North Campus Hosts Statewide Business Development Videoconference

Pennsylvania College of Technology's North Campus near Wellsboro recently served as one of 10 host locations for a statewide videoconference entitled, "Consulting Small Business on Pennsylvania Regulations and Resources."

The videoconference, held June 22, was jointly sponsored by the state Department of Community and Economic Development's Small Business Resource Center, state and local employer advisory councils and Pennsylvania's Small Business Development Centers.

Local participants representing four Northern Tier counties were greeted by Richard Stetz, CareerLink site administrator for Bradford, Sullivan and Susquehanna counties. Stetz outlined the conference's goals and answered participants' questions about the Workforce Investment Act, TEAM PA and CareerLink services. Susan Dillon, business consultant for the University of Scranton Small Business Development Center, also greeted participants and provided an outline of SBDC services.

Speaking from Harrisburg, Susan Musolff, State Employer Advisory Council chair, and Johnny J. Butler, secretary of the state Department of Labor and Industry, welcomed conference participants. They discussed Pennsylvania's efforts to realize Gov. Tom Ridge's goal of making "state government faster, more efficient and friction-free" in the way it conducts business.

According to Ridge, the power of Internet technology will be used "to ensure that businesses no longer have to approach state government as an array of separate agencies, each concerned foremost with their own administrative needs." This approach, he added, "shifts the focus back to where it belongs − on the customer − by providing a single face of state government to any entrepreneur, anywhere."

To help realize this goal, the conference featured department representatives who presented overviews on the many programs and services available to assist business. Highlights included updates from the Department of Community and Economic Development, the Department of General Services, the Department of Revenue, the Department Environmental Protection and the Department of Labor and Industry.

The videoconference was the first effort of the Small Business Resource Center to reach out to employers statewide using live, two-way videoconferencing technology. As a branch of Pennsylvania's premier technical college, the North Campus makes its state-of-the-art videoconference facilities available for a range of regional economic and workforce-development activities as a service to residents and business and industry representatives in Northcentral Pennsylvania.

For more information on the videoconference or Pennsylvania's services to business and industry, contact the state Department of Community and Economic Development at 1-800-280-3801.

For more information on North Campus facilities, events, course offerings or services, call 724-7703, or access Penn College's Web site.