a family. Community pride seems to ebb and flow, but there are several of us who truly believe that it is a blessing to call this place home. That is an attitude that we need to instill in our children so that, when they grow up and go out into the world, they desire to come back. It’s the boomerang effect, and we can all work together to make it happen!

You can read more about Mrs. Spitzer’s initiative on the First Lady’s homepage.