LIBN Opinion Piece

August 20, 2026

Read on Long Island Business News

When Long Island businesses talk about the challenges that can limit their growth, one issue comes up again and again: finding the people they need.

An HIA-LI workforce-development study conducted with the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency and the Workforce Development Institute identified filling the talent pipeline and finding viable candidates as the leading workforce concern among businesses. While that study was conducted several years ago, the challenge remains every bit as relevant today.

But I believe we need to look at the problem more broadly.

Long Island does not simply have a workforce shortage. We also have a connection challenge.

Our businesses need skilled employees. Our schools, colleges, BOCES programs, and other training providers are preparing people for careers. Students and job seekers need to understand what opportunities exist here. Yet too often, those groups operate in separate lanes.

Workforce development succeeds when we connect those lanes.

That is why HIA-LI has made strengthening the relationship between business and education such an important part of our workforce efforts. Our Workforce Development Working Group brings together employers, educators, school administrators, BOCES representatives, and work-based learning professionals. The group identified 10 regional priorities and created four subcommittees addressing communication between students and industry, awareness of career and technical education opportunities, connections between businesses and students, and stronger partnerships involving higher education and school districts.

Rich Humann, president and CEO of H2M architects + engineers, and Edward Bonahue, president of Suffolk County Community College, provide important leadership as co-chairs of HIA-LI’s Workforce Development Task Force. Their participation reflects exactly the kind of partnership we need: business and education sitting at the same table, identifying problems together and developing practical solutions.

One of the priorities that emerged from this work was the need for a centralized mechanism connecting jobs, training, education, employers, and workforce resources. That made our recent partnership with the Health & Welfare Council of Long Island particularly timely.

Under the leadership of president and CEO Vanessa Baird-Streeter, HWCLI developed LongIslandJobs.org, a workforce platform built specifically for our region. Originally launched with nonprofit, healthcare and human-service employers, the platform is now expanding into the private sector through its partnership with HIA-LI. It brings together job openings, job fairs, workforce training, career-development resources, volunteer opportunities and information from local career centers.

Its Long Island focus also matters. National job platforms can produce geographically irrelevant results from Connecticut, Westchester, New York City and elsewhere. LongIslandJobs.org gives employers another way to make local openings visible to local candidates. Future plans include expanding access to internships and apprenticeship opportunities, another important link between education and employment.

No single website, program, school, or business organization will solve our workforce challenges. What can make a difference is creating an ecosystem in which employers communicate their needs earlier, educators understand where opportunities are developing, students gain meaningful exposure to careers and job seekers can more easily find pathways into our businesses.

Long Island already has extraordinary companies, outstanding educational institutions, talented people and organizations committed to workforce development. Our opportunity is to connect those assets more effectively.

Our schools help prepare the talent. Our businesses create the opportunities. But building the workforce Long Island needs requires all of us.

Workforce development is everybody’s business.

Terri Alessi-Miceli is president and CEO of HIA-LI.