MIDDLETOWN – Orange County’s fifth economic summit on Friday traced the county’s growth keeping up with new technologies, workforce needs and skills, and business development.
The summit, held at SUNY Orange’s Middletown campus, was coordinated by County Economic Development Director Steven Gross, who noted the county’s success is its ability to adjust with the times.
“The future will bring challenges, technology will change in the workplace, global competition will remain intense, energy, housing affordability and infrastructure will require difficult choices. But Orange County has faced transformation before,” he said. “Our history is not a record of standing still; it’s a record of adaptation and success, that same spirit that turned our iron into international defense, farmland into agricultural powerhouses, and small communities into centers of production still with us today.”
SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young noted the college’s two campuses – in Middletown and Newburgh – continue to offer the curriculum that shapes the workforce for the needs of today.
Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano, in whose city the summit was held, said the municipality is growing in all sectors – retail, industrial, education with four colleges, tourism and the arts.
Comments