Partnership Employer Outreach

Perhaps the most important program we run here at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership is our employer outreach. That's due mainly to the two-way communication that is essential between employers and their employer-based membership organization, us. Our employer outreach feeds everything that we do here at the Partnership, guides our programming and advocacy efforts and, most importantly, ensures that we are accomplishing the goals that you set for us.

A couple years ago, we made a transformation in the way we think about Partnership membership, and renewed our focus on building relationships, rather than simply memberships. We created a team in our membership department called Investor Relations, whose job it was to basically sit down with as many of our members as possible to hear their stories, celebrate their successes and learn their challenges.

From the information we've been gathered, we've been able to steer Partnership programming to better meet the needs of our members. Think of Amazon.com - how every time you make a purchase, they collect your information. Then, the next time you visit, they put together specific suggestions for you that what you've already told them indicates might be useful to you. We've done the same thing here - you tell us what your company needs and we assess that information and find a way to present it in a way that benefits you. Some of the Partnership initiatives that have come out directly of listening to and analyzing the needs of our members include:

• Creation of Buffalo Niagara 360 - the region's young professionals program developing the Buffalo Niagara's next generation of business leaders and innovators. (Don't forget about the Buffalo Niagara 360 One-Year Anniversary Party, this Thursday, 9/17 at Shanghai Reds!)
• Partnership target industry "action agendas," which will be released next week, and will drive the Partnership's efforts in each of the region's six target industry sectors: advanced manufacturing, agribusiness, life sciences, logistics, professional services and renewable energy.
• Placement of UB2020 as the region's top economic development priority in the 2009 Regional Agenda
• A move from the day-long "Issues Summit" event from year's past to the very popular Innovate Buffalo Niagara awards program, which focuses on the region's growth industries and highlights successes in our region.

Given the success and importance of the Investor Relations program, we are actually now expanding our employer outreach to increase the number of Buffalo Niagara employers we can reach. With regional economic development activities focused on target industry clusters, we are avidly reaching out to employers in those industries to hear what you have to say. If my colleagues or I call you for a meeting - I encourage you to take it. Or, if we haven't gotten to you yet and you'd like to request a meeting, feel free to e-mail me: cturner@thepartnership.org. Sitting down to chat will likely be beneficial for both of us.