One of the stated 2023 goals by the Chautauqua County Industrial Development Agency is to develop marketing and branding to reverse population decline.

In its 2022 annual report the IDA states, “In an attempt to ‘sing ourapraises’ about what a great place Chautauqua County is to conduct business, raise a family, and visit, the CCIDA and CCPEG (Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Development) hired a Director of Marketing and Communications (Jason Toczydlowski) to develop and implement a marketing strategy in conjuction with a myriad of other county stakeholders, which will result in more people staying or relocating here to fill available job positions, retiring here, and/or visiting, ultimately resulting in a reversal of population decline. Funding for this initiative, which exceeds $150,000, has culminated in an RFP for website development and branding being led in mid-2023, and a consultant or consultants will be under contract in early 2023.”

In a phone interview, Mark Geise, chief executive officer of the county IDA and deputy county executive for economic development, admits population decline is a challenging topic. “We’ve been losing population since 1970 It’s been kind of a steady decline. Some decades are not as bad as other decades. And we’re not unlike almost all of New York,” he said.

Geise doesn’t believe there’s a “magic bullet” that can change things on its own. “It’s such a complex issue. It’s not one thing, it’s many things. Economic development and having jobs is just one piece, and I would argue there are a lot of jobs,” he said.

Geise said many of the companies he interacts with are struggling with finding good quality employees. “The jobs are there,” he said.

The question then becomes what can the county do to help fill those positions. “One of the ways we can try to do that (fill jobs) is by developing a campaign to attract and retain new people,” Geise said.

Geise highlighted how Chautauqua County has a low cost of living and plenty to do, which can make for a good quality of life.

To get the word out, Geise said they’re in the process of hiring a consulting firm to figure out the best way to market the county. “There’s jobs, there’s good schools, so we’re working on that (marketing) right now,” he said.