By Jill Nagy

Southern Adirondack Independent Living (SAIL), which originated in Glens Falls and has a Queensbury office, has relocated its Saratoga County office to the Wilton Mall.

The new Wilton location replaces offices in Ballston Spa where the organization was located for 15 years. The agency also has offices in Saratoga, Queensbury and Plattsburgh.

“People with disabilities are figuring out their next step,” said Tyler Whitney, deputy executive director. “A lot of people don’t know what they need when they come here.”  

The organization assists with housing, arranging in-home medical and nursing services, finding appropriate health insurance, free medical equipment loans, preparing Medicare and Medicaid applications, connecting with other community services, and other services that can help people with disabilities achieve the greatest level of independence possible. Primarily a source of advice and counseling, SAIL does not provide direct services but, Whitney said, they work closely with the providers that do.

 The organization serves a 15-county swathe of upstate New York. “We begin in Columbia/Greene and work our way up,” Whitney said. It is a nonprofit organization, supported by state and federal grants and donations.

Whitney said the new office is “accessible and innovative,” centrally located in the heart of Saratoga County. Availability of public transportation was a big piece of the decision to relocate to Wilton, she added. The new location provides 4,500 square feet of space. It received a “top to bottom renovation” between the time SAIL decided in mid-summer to move and their actual relocation in early October.

The city of Mechanicville is one of several municipalities in the state to receive part of the $33 million in Community Development Block Grant funds awarded for local infrastructure improvement and housing rehabilitation projects. 

The grants are designed to help communities provide decent affordable housing and safe living environments primarily for low- and moderate-income residents.

 Mechanicville will use $47,500 in grant funds for the development of an engineering report documenting issues with the city’s stormwater infrastructure.

Also in the region, the village of Fort Edward in Washington County was awarded $48,000  to complete an Engineering Assessment of the Historic Fort Neighborhood.

   “By supporting improvements to build affordable housing, enhance public water facilities and strengthen local infrastructure, this funding will lay the groundwork for stronger, more resilient neighborhoods across New York,” said Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “These critical investments in our public infrastructure will help provide safe, stable housing and affordable amenities to New Yorkers while allowing businesses to grow and thrive, and I thank the New York Congressional Delegation for securing this vital funding for our state.”

SUNY Adirondack and SUNY Plattsburgh have an agreement to create a bachelor’s degree program in computer security at the college’s shared Queensbury campus.

The completion program will begin in the fall 2023 semester, offering a two-year study option for graduates of SUNY Adirondack’s associate degree programs in information technology: cybersecurity and information technology: information security, or transfer students with a similar background. 

“We are eager to welcome students into our new bachelor degree completion program in computer security, one of the only computer security majors among the SUNY comprehensive colleges,” said Emma Bartscherer, director of SUNY Plattsburgh’s branch campus at SUNY Adirondack. “With the added benefit of a concentration in threat analysis, students will graduate with a competitive advantage and many career prospects.”

“True to our motto, ‘You don’t have to leave to go far,’ SUNY Plattsburgh’s branch campus serves students in the region as the only four-year school with a presence in Warren County, Bartscherer said. 

Computer security is the latest 2+2 agreement between SUNY Adirondack and SUNY Plattsburgh. The two colleges also offer joint in-person degree programs in psychology and criminal justice, and online in business administration and RN to B.S. in nursing.

Neither ongoing recruiting challenges nor the threat of a potential recession will deter Capital Region employers from moving ahead with plans to increase hiring in 2023, according to the fall 2022 Alaant Hiring Index released by Alaant Workforce Solutions, the region’s leading professional workforce services firm.

The Alaant Hiring Index is based on a survey conducted between Nov. 9 and Dec. 11 that generated responses from 95 Capital Region hiring and human resource managers—48 from companies with 100 or fewer employees, and 47 from firms with more than 100 employees.  

Asked about 2023, 68 percent were very optimistic or optimistic about job growth, with 26 percent unsure and only 6 percent very pessimistic or pessimistic, according to Alaant. 

Additionally, 55 percent expect hiring to increase in the new year, with 36 percent seeing no change and only 9 percent forecasting a decrease. And, 76 percent of employers say concerns about a possible recession will not reduce their plans for hiring.

Tempering those expectations are the continuing difficulties in recruiting top professionals: 70 percent of employers expect hiring to be very challenging or challenging in the first six months of 2023, though 25 percent see the situation improving. The biggest challenge remains a labor shortage, cited by 47 percent of employers, which more than doubled other contributing factors, such as salary and wage demands (20 percent) and a skills gap (14 percent), the study indicated.