Business and Industry

OBJECTIVE 1
Support Companies in Becoming Employers of Choice
Action Items
  • Workforce lens: Provide funding and training for employers to improve workplace culture
  • Encourage employers to provide incentives for employee referrals for new employees
  • Workforce lens: support employers in facilitating transportation and childcare options for employees
OBJECTIVE 2
Create a Welcoming and Supportive Environment for New Businesses
Action Items
  • ​Develop and advertise shovel-ready sites for industry. Resilience lens: ensure that design follows smart growth principles and is prepared for increasing weather events.​
  • Educate developers in the potential for brownfield development & incentives available
  • Create industrial incubators for new small-scale manufacturers to start up and test ideas
  • Equity lens: Support businesses in acquiring MWBE certification and market the certified businesses the region already has
  • Equity lens: improve access to financing for minorities and women and underserved groups
  • Increase communication with employers to share the resources available to them
  • Make one-stop regional package of all resources, grants, loans in one place
  • Equity lens: create a small business boot camp that can travel throughout the region meeting the needs of small, rural communities to reduce transportation barriers to support
  • Reduce barriers to technology access and education for small businesses. Equity lens: target support into underserved communities.
  • Support emerging artists and arts/cultural businesses as a critical part of the economy
OBJECTIVE 3
Develop a Regional Strategy for Business Retention & Expansion
Action Items
  • Conduct a regional mapping project of all existing businesses and create a CRM system at the regional level​
  • Resilience lens: Begin collecting data through annual economic outlook survey
  • Resilience lens: Identify and support businesses that need succession planning
  • Establish regular communication between higher education, economic development and the business community
OBJECTIVE 4
Develop an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem​
Action Items
  • Create business incubators and tech hubs to foster small-scale, locally owned wealth. Equity lens: work to make spaces accessible and affordable
  • Create more coworking spaces including in rural outlying communities
  • Develop skills trainings and support programs for new business owners
Number of clients served by the Small Business Development Center at Jamestown Community College, 2018-2023*
*note that 2023 data is January - May only, indicating increase over 2022
Business Focus: Destination & Tourism Action Plan
SOUTHERN TIER WEST
​Center for Regional Excellence
4039 Route 219, Suite 200
Salamanca, NY 14779

716-945-5301  
​Fax 716-945-5550

STW"s mission is to help coordinate and enhance planning and development activities in Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Chautauqua Counties so as to promote social, physical, and economic development in these counties. Southern Tier West seeks to improve the quality of life for the region's people and assure that the "people of the Southern Tier West region have access to adequate occupational, educational, and recreational opportunities; environment; health care services; housing; public safety; and transportation.
SOCIAL
Southern Tier West