- [Announcer] Live from your Public Media Studios, WVIA presents "Keystone Edition: Reports," a public affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This is "Keystone Edition: Reports."

And now moderator Larry Vojtko.

- Hello, I'm Larry Vojtko.

Each year, The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development conducts an Indicator Report in six key areas, including the economy, education, health and human services, the environment, infrastructure, and public safety that portray the quality of life in the region.

Which of these areas matter to you?

Where do you think our area can improve?

Share your thoughts with our experts at 1-800-326-9842, send an email to keystone@wvia.org, or tag us on social with a #keystonereports.

WVIA's Paul Lazar takes a closer look at this year's Indicators Report.

(air whooshing) - [Paul] The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting all six areas of The Institute's Indicator Report.

And right now it's hard to know what the lasting effects may be.

One area that could see a big impact is employment.

The Indicator Report shows that while Northeastern Pennsylvania has historically lagged when it comes to economic growth, there's been some job growth in recent years.

Employment areas with a higher wage and wage growth are on the rise.

However, the percentage of people living below the poverty line is cause for concern.

More than 20% of the children in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties are living in poverty, which is significantly higher than the state average of 16.8%.

Poverty is just one of the barriers to students getting higher education and being successful in the workforce.

The Indicator Report shows STEM education and investment will be vital, as more businesses rely on technology for innovation.

Also, STEM careers tend to have higher wages.

The average STEM job in the two counties ranges from 65 to $72,000 a year, where the average wage for all jobs is about $35,000 a year.

The health care industry is another area of job growth in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

The overall health of the region could be playing a part in that.

According to the Indicator Report, heart disease, excessive smoking, and drinking, and cancer all have higher rates in Luzerne and Lackawanna counties than the state as a whole.

The overall health of the region could be playing a part in the growth of non-profit health organizations, which are the fastest growing group in both counties.

Read more of The Institute's report by clicking the link at wvia.org.

For "Keystone Edition: Reports," I'm Paul Lazar.

- As Paul Lazar is the host of "Keystone Edition: Radio," that's heard Sunday mornings at 7:30 and again Sunday afternoon at 4:30 on WVIA Radio.

But right now we need to hear from you.

We're ready to take your calls at 1-800-326-9842.

You can also email at keystone@wvia.org, or message us through social channels using the #keystonereports.

Well, let's welcome our guests who are here to take a deeper look at the factors that are shaping the quality of life in our communities.

Andrew Chew, The Institute's senior research analyst is joining us via Zoom.

In fact, all of our guests are via Zoom today.

Mayor Paige Cognetti of Scranton is here to talk about what's happening in her city.

And joining us from Williamsport, Mayor Derek Slaughter, also on Zoom.

Well, welcome to you all.

Andrew, let's start with you, because you have delved in, you have gathered this data, you've done the research, you have analyzed this data.

We cannot, you know, attack any sort of problem or issue unless we have data that tells us where we stand.

And then we can analyze that and perhaps draw a trajectory of where we want to go.

So, Andrew, can you just give us a few highlights of what the 2020 report tells us?

And perhaps, because everything in 2020 is overshadowed by and impacted by COVID-19, perhaps you can then compare some of what you've learned in 2020 against some of the other reports in the more recent years past.

Andrew, what can you tell us?

- Thank you, Larry.

I think as we just heard, one thing that we had been seeing in this year's report and in previous reports up through 2020, is that our region was seeing some positive signs of economic growth.

We've got some industries that are on a really strong growth trajectory, the healthcare sector, the transportation and logistics sector.

These have been industries that have really been driving job growth in the region.

And, of course, with jobs and the economy, everything is different now.

We don't have all of the data yet, because it takes some time to really be able to have that data-driven understanding of where all of the impacts have been.

But one thing that I do expect to see going forward trend wise, is that those two industries that I mentioned, healthcare and logistics, are two industries that will probably be pretty well positioned to recover from the pandemic.

The need for healthcare will continue to be strong and drive growth in that industry.

One trend that we've seen in the report, that we expect to continue, is that we're aging as a region.

The average age of residents in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania is getting older, and that will drive need for healthcare.

And also, our transportation assets, the Interstates 80 and 81 corridors and, you know, consumers shifting more of their shopping to online, e-commerce, that will drive that logistics industry forward.

- Great, that's very informative and gives us a little bit of hope for younger people who are perhaps hoping to settle here and stay in the area, and what jobs they might be looking at.

And right now, of course, you're invited to comment, to ask a question, of are our panelists here on "Keystone Edition: Reports."

The number is 1-800-326-9842.

Or you can get to us via email or with the #keystonereports, keystone@wvia.org or #keystonereports.

Now two of the guests are mayors.

We have the mayor of Williamsport, the mayor of Scranton with us, and we're talking about the state of the region.

And usually about this time every year, we're waiting for the State of The Union Address given by the the president of the United States.

So I'm going to give the opportunity here to each mayor.

We'll start with Mayor Cognetti from Scranton.

Give us just, well, we can't spend the hour long State of Scranton Address, but can you give us an in a few moments, your State of the Scranton Address for us?

- Yeah, I'd be happy to do an hour with you anytime to talk about Scranton.

It is my favorite topic.

But as Andrew mentioned, and as you, Larry, alluded to, and we do have challenges in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

We do have issues with underlying health issues, education gap, poverty.

But we're ready to meet those challenges and I think harness this crisis in a way that leads us forward and accelerates our growth and our economic future.

I'm grateful to The Institute all the time.

I am always in touch with Andrew and Teri who run The Institute.

The data that they provide is so incredibly helpful as we try to foster our economic environment for the future.

As we look at making sure that we're meeting the workforce challenges, that we're matching education opportunities with workforce.

I think the crisis right now, there's a public health crisis with COVID, which, you know, we're working so hard to combat.

And on the economic side, I think the economic recovery will be with us for a long time.

But I think with that comes a lot of opportunity for a new, you know, work from home environment.

We're only 100 miles away from New York City, 100 miles from Philadelphia.

We have a Work from Here campaign.

Our hashtag is #workfromhere.

Why not move to Northeastern Pennsylvania, move to Scranton, buy a home, be able to, you know, raise your kids in an environment where they can stretch out a little bit, go skiing at night or on the weekends?

And we're really trying to make sure that we're capturing that new economy.

So I think there are a lot of bright sides to the future of what we're seeing coming out of this crisis.

And we're trying to really make the most of that.

We appreciate all of the work that folks at "Keystone Edition" do and with The Institute.

All this data helps us get better, helps us make sure that we're ready for the coming years, and ready to recover.

- So, Mayor Cognetti, it seems that you think that some of these tools that we were forced into, like Zoom or Skype, that other people, you know, that we didn't necessarily make use of and now we're using more, that that, well, we'll call it a habit, might continue?

And that here in this area, we can kind of leverage that change of behavior?

- I think that's right.

I think the future of work is hybrid.

And you don't need to be at an office five days a week.

You don't need to have all of your employees at the office every single day.

So that is really opening up the way that people can work, where they can live, where families can live.

And I really think that places like Scranton really are suited for that type of bedroom community.

And bedroom community doesn't have to mean 20 or 30 minutes.

I think in this case, if you don't have to go to work every day, if you only have to go to work once or twice a week, you know, you really can live a couple hours from the office that you call home for your company or your organization.

So I think this really opens up a new type of working.

With that comes challenges for other types of businesses.

So we need to make sure that we're really paying attention to that and providing resources.

But this is an opportunity that we have to take.

We can't just, you know, kind of sit back and let this happen.

We have to really be out front and proactive.

- Well, thank you.

Mayor Slaughter, I'll be getting to you for your report from Williamsport.

But right now we have a call from Dalton, is it Will from Dalton?

Hello, are you there?

- [Will] Yes, I'm here.

- What is your question?

- [Will] Oh, the question is, why haven't you mentioned the role of the arts and education in terms of the state of the region?

- Ah, the arts and education.

Now, Andrew, we've talked about six key areas and the arts is not, education is, but is that kind of folded into education?

Could you answer that question, please?

- [Will] I was a faculty member at Keystone in the art department.

- Right, so, Andrew, can you answer that about the power of the arts and cultural community in the area, Andrew?

- Yeah, absolutely.

I think arts and culture intersect with so many of the different indicators.

You know, it affects education, it affects our economy, and it affects overall quality of life.

In terms of the economy, we know that tourism, visitors to Northeastern Pennsylvania, spend billions of dollars, over a billion dollars a year in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties alone from visitors.

And we can be appealing as a region to tourism and have that economic engine through arts, and culture, and those kind of heritage kind of activities as well.

But not only that, it's also a great asset that makes it a great place to live.

It contributes to our culture.

And it makes us a place where some of those people, the digital nomads, or these workers who are telecommuting, like Mayor Cognetti was just describing, it makes us a more attractive place to those folks.

- Well, we'd like to hear your question too, please call in 1-800-326-9842, or get in touch with us via email or #keystonereports.

And Mayor Slaughter in Williamsport.

Give us your report.

What is the outlook?

What has Williamsport endured over the last year?

And where do you hope to take it in this coming year?

- Well, we have the same challenges that all the municipalities, and boroughs, and townships across the country are facing.

But as Mayor Cognetti said, we feel positive coming out of the other side of this here in Williamsport.

We have a great education system, school district.

We have two colleges that are fantastic, one that focuses on STEM.

And we have a wonderful regional medical center with UPMC.

But, you know, working families, small businesses, they were hit hard in 2020, and they're gonna need some support on the other side of this coming out.

So, you know, we're developing an economic plan.

We're excited to work with partners from the state and the federal government to make sure everybody comes out on the other side of this, and is sustainable in their business and their everyday lives.

But we think, again, as Mayor Cognetti said too, here in Williamsport, we're centrally located too.

So we feel as though, you know, we have a marketing tool with our location as well.

You know, we're just a few hours from every major hub and the cost of living is relatively low here.

So the outlook for us here, you know, 2020 was difficult, but we're feeling positive coming out of the other side of this.

- Mhmm, Mayor Slaughter, you talked about partnering for different different plans and different projects.

Can you give us a specific example?

Am I correct in saying that you're working with the mayor of Pittston on a housing plan?

Is that correct?

- Yeah, that is correct.

So we're exploring various options here in Williamsport, Loreto being one of them.

We have an old housing stock here in Williamsport, so affordable housing, mixed use development.

I'll be meeting with Mayor Lombardo next week, I believe, to go over some some housing options, and discuss what's worked for him and what might work here in Williamsport.

So housing is definitely at the top of our list.

Particularly, if folks are looking to relocate here and purchase homes in Williamsport, we wanna make sure we have as many options available as possible.

- Again, we're talking about the state of the region.

We'd like to hear what you have to say.

Ask a question at 1-800-326-9842.

And we have Mayor Cognetti of Scranton, Mayor Slaughter of Williamsport.

And Andrew Chew is the king of research and data for The Institute, a think tank in Wilkes-Barre, that gathers data together for Luzerne and Lackawanna County and other other organizations that want to make use of their services.

So, Mayor Cognetti, give us some of your particular challenges over the last year, how you met those challenges, and perhaps have you learned lessons that will help you make plans for the future that gives us an optimistic outlook as we go forward?

- Absolutely, the key challenge that I always think of when asked that question is that the City of Scranton does not have a public health department and neither does Lackawanna County.

We're not alone.

There are only, I believe, 11 health departments in the entire commonwealth.

And the problem with that, when the pandemic hit, is that we don't have access to the level of data that we need to know the details of.

You know, where the cases are rising, who is falling ill the fastest, where the actual deaths are.

That's been a very big challenge for people across the state, for mayors and commissioners across the state.

And what we've done though is we've accelerated collaboration without that mechanism.

So the solution and the optimism there is that by collaborating across levels of government, across partners in health care, and at hospitals, and education partners, non-profit organizations, and our social service organizations, all those resources, we've really been able, in Lackawanna County and in Scranton, to come up with solutions and stay in touch in a way that, you know, we would have always had a good relationship, but we really are truly working together in a way that is astounding and I'm very proud of.

So the lesson of, you know, things that are lacking and we need to work on, we're gonna work toward building a public health department here locally.

But the lesson is collaboration, that collaboration works, communication works.

And I'm just so thrilled for how far we've come in this short time.

You know, Mayor Slaughter and I came in 13 months ago into our jobs.

We've met virtually before the COVID hit, but then we've been in touch very, very closely.

Not just the two of us, but mayors across the state.

And that communication really helps us understand what we can be doing better and making progress, especially as we combat COVID-19.

- Well, time is quickly passing.

Let's move on and talk a bit about public safety.

Now, Andrew, what does your research and data tell you about public safety over the last year or so?

- Well, what we've seen in past year's reports is that the region generally performs on par with a lot of other regions our size, the cities of Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and Lackawanna and Luzerne counties, compared to a similar size and similar economic positions of different metro areas around the country.

That said, you know, there's still some big challenges there.

One of them, that's also related to public health, is the opioid use epidemic.

And that's so intertwined with public safety, and is, you know, the other epidemic that's kind of happening in the background of the COVID-19 challenge is substance abuse.

- Mhmm, mhmm, Mayor Slaughter, public safety in Williamsport, give us a report on that issue in the center of the state.

- Yeah, when the pandemic first hit, we actually saw a slight downturn with regards to our public safety incidents.

But then we did see a little uptick, particularly amongst juveniles.

And I'm actually coordinating right now with out local college.

And we're working on a program as their capstone project actually, that we can implement here in the city, that addresses juvenile crime, and, hopefully, more importantly prevention, and gives them some positive outlooks here in the city.

We're also, our police and our fire department, are working towards professional accreditation.

So we are reviewing all of our policies and procedures in both departments.

So we're working hard and diligently here in Williamsport to make sure our public safety department is really a positive department and really having some positive impact in the community.

- Mayor Cognetti, how about Scranton?

What are the main challenges in public safety there?

- Public safety, it's so interesting, because it's just the foundation of everything people expect from a city, right?

And so you've got snow removal, of course, which is on our minds.

But really at the end of the day, our job is to keep people safe.

And throughout COVID, I've been so impressed with all of the public safety officers in Scranton.

They do a tremendous job, 24 hours a day.

And throughout the pandemic, you know, it's been very scary, especially those first months where we didn't know the level of contact that could transmit the virus.

Those men and women were out 24 hours a day interacting with the public, even, you know, before masks.

It's just really incredible what they do.

And we've worked hard at the City of Scranton to make sure that we're maintaining our budget levels, so that we're never furloughing those individuals in public safety.

So we've been successful so far.

We'll continue to do that.

But, as Mayor Slaughter and I have been advocating for, and you've probably heard us, we keep advocating for direct and flexible relief from the federal government for this next stimulus package.

Because we need to make sure that cities, like Scranton and Williamsport, and all cities can make sure to maintain those public safety levels.

We have a lot of colleagues across the country that are worried about having to make furloughs in public safety in the coming months as their revenues drop.

- Well, we're quickly running out of time.

We have about five minutes.

So if you wanna ask a question, now is the time, 1-800-326-9842, or send us an email, or #keystonereports on your favorite social media site.

Andrew, we had some troubling statistics at the beginning.

We learned that the poverty rate is so high in Lackawanna and Luzerne County for children.

But in these last few moments, looking at the report this year, pick out some of the bright spots for us.

What can you point to that gives us a little lift?

- Sure, I think the fact that we had some economic growth going into the pandemic that I think we can build on afterwards, and we can tie that to reducing poverty by looking at some of our educational assets.

And I think we've got a number of great colleges and universities in the region.

Great community colleges, trade schools, and a great K to 12 network, and even all the way down to Pre-K. And the way that we'll address some of those more troubling statistics, that you mentioned, is by opening up economic opportunities to people through things like education, job training, and really connecting people with those kind of opportunities.

And I think we've got some great assets in place on the education side to make that connection.

- Mhmm, well, Mayor Cognetti, we'll start with you, and then I'll have the same question for Mayor Slaughter.

Give us a little bit of an optimistic view of what you are planning to do in the rest of your term for Scranton.

What are some of your plans?

What are some of your dreams?

- Yes, well, my dream is that Work from Here works, and that we have many new residents coming to Scranton, many new businesses, who want to set up their their shops and their roots here in Scranton.

We really do have a bright future here as we continue to collaborate and work across partners and across the levels of government.

We are constantly in touch with our regional partners.

We're in constant touch at the state and federal level to really go after the grant funding, go after the policies that can help us continue to grow.

And we really have that environment that's ready for it.

I mean, to Will's question, we have a beautiful arts culture.

We have a lot of amazing artists here.

We have amazing food.

We have a lot of jobs actually.

So as we talk about economic downturn, it's not that there aren't jobs available, it's that we have to make sure that our education is matching that workforce demand.

So by working with all of our education partners and with The Institute, we can really work toward making sure that we're educating our kids and getting them excited about the jobs that are going to be family sustaining for them in the future.

- And Mayor Slaughter, you have the last word.

- Yeah, we feel optimistic here in Williamsport as well.

You know, I feel as though we're poised as well here with two colleges.

As I said before, a great educational system, a regional health center.

And so, you know, we have some big projects to tackle though.

We have levee recertification with stormwater issues.

And so, but on the other side of this, we really think, as Mayor Cognetti said, that, you know, working with our county, our state, our federal partners, developing a marketing plan here in Williamsport, we think Williamsport is in a position to really come out on other side of this on a positive note.

- Thank you.

Well, Andrew Chew, from The Institute, Paige Cognetti, mayor of Scranton, Derek Slaughter, mayor of Williamsport, thank you so much for participating.

And thank you for joining us.

For more information on this topic, please visit: wvia.org/keystonereports.

And remember, you can rewatch this episode on-demand, anytime online or on the WVIA app.

For "Keystone Edition," I'm Larry Vojtko.

Thank you so much for watching.

(upbeat music)