New Opportunities Forum for Tech Valley

Building Pipelines of Opportunity from Distressed Neighborhoods to Areas of Economic Growth in the Capital Region

Tuesday, April 14, 1-5pm at Crowne Plaza, State and Lodge in Albany 

Concept Paper

TECH VALLEY.  Since the early parts of the new millennium, leaders in the Capital District have been rebranding and reshaping the Capital District (and surrounding counties in the Hudson-Mohawk corridors) as Tech Valley.  With significant developments in biotech, materials science, energy research, and nanotechnology, and now with a $4 billion computer chip plant in the works at Luther Forest, these efforts have gathered strength, and it appears we have successfully opened up a new sector in the regional economy that may become a major driver of future growth.

This development is fraught with possibility, but also with peril.  Everywhere tech booms have taken place, in spite of often spectacular job creation, they have had two downsides that ought to be assiduously avoided if we are seeking a sustainable and equitable regional economy:  intensified sprawl and greater racial-economic segregation.

BACKGROUND.  Since 2002, as part of its mission to revive distressed parts of the region, ARISE has been researching, proposing, and pursuing public policies that could make this region a national innovator and leader in promoting a more positive image and reality of tech-related growth, and prevent those undesirable patterns of sprawl and segregation from becoming part of the Tech Valley story here in the Capital Region. 

In 2003, ARISE convened a Regional Forum for Collaboration and Equity at St. Vincent’s church in Albany that drew 150 top area leaders, hosted by Bishop Howard Hubbard.  It addressed the vital question:  how can regional growth be planned and managed in such a way that minorities and poor neighborhoods are included in our success, and that cities are revitalized regardless of where particular plants are sited?

This conference spurred a remarkable set of discussions and working groups, and since then both ARISE itself and organizations like the Center for Economic Growth and the Tech Valley Civic Forum have done a lot of work to study and propose positive steps.

MOMENT OF DECISION.  In July of 2008, the announcement came from both Governor Paterson and the AMD computer chip manufacturer that a major chip fab plant would be built in Malta in Saratoga County, with a huge public investment of $1.2 billion of state money as incentive.  Groundbreaking is slated for June of 2009, and this major development forces the existential question:  it is now or never, will we as a region capitalize on the work we have done to plan and shape growth equitably and sustainably?

The New Opportunities Forum for Tech Valley is designed to give a strong “Yes!” answer to this critical question for our region, and to convene both public policymakers and community partners and stakeholders who share our faith and urgency about a more unified region with a better economic future for all. 

ACTION AGENDA. We want to emphasize that we do not limit our scope of thinking strictly to tech jobs or futuristic careers, though of course they are essential—much of the economic opportunity we expect will come in the form of construction jobs, supplier industries, small and micro-business creation, and arts and culture.  ARISE and our partners will be proposing four areas of public policy that can be instrumental in making the Capital Region and Tech Valley an innovator in promoting responsible growth as well as social equity: 

1. Community Benefits Agreements
2. Regional Planning for Workforce Housing and Transportation
3. Re-Entry Jobs for persons coming out of incarceration
4. Effective use of federal Economic Recovery funds.

There have been literally dozens, even hundreds, of meetings about Tech Valley.  So what is new here?  The New Opportunities Forum will do several things that have not been done before, but are critically important:

1. DIVERSITY and INCLUSION.  It will combine in one room public policy leaders at all levels (local, state, and federal) with leaders in business, education, labor, faith institutions, non-profits, AND residents of poor neighborhoods themselves.
2. POLICY FOCUS.  Every item on the agenda will have specific goals and timetables for passage and implementation of public policy changes with a proven record of promoting the outcomes we seek.
3. FOLLOW-THROUGH.  The purpose of the event is to emerge with those goals clearly in view AS WELL AS sustainable community partnerships—including a full and diverse cross-section of leaders from the whole region—to get them passed and implemented.

All planning groups for this event are open to participation from any with energy and ideas to contribute.  The Issues Planning Team is responsible for the preparation of the April 14  agenda, and structuring the follow-through.  It will meet on four Mondays at 7pm:  Feb 9 and 23 and March 9 and 23 at Trinity Church, 235 Lark Street in Albany.

 To pre-register, click here.