Page 45 - BusinessWest July 24, 2023

>>
AIC
Continued from page 9
level, but what about a certification with this specific skillset?’ We are looking to fulfill that.
“What we need is the employers to truly look at the academic institutions as their partners in this, because we need to be sitting at the table to hear what their needs are specifically. It’s that close work- ing relationship that I would say is critically impor- tant,” he went on, adding that keeping young profes- sionals local is a two-way street, an effort in which businesses must be engaged as well.
“Why should a graduate stay here in Western Mass.? That’s more on the employer side of things. How do they engage the graduate, entice the graduate to stay local and not go elsewhere? That goes beyond pay; that goes beyond benefits. It’s more, how do we make them feel that they have a good career trajec- tory here at Western Mass.? That’s part of what the employer has to look at as well.”
Partnering for Progress
Benitez stressed that four-year colleges like AIC aren’t the only important players in cultivating a local economy with plenty of young talent.
“As you look around and you read in the press, ‘we need more nurses, we need more physical therapists, we need more of this, we need more of that,’ well, some of those professions and careers are created at the community-college level. I am a full supporter of the community-college enterprise.”
Indeed, he explained, AIC has partnered with Springfield Technical Community College and Holy- oke Community College on housing agreements, whereby students who attend community college can live at AIC and use its services. “That’s how much we value the relationship between AIC and the commu- nity colleges.”
Workforce-development efforts begin even earlier than that, however — with efforts at the high-school and even middle-school level to instill in young people an interest in careers where opportunities abound.
One example is working with middle- and high- school students to entice them to explore careers in
Continued from page 19
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathe- matics) fields, Benitez noted. “It’s a two-pronged, even three-pronged approach: we’re working with voca- tional schools, technical schools, community colleges, and the public school systems because we know that’s where the appreciation for the skillset begins. We’ve got to grab the kids really, really early. And we’re working toward that goal.”
One new partnership between AIC and two com- munity groups — the Coalition of Experienced Black Educators and the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership — promotes access to higher education by empowering parents to support their children’s academic success, which, in turn, will benefit the region’s economy if those young people earn degrees and stay local.
Another new new initiative aims to strengthen AIC’s commitment to equipping students with the nec- essary skills and knowledge for successful careers. The college is among 10 member institutions to ben- efit from a three-year, $2.5 million grant awarded to the Yes We Must Coalition (YWMC) by Ascendium Education Group to integrate career preparation into four-year degree programs.
This grant — titled “Addressing Inequity in College Retention of Low-income Students: Collaboratively Creating Pathways to Careers in Four-year Degree Programs” — will provide AIC with resources to implement new strategies to promote career readi- ness. The award will support a partnership among AIC, Jobs for the Future, and Sova Solutions to ensure that students from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed in their chosen fields.
More effectively integrating career preparation into AIC’s four-year degree programs is a step that recog- nizes the evolving demands of the employment mar- ket, Benitez noted. By aligning academic coursework with real-world skills, students will be better equipped to navigate their future careers upon graduation. The degree programs slated for redesign include psychol- ogy, biology, business, sociology, theater, and criminal justice.
— deposit rates in the 3% range. They’re not going to be zero, and they’re not going to be 5%; they’re prob- ably going to be somewhere in the middle once all this settles out.”
When things will settle down is another question that is difficult to answer because the economy is still chugging along, and, with the notable exception of the mortgage market, consumers are still borrowing money.
“Borrowers have gotten used to paying loan rates in the 6s and 7s — they’re not happy about it, but
it doesn’t seem to be stopping anyone’s appetite for acquiring assets and borrowing money,” Sullivan said. “There’s still plenty of business out there, and that would support what Powell has been saying — that they haven’t really slowed the economy yet; in fact, it’s pretty darned good. We’re taking applications every day, and we’re writing loans every day; we’re running our business as usual.”
Taking Account
Well ... not quite usual at most institutions, espe- cially with regard to mortgages and refis, a huge part
A New Mindset
To Benitez’s original point however, for any college to adequately meet the needs of the regional economy — and adequately prepare its graduates to succeed within it — it must first know what those needs are.
“I’m telling my industry colleagues and the busi- ness colleagues, ‘what do you need as it relates to the workforce? Maybe we can deliver that for you.’ I’m not going to my colleagues and saying, ‘look, AIC is ask- ing for this, this, and this.’ No, on the contrary, I’m say- ing, ‘what do you need? Let me know because I think I can deliver that for you.’”
In his remarks at the chamber breakfast, he emphasized the importance of collaboration and working toward a greater good in the realm of higher education. “This area is blessed with having so many institutions of higher learning. But it’s not about com- petition; it’s about working together for the common good.”
To that end, he noted that, in his first year since becoming president, AIC has actively engaged with scores of individuals and community leaders, seeking opportunities for collaboration. “We want to be invita- tional to the community, not asking for anything, but to ask them, ‘how can we work together?’”
This focus outside the campus, on how AIC can be a catalyst for a stronger regional economy, is part of what Benitez means when he says he wants to rei- magine a college education.
“We continue doing that every single day — reimag- ining how we deliver education, the cost of education, reimagining the sense of belonging in an educational enterprise, but also how we teach students,” he told BusinessWest. “Students today come to academic institutions with a completely different mindset. They think differently about the world. They think different- ly about the profession. Some of them even question the value of an education.
“That is our reality,” he went on. “So how we deliv- er education, how we communicate with them, has drastically changed. We think about reimagination every single day.” BW
of the success formula for the region’s community banks and credit unions.
In this environment, O’Connor said, Westfield Bank and institutions like it are putting even more emphasis on customer service, attracting new cus- tomers and retaining existing customers.
“We have to make sure that we’re the bank of choice and remain that,” he said. “We work hard at the commercial relationships, the consumer relation- ships ... our branch teams, our cash-management teams, our lenders, everyone is out there being very available to our customers and working hard to attract new customers from other banks.”
Banks are always working hard on attracting and retaining customers, he said in conclusion, but this year, and in this climate, there is even more emphasis on such initiatives.
It’s all part of a broad response to something that is a little more than your typical economic cycle. It’s somewhat unprecedented, in fact ... and certainly a long, uphill climb for most banks. BW
>>
Banks
economy and further decrease inflation. “Employment numbers are surging, and that’s an
indication the economy is still moving fast and hot,” he said. “My uneducated crystal ball is telling me we might see a few more interest-rate moves, which means it’s going to be more difficult for the economy to continue on this path.”
Many are saying that the probable course will be another rate increase and then that pause, he went on, adding that there is more conjecture about what will then happen. Will rates stay where they are, or will they start to come down and perhaps reverse the trends seen over the past year or so?
“The consensus is that the economy is starting
to slow down — not quickly, but it’s starting to slow down — and that rate cuts will probably start to hap- pen in 2024 because inflation and economic growth both show signs of slowing down,” Sullivan said. “When that happens, we can start to price the deposit costs down.
“We’re probably not going back to where we were before,” he went on, meaning rates near zero. “We’re going back to normal, or what could be a new normal
BusinessWest
<< CONTINUED >>
JULY 24, 2023 45