Change coming, will we lead or follow it? Ron Bartizek Business Local

The most recent output from the Joint Urban Studies Center could be fodder for days of glass half-full, half-empty discussions. Is the region growing stronger or weaker? Half-full: population is rising for the first time in decades. Half-empty: K-12 academic performance is miserable and not showing signs of improvement.

To their credit, the audience of business, government and nonprofit leaders that sat through the unveiling of the third Lackawanna and Luzerne County Indicators Report chose to focus on the positives, such as income growth that’s faster than the state average and a relatively stable housing market. But it was hard to escape the downbeat assessment of educational attainment, which is tied directly to efforts at luring better-paying employers.

It’s unfair to expect big swings in an annual report of such breadth, but the lack of improvement raises serious questions, given longstanding, highly publicized and well-funded economic development goals.

“There’s a tremendous amount of activity but it doesn’t seem to have the impact it should,” observed Tim Gilmour, chairman of the center’s board and president of Wilkes University, about academic stagnation. He also may have hit on one reason for ineffectiveness when he said there appears to be excess overlap and not enough coordination among workforce education providers.

That assessment captures the essence of the largest obstacle to progress in Northeast Pennsylvania, where dozens of municipalities and school districts operate as separate kingdoms, with leaders choosing to ignore regional and even national forces and trends that will affect the people within them.

“We have strength in numbers,” said Chris Haran, who leads the center’s volunteer technology task force. But that advantage is weakened when potential contributors to progress opt out. One example is the lack of participation by public school educators and administrators in efforts to ensure that local high school and college graduates have the skills targeted employers demand.

It’s interesting to note where these two counties excel, if you can call it that. The center found that in the last eight years Luzerne County received $147 million in state aid, slightly more than the $142 million sent to Lackawanna County. Peer counties Lehigh and Cumberland received about 30 percent and 50 percent less, respectively.

Those statistics provide insight into a mindset that needs to change if people in this region truly want to reach their full potential. It seems too much effort goes into securing handouts – some of which fund those ineffective workforce programs – and not enough into results-oriented ventures.

You don’t have to read the Indicators Report to know that Northeast Pennsylvania is changing. Just glance at the humongous warehouses sprouting alongside Interstate 81, or the Hispanic corner stores opening in Wilkes-Barre’s neighborhoods.

The question isn’t whether the region will be affected by change, it’s what kind of place this will be 10, 20 or 50 years from now, and whether we’ll have a say in it.

Ignoring change or refusing to help guide it will only mean the future is dictated by forces beyond our control. We can’t shut out those influences, but we can do our best to harness them to the best advantage for our children and grandchildren. Read the report and then decide if you think we’ve been doing all we should for them. Copies are available at the JUSC, 7 S. Main St., Wilkes-Barre.

Ron Bartizek, Times Leader business editor, may be reached at rbartizek@timesleader. com or 970-7157.

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