Question: Why is Pace partnering with state, county business councils?

Pace University”™s Lubin School of Business has entered new partnerships with The Business Council of New York State and the Business Council of Westchester to launch the Pace Business Poll, which will survey businesses throughout Westchester, Rockland, New York City and Long Island.

The project was initially an idea from the Lubin School of Business in conjunction with the Center for Student Enterprise at Pace, which will conduct surveys through its student-run research and call center, Pace Connect.

Pace Connect creates and implements surveys over telephone and email and prepares reports, mainly for several of the university”™s own departments, but also for outside clients such as Nonprofit Westchester, data service providers and even Consumer Reports.

Kathy Winsted, director of the Center for Student Enterprise, noted that Pace intended to administer the survey to broaden the Lubin School”™s expertise in the area”™s economic climate.

“There”™s an Upstate New York Business Leader Survey, but there”™s no downstate business leader survey that we”™re aware of, so we wanted to fill that void and do the downstate businesses,” Winsted said. “And not just small businesses ”” there are some small-business studies in New York City, but we want to be broader than New York City, so we”™re doing Westchester, Rockland, Long Island and New York City.”

The businesses surveyed will be of all sizes and in a variety of industries.

For this round of the survey, many questions will focus on the effects of Covid-19 on businesses, but Pace hopes to keep the survey ongoing even after the pandemic, to build a consistent knowledge of business activity in the area.

“We”™re going to do another one in the fall ”” we”™re hoping to do one each semester,” Winsted said. “So in the fall, of course, we”™ll be talking about recovery, what new things they”™ve done and instituted in the pandemic and after the pandemic, and what they kept about what they learned. Then the spring after that, there might be a whole new topic ”” we”™re not sure yet.

“We just want to have a handle on the pulse of the downstate businesses and develop a data bank and an expertise in that area specifically, dealing with the businesses that are in our neighborhood.”

The Business Council of New York State and The Business Council of Westchester have advised on the nature of questions to include in the survey, adding topics such as climate change, regulatory conditions and government assistance, along with more general questions, like if and when workers will return to work in person.

“It is important for us to hear firsthand from business owners about the ongoing challenges they face navigating an economy that continues to rebound, particularly from the New York City region, which was among the hardest hit,” said Heather Briccetti, president and CEO of The Business Council of New York State.

“This data will be critical in assessing the ongoing needs of employers so we can help ensure their stability and ability to employ the millions of New Yorkers who drive the state”™s economy. We look forward to seeing these results and are thankful for our partnership with Pace University.”

The councils will also provide some financial assistance in implementing the survey, which will also be financed partly by Pace, and will continue to advise on questions in the survey in the future.

“As we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, it is critical that we collect as much meaningful data as possible from businesses large and small,” said Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester. “Greater participation means better data, which will help all of us chart a course to collective recovery.”

Winsted is looking forward to potentially extensive partnerships with the business councils for the long-term implementation of the survey.

“We hope to continue working with those two business councils and have it be an ongoing partnership, where they can work with us on what kinds of questions they want answers to and we will have the students ask those questions,” she said.

Data will be available on The Business Council of Westchester”™s data exchange.

Pace Connect is utilizing business directories, alumni databases and business council resources to begin building connections for the survey.

Businesses can complete the Pace Business Poll at https://pace.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5AU4IA6DfI4wUh8.