Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Grand Opening of $11.4 Million Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the grand opening of the Finger Lakes Workforce Development Center on Monroe Community College’s Downtown Campus. The $11.4 million 50,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art FWD Center focuses on short-term and accelerated, technology-oriented training programs that place individuals in high-demand jobs within advanced manufacturing, information technology, skilled trades, apprenticeship-related instruction, and professional services. More information is available here.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS are available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good morning, and also, I just want to welcome you as well. It's so great to be back in here. I was here literally just a couple months ago, announcing some of our significant initiatives to support the Finger Lakes region, and I had a chance to peek around the corner and see how it looked and I just knew I had to come back for this really magical day.

I do feel like I’m in mission control or something, I was like, is there some button I can push and actually have real control over the state, I mean, that'd be amazing. First of all, DeAnna Burt-Nana, the year that you've served as president has been transformative, and I want to thank you for your leadership.

I had the great privilege of working with your predecessor back a decade ago when I was a member of Congress and we literally sat down with leadership from MCC, local businesses, local labor unions, and said, let's focus on workforce development. So this is a point of personal pride for me to see the fruition of this FWD center, and to know it has a leader like you. So thank you so much.

Adam Bello has been at the forefront of these conversations for a long time as well. And we talk about things like the pandemic and getting through that, but at the bottom of it all is about how we bring back our communities in a way where people feel they have possibility and hope, and I thank you for your leadership with this as well, County Executive Bello.

And also, the investments from SUNY, Deborah Stanley, we chatted about women having to step into roles unexpectedly. You've done an incredible job, I want to thank you for your stewardship of the SUNY system, as well, as our chancellor.

Bob Duffy, always someone I can call on for advice and always sends uplifting messages and especially during the Buffalo massacre, which you know, was actually not that far from possibly manifesting itself here, right in Rochester. And that sends bone chilling feelings through our bodies when we think about that, but thank you for your encouragement and your kind words as always.

Also Susan Dundon, who you need to get to know, she's a representative of the Ralph C. Wilson Foundation, one of the most generous philanthropies I've ever encountered. They have made it a personal calling to invest in underserved communities. I saw, first, their work in Buffalo, but to Rochester and Niagara Falls. So please convey to Mary Wilson and everyone else how grateful we are for you always continuing to find ways to lift communities up as well.

I also want to give a special shout out to Vinnie Esposito, who shepherds these projects through. It's like, you know, the birth of the baby, but also there's a long time in coming when we get to that point. So years ago, this was envisioned for a space that had just been almost a mockery of this community when you think about it.

I remember the days when I lived down the road and we were the blue-collar town, you know, and we are so envious of the white-collar people who worked at Bausch and Lomb and Kodak and worked in buildings like this, because you know, it just seemed to have a little something on us. You know you grow up in Buffalo, you’ve got a little chip on your shoulder, but that's all right. But it was really painful then to see the fall, and the way the businesses downsized and how foreign competition had a profound impact or people going to other states. And you always just wonder what will ever take the place.

And you realize now that a vision like this, that's been realized with our ribbon cutting today, we found the future. We found the building for places like this, because it can launch people in so many different directions. It's not just one industry, one job, one career. It puts people with stackable credentials, and they get the skills they need quickly to step into the jobs that our employers are just begging for.

A decade ago when I had the conversations with employers, what is your biggest challenge? It wasn't high taxes, it wasn't this and that, it wasn't high energy. It was always we can't find the workers with the skills we need, and that is even more profound because we have workers who have been displaced, whether it is foreign competition or sometimes they're replaced by technology. And I can't tell you how many factory floors I walked on, and my grandpa worked at Bethlehem Steel. My dad worked at Bethlehem Steel. So many jobs have been automated where there's just a foreman, pushing a button and letting all the work be done by robots.

Well, guess what? Someone needs to know how to tell those robots what to do. So that's the next level of career challenges that we have to face and meet them, so when I continue my work as the Governor of the State of New York recruiting businesses here, I can tell them as one of my selling points for Upstate New York in the Finger Lakes. It's beautiful, weather is always gorgeous, energy costs are low, cost of living is low, quality of life is off the charts high because you have access to so many spectacular amenities, a vibrant downtown, the Finger Lakes, the wineries, Lake Ontario, it's spectacular. But also what I can also layer into that, you know, you also realize we have the most highly educated people concentrated in one area because of the incredible educational institutions we have. But we're also drilling down into the skills that you, Mr. or Mrs. Employer or Ms. Employer, are saying you need and tell us what you need and we'll get it taught. That's how you microtarget. And you make that pitch to employers that they cannot turn down because nobody else is going to offer what we can offer in a place like this.

So, so I am so proud of what we've done here. Yes, we've come a long way, but this is $11.4 million, 50,000 square feet. Wow. That's a lot of space. But every foot of it is going to be used to help someone move their feet further toward a better future. And that is what I'm so energized about as well.

And give them the skills they need, give them an opportunity to take care of their families, as the president mentioned, but also just lift people up at a time when people feel like have been knocked down so much. The COVID just does not seem to go away, and now inflation. You might have had a little increase in your wages for the first time in a generation; all of a sudden it’s robbed at the pump. Rochester, almost $5 a gallon for gas. And you can't find baby formula anymore, I've got a newborn grandchild, I'm worried about formula. It's just a lot of stress on people. The stress they should not have to have, is whether or not they're going to be ready for the jobs that they want to take.

And this is the answer to that challenge. And that's why I'm so proud to be here today. And we're going to continue making these investments. $350 million. $350 million in workforce development. And just as an aside, those of you who have heard me talk about workforce development, I talk about it nonstop, I always did as Lieutenant Governor. I don't even like the phrase “workforce development.” It seems like it doesn't have a flashy, what does it really mean? It just does not have that sizzle. So, if any of you can come up with a better marketing plan to tell me how to redefine the marketing, just work with me on that. I've put that out there before, and no one's come back with me on that. But I am very clever, I actually have some names for your baby giraffe.

Nobody's asked me, I was going to offer my name until I found out it was a he, but that's alright. But I can help you with that one. Although it's probably like waiting into like a quarterback controversy or something. Maybe I just better step aside from that one and let the locals handle that.

But I am very proud of what we've announced here, with the investments at the zoo. With the birth of a new baby who needed a wonderful home, but $40 million investment, in the zoo and the High Falls State Park, these are investments that will be there for generations and make such a difference. Frontier Field, we helped with that as well. We mentioned our investment there, an additional $10 million on top of what we had already offered in the Innerloop. Just getting the Innerloop done, another a $100 million. So, I want to say also that we have so many other projects that we're focusing on, and we know how to do them all at the same time. We're very busy, but we have a great office that knows how to do this and keep working with our local partners.

And to the local elected officials, I thank you for believing in this community. Never giving up through some tough times because we are coming back. And I'm so proud to be Governor of a state to oversee and be in this position to witness the comeback of places like the Finger Lakes and it starting in buildings like this.

So thank you everyone, who had a profound impact on making this happen. I think we're just getting warmed up. I will come back anytime I get invited to ribbon cuttings up here. You know my heart is in this community deeply. I love the people here, the energy, the sense of possibility. And just this sense of optimism. It is so important at this time, we have to be positive about the future and then it's contagious. And then the community starts feeling better. We have challenges, we're continuing to deploy state police resources to help with the crime issue in the streets. And I'm proud that we are literally out there. Working with our Rochester PD, because they need some extra help. We're focused on making people feel safe, and not just feel safe, but be safe. That is a huge priority. And the business community, want to keep working closely with them so they feel welcome here. So we know what we have to do. But I thank all of you for being here today for this significant milestone. I can't wait to see a robot cut the ribbon as well, as long as we're not all displaced, because I won't have much to do if I can't be cutting ribbons anymore. So I still like cutting, I still like the human touch there. So thank you very much. And look forward to our next speaker, our great County Executive, Adam Bello.