Martin said that the event would harness the talents ‘‘of people who are conscious of worldwide trends in business and technology’’ and could contribute to an Irish economic recovery. ‘‘The second key element is to find ways to network this global diaspora more effectively in the future in a way that will contribute to Ireland and also benefit the network,” he said.
Dan Houston, a partner at Civic Economics, says that in recent studies he has found that locally-owned businesses put about twice as much money back into the community as the chains do, not three times, as the Austin study found. But that is still enough of a “local multiplier” to catch people’s attention. Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance in Portland, Maine, reckons that some 30,000 local independents have joined about 130 independent business alliances around the nation.
Details are still being cobbled together, but the Grants for Grads program is supposed to keep recent graduates from two- and four-year Ohio colleges in the state by contributing toward down payments or closing costs on their homes.Those who remain at least five years won't have to pay back the state.It's too bad the premise is faulty.Post-graduation employment, not housing, is the chief concern of 89 percent of Ohio college students, according to a recent study by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.A strong economic-development effort on behalf of all Ohio job-seekers, particularly the well-educated who are slipping away, is what would encourage more graduates to stay. More state-sponsored internships and co-ops that get college students' roots into Ohio soil would help, too.
Other states -- like Indiana, North Carolina, and Illinois -- are competing with us for our children. We have to fight back.
That is why we should give our college graduates a three-year income tax exemption, putting money directly into their pockets. This tax credit would be an investment in Michigan's talented graduates and our economy. The funds could help pay down college debt, go toward a home and, most of all, serve as an incentive to use their education in Michigan.
The 1950 graduate thought there had to be another solution to keeping professionals in the area, and he came to the conclusion telecommuting seemed like the answer.So Clarkson started the Adirondack Initiative for Wired Work. With Mr. Gates's help, it recently founded a business center in Blue Mountain Lake to provide people with access to the Internet, phones and fax equipment as well as a meeting room. ...... "The opportunities to tap into the knowledge economy are going to be huge, probably more so than the technology sector going forward. The Internet now is almost like a roadway as infrastructure," Ms. Chezum said. "We need to get people to think about this as a lifestyle choice."To that end, Clarkson also is launching a marketing campaign encouraging people who love the Adirondacks to make the area their home — and their workplace. Their advertisements feature a bear and a raccoon working away on laptops from the comfort of a lakeside dock.
But the Baltimore the world sees on his show and elsewhere is either the Inner Harbor or the 'hood. You’d have no idea that the city is full of wonderful neighborhoods of all shapes and sizes, how easy it is to live here or how frequently you’re bound to run into people you know. (One of the truest Baltimore scenes of "The Wire" came in the third season, when a pair of teenage drug dealers and their girlfriends ran into a trio of cops and their girlfriends at the movies. That probably happens here all the time.)
I think that troubled cities often tragically misinterpret what's coolest about themselves. They scramble for cure-alls, something that will "attract business", always one convention center, one pedestrian mall or restaurant district away from revival. They miss their biggest, best and probably most marketable asset: their unique and slightly off-center character. Few people go to New Orleans because it's a "normal" city -- or a "perfect" or "safe" one. They go because it's crazy, borderline dysfunctional, permissive, shabby, alcoholic and bat shit crazy -- and because it looks like nowhere else. Cleveland is one of my favorite cities. I don't arrive there with a smile on my face every time because of the Cleveland Philarmonic.
The goal of Mr. Peters, 51, and his co-workers at International Battery [in Allentown, PA], a high-tech start-up, is industrial revolution. Racing against other companies around the globe, they are on the front lines of an effort to build smaller, lighter, more powerful batteries that could help transform the American energy economy by replacing gasoline in cars and making windmills and solar cells easier to integrate into the power grid.This summer the Obama administration plans to announce how it will distribute some $2 billion in stimulus grants to companies that make such advanced batteries for hybrid or all-electric vehicles and related components. International Battery is vying for a modest chunk of it.
Two years ago, Adam Atkinson, a high school creative writing teacher, was driving on the interstate to his job in Midland, engaging with his colleague Scott Andrew in what he called a bit of "gap analysis.""We would talk and talk and talk about what we wanted Pittsburgh to be for us, looking around to see what isn't there and what could be there," said Mr. Atkinson, an exuberant 26-year-old graduate of Carnegie Mellon University who, in addition to his teaching job, moonlights as a comic with the Irony City Improv Troupe."We love it here and we're young. I'm a writer and Scott's an artist, and there are so many great independent small presses here, but there's no easy entry point for any of us to know about each other."So Mr. Atkinson and Mr. Andrew decided to make one: Open Thread (www.openthread.org), which they describe as a kind of clearinghouse/aggregator/gathering point for the region's thriving, if Balkanized, arts and literary scene.
Scotland's population has shown a slight increase, from 5,057,400 in 2003 to 5,168,00 last year, and a better-performing economy under devolution has started to reverse decades of outward migration. But Murphy said: "Our need for a growing population is ranked alongside the need to recruit to occupations where we have a shortage."He added: "Over the summer we will be consulting on this new points-based route to citizenship, and I am pleased to say living and working in Scotland is proposed as one way to earn points.
The policy briefs, available from http://www.CCSReg.org, describe changes to federal law and agency rules needed to overcome regulatory and legal barriers to large-scale deployment of carbon sequestration.The CCSReg project is supported by a $1.85-million grant from the New York-based Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (DDCF) with additional support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). In addition to investigators at Carnegie Mellon, the project team involves experts at the University of Minnesota, the Vermont Law School and the Washington, D.C.- based law firm of Van Ness Feldman.
"We've been saying all along that the Pittsburgh Nation is" an untapped audience, said Evan Contorakes, head of Ronin Advertising Group, the Miami-based ad agency that is organizing Iron City's new campaign. The campaign's name?"One City. One Nation. One Beer."Sounds pitch-perfect for the far-flung, Steelers-loving Diaspora. But don't expect a huge media rollout. Back in 1988, when Rolling Rock was spending its ad money on billboards and radio and TV spots, there was no e-mail, no Twitter, no Facebook. Mr. Contorakes hopes to use the Internet's social networking capabilities to not only promote the brand in Texas, Florida and California, but also -- and more importantly -- identify the bars where Pittsburgh expats go, and use that information to get Iron City and I.C. Light stocked at nearby beer distributors.By his figuring, the hundreds of thousands of people who left the city in the '70s, '80s and '90s (and he's one of them -- he lived in Washington, Pa., until moving to Florida in the 1980s) all have kids now."This could be a million people," he said. "They're going to do the work for us," by feeding the data to Iron City, reducing the money and legwork that goes into product placement. "It's going to be really interesting, this experiment."
The 2009 drilling program is on schedule to spud 18 additional horizontal wells between now and year-end. Presently, eight rigs are drilling with a ninth preparing to spud a well. "At this point we have three wells completing and 12 waiting on completion or pipeline," commented Dinges. "I am extremely pleased with the latest results and the pace of progress as our new team transitions to our new regional office in Pittsburgh."
Because a majority of us were students, when we designed a group intended to promote entrepreneurship, infrastructural enhancement, and economic development, many people assumed that our ultimate goal was “to find a way to stop the ‘brain drain’” that Michigan so readily experiences. People felt that we, some of the state’s bright, young talent, were out to find a way to keep people like us from ever leaving Michigan (because that might improve the economy).To me this idea is absolutely ludicrous. Why create a population that hasn’t shared any knowledge capital with the outside world? Surely Michigan doesn’t already naturally contain the world’s most brilliant scientists, teachers, engineers, economists, and doctors.
John Cameron, chairman of the Long Island Regional Planning Council, said meetings such as this one are necessary if the region is going to stem the exodus of younger Islanders.“I tip my cap to Tom, I really do, because it’s such an important issue and we should hear directly from the young people,” Cameron said. “If affordability isn’t at the top of their issues, it will certainly be in their top three.”Cameron added that “if we can’t keep young people here, it will be devastating to the local economy. Who is going to buy the homes put up for sale by the baby boomers? Who is going to spend disposable income at restaurants? Quite frankly, if we don’t solve this, it doesn’t bode well for the region.”
Boston-based research and marketing firm Collegia was hired in 2007 to launch the project, based on the firm's work in other cities, including Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Todd Hoffman, president of Collegia, said student survey responses in Columbus were generally similar to those in other cities. ...... While other initiatives have focused on bringing back young professionals who have moved from Ohio, Hoffman said, there are clear "efficiencies" in targeting current students in the region."Among young people who have moved away, one in eight say they're considering moving back," Hoffman said. "Among current students, one in three aren't planning to stay, but the rest either are planning to or are considering it. It's a bigger pool, and it's much easier to get to them."
There is also one more hurdle to overcome before U.S. firms will bid to build nuclear reactors at the two sites approved by India -- liability protection. Clinton said she hoped the Indian government could secure this soon.U.S. officials estimate the two nuclear sites represent up to $10 billion in business for U.S. nuclear reactor builders such as General Electric Co. (GE.N) and Westinghouse Electric Co, a subsidiary of Japan's Toshiba Corp (6502.T).
The gas equivalent of a barrel of crude now sells for around $20. The industry is seeing its first glut, not least because so much extra capacity has been built. Mr Suwaidi is a victim of his own success. He turned a seller’s market into a buyer’s market. Fortunately most [liquid natural gas or,LNG] is bought on longish fixed-price contracts, otherwise things would be much more serious for him. ...... Even so, long-term demand for gas has never looked better. China and India look set to continue growing fast, as will their energy needs. Besides being cheaper than oil, gas emits less carbon dioxide when burned, so its attraction has grown along with rising concern about climate change. Some producers, like Canada, Norway and Britain, are running out of reserves. Meanwhile Russia’s aggressive energy policies have made its European customers wary. Qatar, by contrast, underlined its dependability by inviting America’s armed forces to build a large base there. Despite the current price slump, Mr Suwaidi’s faith in a global LNG market seems likely to be rewarded.
The McCarthy Report, also known as An Bord Snip, has questioned the benefits of relying on the strategy of spending on research and development as an engine to drive economic growth. One of the reasons it suggests cutting back on R&D spending is the prospect of newly-minted PhDs emigrating.
It starts with education. There is nothing more important to success in the modern economy than a quality education. I am reminded of research Richard Longworth cited in "Caught in the Middle" about how even in economically ravaged Michigan, most white people still don't see education as critical. The Midwest has never put a priority on education, even for its white majority. Hence its educational attainment levels. Imagine then the priority that has been put on urban districts with majority black populations? I think we are all familiar with the state of our inner city schools. I won't claim this is a Midwest specific problem, or that the school system is entirely to blame, but clearly education is the absolute first step on the road to success for anyone, black or white.
There's a distinctly white-collar movement behind Scranton's comeback. A return of college-educated natives from cities like New York and Philadelphia is fueling a population rise and a civic makeover. Bringing them back are the very small-town qualities many once wanted to escape: the likelihood of meeting acquaintances and relatives on the streets. The embrace here of modest ambition. The deeply held belief -- only heightened by ridicule from the outside world -- that Scranton matters. ...
... Precisely how many natives have heeded the call isn't known. But many returnees seem to orbit in a large circle of other returnees, as the case of Ms. Dempsey illustrates. At her firm she employs an architect who moved back to Scranton from New York City, and a designer who moved here with his boyfriend -- a Scranton native who has started a wine bar in town. One of Ms. Dempsey's siblings, a fashion designer, quit a job at Burberry Group PLC in New York City to join a Scranton-area technology firm, while a brother-in-law left a Wall Street investment bank for a Scranton software startup.
Great Falls native Mike Spinti moved to Seattle for a job with Boeing after graduating from Montana State University with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Mechanical engineering jobs are hard to find in Montana, he said.
"I like designing things and building things," he said. "That's what took me out of state."
Spinti worked in Seattle, England, Florida and Texas, but he and his wife, who is from Bozeman, always knew they wanted to come back to Montana at some point.
After they had children, they realized if they were going to make the move, it needed to be before their kids got too far along in school.
Spinti started looking into the possibility of telecommuting from Montana, but couldn't find a firm that was willing to allow him to do so.
"I had to go to plan B, and plan B was to do my own thing," Spinti said.
Spinti purchased Belton Hearing Center after discovering that the owners were looking to retire.
Youngstown fell so far, traditional community leaders threw up their hands and told the younger generation, 'You guys try.'
For an early-stage startup, talent and office space make up the most significant portion of your burn rate by far. Our hosting and development costs were virtually zero by comparison. I recently worked with a company that had one of the most aggressive (and perhaps unrealistic) growth plans I’ve ever seen. Even with an estimated $6,000/mo in server hosting, $10,000/mo in employee benefits and $10,000/mo in travel, over 90% of their expenses were office space and salaries.
And here’s the thing – you have the ability to control these costs, because location plays a major role. San Francisco and New York City are the two most expensive places to live in the United States which directly translates to a higher burn rate. For example, we raised around $80,000 for Notches last year. Much of this funding was used to hire an engineer at $65,000 – less than market rate in a competitive job market at the time, though perhaps still a little higher than you’d pay in San Francisco. We spent another $1,575 per month for rent on three desks in a shared office space. Without myself or my my co-founder collecting a salary, we were spending nearly $7,000 a month.
If we had started the company in Pittsburgh instead, our monthly costs would have been 30-40% less. Right off the bat, talent is at least 15-20% cheaper. Given the city’s affordability, you’re also more likely to find people willing and able to work for less relative salary and a greater slice of equity. Office space is much cheaper as well – 200-300 sq ft turnkey offices are available for less than we were paying for a single desk.
The consequence is this: the means migration is dividing the world into two kinds of regions with very different economic prospects. A small number of means metros attract the lion’s share of the mobile and the skilled, who see their incomes and real-estate values climb, while the masses witness the exact opposite. Some of today’s means metros could eventually fall back as housing prices and living costs rise. But there are powerful reasons to believe that the economic disparity between some city-regions and others will continue to grow, and perhaps even accelerate, thanks to the snowball effect of talent attraction.
That sentiment is common today, said Paul-James Cukanna, associate provost for enrollment management at Duquesne University.
"We have about 5,000 applications for graduate and professional schools this year compared with 3,300 at this time last year and most of those are from local applicants."
Mr. Cukanna said the applicants not only are students like Mr. Pugliese and Mr. Russo, who intend to stay in Western Pennsylvania, but students who in past years would have taken jobs out of state.
The bleak national economy has put a temporary halt to the Pittsburgh area brain drain.
“Our young people are vital to the future of our state’s economy, and we must do everything we can to keep their creativity and talents in New Hampshire,’’ Gov. Lynch said at a news conference today.
The initiative is funded by a $450,000 grant from the U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration - $150,000 a year for three years. The partners are looking to utilize Cornell's economic and community development research to create pilot programs in Elmira and Olean that will address the so-called brain drain.
Yet I am saddened to share with you that following my last year at UConn I will be forced to leave this great state and seek opportunity elsewhere. You may be asking yourself why does this matter to me and why is he being “forced” to leave Connecticut. On June 25, the Senate Democrats voted 19-16 on their idea of a state budget that raises taxes by $2.5 billion. The next day Democrats in the House unanimously approved their version of the budget with little to no changes.
When businesses either fail to start up or leave because of undue regulation, taxation, and rising health care costs, you must ask yourself where the workers go if quality jobs are no longer being created. The truth is they will migrate to more tax-friendly and opportunity-driven states. Connecticut continues to lose more 24- to 34-year-olds than any other state - 30.1 percent from 1990 to 2006 - according to the U.S. Census Bureau. This must stop.
Lou D'Amico of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Association talked about the economic impact of the gas drilling, and the Marcellus Shale Committee provided printed information on jobs to the crowd.
Mr. D'Amico said eventually there will be new jobs and opportunities for Pennsylvania including a full range of professions and skilled trades. In 2008 a committee was commissioned to conduct a study on the impact. Currently in the natural gas industry, $4.5 billion directly results from the industry with a total impact of $7.1 billion with more than 10,000 direct jobs.
To project the economic impact of the Marcellus Shale, the committee looked at the impact of the Barnett Shale in Texas, which covers only 5,000 square miles as opposed to the 95,000 square miles of the Marcellus Shale. In Texas, 55,000 direct jobs were created with a $10 billion economic output totaling 5 percent of the economic output.
There are about 1,000-1,500 permits out now for well drilling and about 500-600 are expected to be drilled. The reason for such a low number is simple: the economy. Right now, natural gas is less than $4 per gallon. The price has to be at least $5 or higher to justify the cost of multiple drilling sites. Much of the drilling taking place now is to test the area and see how well it will produce.
The $255 million US deal involves supplying and maintaining 18 driverless Innovia vehicles for the 3.5 kilometre transit system at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Ariz.
Bombardier Transportation’s plant in Pittsburgh will design and build the vehicles.
Direct Energy Business has confirmed a final agreement to move to Liberty Center.
The company, which first came to Pittsburgh last June when it acquired Strategic Energy LLC for $300 million, announced that it has signed a five-year lease for 52,000 square feet at Liberty Center in Downtown Pittsburgh, which it will make its North American headquarters in November.
The company said the move was needed “ to accommodate current operational requirements” and position the company for future expansion.
Houston, recognized for its dynamic business environment, might be able to provide that. With high wages relative to cost of living and a fairly low unemployment rate of 6.3 percent, considering the financial turmoil over the last year, these factors make it the best city to get ahead. Other cities offering similar opportunities include Dallas, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and Boston. ...
... But what about Pittsburgh? The city continues to decrease in population, despite the fact that the metro area has a $10.8 billion stake in the technology sector. People should reconsider the Steel City for its low cost of living; it lands at just 92.18 on the index. What's more, the area's biggest industries — health care, technology and education — are recession-resistant, necessary regardless of the economic outlook.
Why is it that "real estate interests" dominate in a local economy like Cleveland? Because, to a great extent, they are among the only ones left. Consider the local industries that were not as subject to roll-ups. Principal among these are real estate development, construction, and law. This means the local leadership of a community is now made up of executives in those industries, and they bring a very different world view versus the previous generation.
When you look at the composition of this group, it should come as no surprise that the publicly subsidized real estate development is the preferred civic strategy. Politicians get to cut ribbons. Cranes always look good on the skyline. Local architects, engineers, developers, and construction companies love it. And there is plenty of legal work to go around.
Last year, the Gates Foundation announced its intention to invest $500 million over the next five years in a "handful of urban districts" for a groundbreaking program of finding and rewarding effective teachers -- and pulling ineffective teachers out of the classroom.
Ten school districts nationwide were tapped as finalists for the grants, expected to be announced in November. Media reports have also listed districts in Hillsborough County, Fla., Tulsa, Okla., and Pittsburgh, Pa., as being among the contenders.
The Promise, aimed at boosting academics and reversing the exodus from Pittsburgh and its public schools, is fashioned after similar efforts in Kalamazoo, Mich. and El Dorado, Ark. It's also hoped that the Promise students will return to Pittsburgh, as John Tokarski plans, when they graduate. ...
... A family moved from a suburb about 50 miles from Pittsburgh so their 2-year-old daughter can attend the public schools, beginning in kindergarten, making her eligible for the full scholarship.
With the collapse of the steel industry 30 years ago, the population of Pittsburgh and its public schools plummeted as people fled in search of jobs. The city's population of 424,000 in 1980 plunged to just over 311,000 in 2007; the school district lost nearly one-third of its students from 1988 to 2008.
And enrollment is expected to keep dropping , from some 26,600 today to 22,000 by 2015. But that trend appears to be slowing, thanks to the Promise.
Who left? The affluent, the educated and the young, said Saleem Ghubril, executive director of the Pittsburgh Promise. Who stayed? Lower-income families, the elderly and the less-educated.
More regional collaboration is seen as one solution to help economies on both sides of the state line. It's relatively common for residents who live near the border to commute to the other state for work if needed.
Altmire and Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose districts abut each other, have collaborated to promote a "Tech Belt'' in western Pennsylvania and northeastern Ohio that they hope creates jobs in advanced services and industries.
"We want to use all the resources that we have. Let's all work together,'' Altmire said in a phone interview. "When I say, 'Silicon Valley,' you know what that is. We want to develop that 'Tech Belt' in the same way."
A pair of federal spending bills contain nearly $6 million for Trumbull and Mahoning county projects, including more than $2 million to continue development of a business incubator in downtown Warren.
The funding now allows Warren Redevelopment and Planning the freedom to begin determining a location for the incubator, which will be used to hatch and expand businesses focused on clean technology, alternative energy and green building materials, its director says.
The project already received nearly $500,000 in money from Ohio.
''Technology of some type was really the direction of most of the successful incubators, specializing, that's why the YBI (Youngstown Business Incubator) has been so successful,'' WRAP director Anthony Iannucci said. ''This is a real step that would move us forward.''
The incubator project has shifted focus from one that would develop retail enterprise to energy sustainability, which help secure the federal dollars for the project.
Interest in business incubators has exploded in the United States as recession-hit communities from New York City to Youngstown, Ohio, search for ways to revive their moribund economies. Already, well over 1,000 of these typically nonprofit organizations (more than 7,000 globally) shepherd local entrepreneurs through the beginning stages of business development with resources and services in the hope they’ll one day create local jobs.
They may be onto something. A 2008 study by the Economic Development Administration (EDA) found that, per dollar invested, incubators created more jobs than any other economic-development efforts – more than industrial parks and 10 times more than highway and other transportation projects (see chart). But not all incubators are created equal. As cities rush to embrace this hot economic-development strategy, they run the risk, economic-development experts say, of wasting lots of money.
“An incubator is only as successful as the labor market around it,” says Amy Glasmeier of the urban studies and planning department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. “If it doesn’t have a connection to the local economy, it’s just cheap real estate.” ...
... Just as entrepreneurs have varied needs, incubators go about supporting them in different ways. They have flourished in unlikely places like Youngstown and Toledo, Ohio, by focusing very narrowly. (Youngstown, for example, only incubates business-to-business technology firms.) Other cities, like Boulder, Colo., have nurtured successful companies, only to see them leave town because of a lack of long-term strategy, says Dinah Adkins, president of the National Business Incubation Association (NBIA).
For some, the diaspora feels more like a homecoming. The close-knit quality of New York’s Irish neighborhoods makes the transition less trying, several recent immigrants said.
“It was very nice to come back to the Irish community,” said Conor, 27, who arrived in New York several weeks ago after finding no employment in Australia, where many out-of-work Irish have migrated in recent months. He, too, did not want his last name published because he feared detection by the immigration authorities.
Four years ago, Conor worked in New York on a special temporary visa given to recent college graduates. This time he arrived on a tourist visa, and through connections he made playing Gaelic football, he quickly found a construction job and an apartment in southeastern Yonkers, one of several Irish enclaves in the area, like Woodside, Sunnyside and Maspeth in Queens. ...
... After being mostly unemployed for a year, accumulating a tax debt of more than $100,000 and having his marriage end in divorce, Niall decided to try his luck in the United States. He settled on New York because he knew many people here and understood how to navigate the job market. And New York was a relatively short flight from home.
“You always go to where the Irish are,” he said, “because who else are you going to depend on to get your foot on the ladder?”
"Our economy is one that's being looked at worldwide, because of our ability to renew ourselves," said Joanna Doven, spokeswoman for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. "The G20 coming to Pittsburgh makes it official -- Pittsburgh is back on top."
Talk about multitasking — sunflowers planted on previously blighted vacant lots are providing not just beauty, but it’s hoped that they will also be able to remove contaminants from the soil and provide green jobs, plus – as a bonus – the seeds can be harvested and turned into environmentally friendly biofuel.
That’s a pretty big order even for such a large plant. But projects planting sunflowers in vacant lots are already under way in New Orleans and Pittsburgh. And expansion to Cleveland may be next.
So far, the nonprofit group that’s behind all this, GTECH, has partnered with a number of organizations – including Carnegie Mellon University. Their goals: reclaim vacant land, empower communities, and translate ideas into action.
Four Cabinet secretaries and a governor testified before the Senate Environmental and Public Works committee on cap and trade environmental legislation Tuesday. The hearing room was packed with media and political spectators hoping to catch a glimpse and a quote from the political heavyweights. But to an average American, the most recognizable face in the room may have belonged to a small-town mayor.
While Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson work on the new environmental law from offices in Washington, Mayor John Fetterman, of Braddock, Pa., has become the striking face for a national campaign in support of cap and trade.
The Chamber didn't want a job-search website, but more of a connecting point for employers and potential recruits. To prevent the former from happening, the Chamber set guidelines employers must follow before posting job opportunities. In doing so, the Chamber avoids becoming the middleman, and simply lets recruits know jobs are out there. Recruits then work directly with the appropriate employer.
As for locating its target audience, the Chamber went straight to family-friendly Oklahoma. As press releases were sent out within the State about the project, family members of the recruits rushed to make their loved ones aware of the program in an attempt to get them to move back home. ("Family and friends" is a top reason a person will move back to Oklahoma.)
To measure results, the Chamber uses a feedback loop from participating businesses. Some businesses have told the Chamber that their highest quality recruits have been discovered through the Boomerang project. According to the Chamber staff, at least 4 successful job hires have happened through Boomerang, and 450 people subscribe to the newsletter. Those are significant results since the program's launch just last Fall.
Twenty-six-year-old Collin Jacobs thought he'd taken all the right steps to get his dream job as an architect. Jacobs just completed his masters though an exclusive design-build program at the University of Kansas and thought it would give him the edge he needed. ...
... "We looked at Omaha. We looked at Des Moines and thought about the East Coast or the West Coast, but those job markets were getting hit a lot harder," Collin said.
And the exact things that Sioux Falls and the state are working so hard on to attract and keep younger people were what called the Jacobs back home.
"We could have gone anywhere. It's just good to come home. There are a lot of good communities in Eastern South Dakota. A lot of stuff going on downtown Sioux Falls, UpTown, all that stuff is very exciting," Collin said.
The Jacobs couldn't have imagined they'd be stuck where they are right now, but only 20 percent of new college graduates are finding jobs.
Port board member John Carney said the consultants seemed to be "on the right track."
A vibrant waterfront "is what can keep young people here," said Carney, who has developed several properties downtown.
The report suggests that, depending on the intensity of development, between 1,292 and 2,153 direct, full-time jobs could be required in the Northern Tier ( Bradford, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wyoming counties ) this year to support well drilling and production. The number of jobs is expected to grow to between 2,107 and 3,511 by 2011 and to between 3,281 and 5,468 by 2013.
In the Central Region ( Centre, Clinton, Columbia, Lycoming, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties ), between 325 and 542 direct, full-time jobs are projected in 2009; that number is expected to increase to between 1,347 and 2,245 in 2011-13 as drilling intensifies in this region.
In addition to these direct-employment projections, the Pennsylvania Economy League recently estimated that each direct job in the Pennsylvania oil and gas industry creates an additional 1.52 indirect jobs throughout the economy.
The endorsement of a nuclear revival – a generation after the last reactor was commissioned – suggests the Obama administration is open to further compromises as it seeks to find a path through the Senate. The House of Representatives narrowly passed a climate change bill late last month.
Republicans in the Senate, who are almost universally opposed to action aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as Democrats from rust belt states, have been clamouring for a "nuclear renaissance" in America, which would see the construction of 100 new nuclear power plants by 2030.
Last Tuesday, June 30, President Barack Obama highlighted innovative programs that are transforming communities around the country, calling upon foundations, the private secto and social entrepreneurs to partner with the newly created Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to invest and scale up these innovative programs.
Pittsburgh Social Entrepreneurs Felix Brandon Lloyd (Skill-Life), Chris Koch, & Andrew Butcher (GTECH Strategies), all current Echoing Green Fellows were among the select crowd of social innovators from around the country gathered for the President’s announcement.
Having recently created the Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation along with a $50 Million Social Innovation Fund the President declared that “now more than ever, we need to build cross-sector partnerships to transform our schools, improve the health of Americans, and employ more people in clean energy and other emerging industries.”
It won't be long before Pittsburgh's focus on green energy competes with robotics for top ranking among new industries resident in the area. It seems only fitting that a town once referred to as "Hell With the Lid Off" should re-invent itself as a center for clean-energy research and development. Pittsburgh stands to become a leader in educating a new breed of public-utility experts intent on creating an energy renaissance stretching beyond the three rivers to encompass the world.
Most likely, you have never heard of Marc Canter, now 52. But he belongs to that class of unheralded technologists who have played critical roles in the development of Silicon Valley. He has had moments of success, and many near-misses.
But over the past two decades, he has become a fixture of the local tech scene, hijacking conversations at conferences, advocating open technology standards, envisioning a multimedia and social media future long before most, and delighting in his ability to provoke.
And now he's leaving.
For Ohio.
Like most folks who heard the news, I was dumbstruck. Ohio? So I tracked him down at his home in Walnut Creek last week to get to the bottom of this mystifying move.
