Assessment shows Buffalo State plays important role in the community

In January, Special Assistant to the President Voldemar Innus was commissioned to conduct an on-the-ground assessment of all the activities Buffalo State is involved in regarding economic development and community engagement.

This is one part of a statewide research plan called How SUNY Matters, pushed for by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher.

As a part of this initiative, SUNY created 10 regional economic development councils to assess the ways it can most effectively impact the economy and implement plans to do so. The goal is to eventually bring together the state's resources to collaboratively support each regional plan.

In working with the Western New York regional economic development council, Innus and Melissa Miszkiewicz, director of academic computing and technical services, met with over 20 groups on campus already involved with economic activity.

"I was startled by the breadth and depth of the existing activity already going on between Buffalo State and our community," Innus said, "and it's been going on for many years."

According to Innus and Miszkiewicz, Buffalo State's two most prominent contributors to the community are the Small Business Development Center and the Career Development Center.

The Small Business Development Center helps students and entrepreneurs to develop a business model from the ground up, search for grants and reach out to potential customers. In doing so, it serves over 900 small businesses a year.

"No matter where you go, you find someone that that center has helped," Miszkiewicz said.

Similarly, the career development center helps the local economy by facilitating unpaid programs to connect students to potential employers.

"We post volunteer jobs, we had over 1,000 students out in service learning last year, we work with community agencies, we do two community service days a year and a volunteer fair," said Stephanie Zuckerman-Aviles, director of the Career Development Center. "It's a very broad contribution."

Zuckerman-Aviles said through efforts like these, students can meet the needs of local businesses and organizations, while at the same time gaining invaluable experience in their field.

According to the Independent Sector, a coalition of non-profits and charities, the federal government values student volunteering at $27.17 per hour in New York State. Zuckerman-Aviles said that last year, Buffalo State students dedicated 41,103 hours of service, equating to an over $1 million contribution to the local economy.

Buffalo State also maintains its community relationship through non-profit research in energy, healthcare industry assessments and services provided through new degree programs like the Professional Science Master's in applied mathematics.

"We have a lot of excellent people here who quietly go about their business," Miszkiewicz said. "They're not celebrated, they're not on everybody's lips every day, but they're really making a difference."

Innus said that the regional council is currently putting together recommendations, and expects its first plans to be completed by the end of the month.

"In a lot of ways, people that are working with economic development and community engagement are self-sufficient and already effectively doing it," Innus said. "It's not that there has to be some kind of control of that activity, but simply that there be recognition of it, and where it makes sense, support for that activity."

Brian Alexander can be reached by email at alexander.record@live.com.