Fighting the Flight

I often meet with college students, and the one thing that inevitably comes up during conversation is: what am I going to do after I graduate?

With the shift in industry from manufacturing to technology in the past two decades, Western New York has undergone a dramatic rearrangement from manufacturing to technology. Our region's economic development now relies heavily on graduates like you with higher education degrees. Since our region is home to 15 four-year colleges and universities and 20 two-year schools, approximately 20,000 from a base of more than 100,000 students graduate annually, and are an extensive resource for new businesses here in Western New York.

However, many of our graduates do not stay in the region. Considering the job losses over the past three decades, many of you might think of moving to the New York City metropolitan area or to another state with seemingly more opportunity. I believe that this is directly correlated to the perception of limited career opportunities that exist here. Cities such as Buffalo and Jamestown - once both major centers of manufacturing - were impacted by national and international forces: competition from manufacturers abroad, the relocation of factories from the Northeast to the South and West, and the emergence of high-level service industries. As a consequence, manufacturing declined sharply and unemployment has risen, as in many other Rust Belt states; but I assure you, all is not lost.

In response to greater demand for high-level services and changing competitive advantage, our region has managed to develop new specializations. We have had remarkable successes in consumer services, particularly health and education. In addition, Buffalo has established strength in financial producer services such as commercial banking and mortgage brokerage. It has also seen growth in the high-paying computer and data-processing industry and exhibited gains in bioinformatics, research and testing services, a field in which it continues to increase specialization. As our region redevelops economically, it is crucial that we establish the right foundation for this progress. Young people need jobs and career perspectives within the region to keep Western New York on the right path and Western New York needs these well-trained and highly educated graduates for its economy to grow.

During my short time in Congress, I have proposed a number of ideas to facilitate sustainable economic development in Western New York and create a future here for you. While I work to realize these ideas, I am focused on bringing power under local control, creating and supporting a regional vision, minimizing bureaucracy and getting our region the federal support it deserves.

This summer I introduced the Western New York Redevelopment Act, legislation concerning the relicensing of the Niagara Power Project, the state's largest hydropower facility located in Lewiston, New York. This relicensing is a chance to give this region the funding it needs to spur waterfront development and turn brownfields into high-tech businesses and abandoned warehouses into housing and parks. Since Buffalo and Erie County, which hug the mouth of the Niagara River and Lake Erie, have a unique resource as the basin for the Power Project, and have been negatively affected by the project environmentally and economically, we should surely benefit from its assets as well.

These are just examples of where Western New York is going, but it needs your help. These are the start of great times in Western New York. I urge you to consider a life after college in this extraordinary region. You are this area's future, and you are the key to our success.