Volume 2, Issue 1
Table of Contents

Cover Story:
For RBD, It Was
a Very Good Year

Feature Stories:
Lessons Learned
Starting a small business can be a daunting proposition
Web Masters
RBD's online presence is a natural progression

RBD Round-Up:
How's Business?
The results are in from our
first survey
RBD Business Survey
What's your take on the rising cost of healthcare?

DEPARTMENTS:

Economic Round-Up
• The Smart Investor
How to minimize the affect of the Alternative Minimum Tax
• Economic Viewpoint
Interpreting the Inverted
Yield Curve
• Visitor's Guide
Tour busses in Rockland?

Retail Round-Up
• Where the Jobs Are
Tips for students looking
for work

Business Round-Up
• PSI Health Plans
Offer flexibility and
cost savings
• Marketing By Design
The top 15 campaigns of the last 100 years - Part 2

Ask The Expert
• The Human Factor in
Human Resources

Invest in Your Community
• Looking For a Better Way
Tomorrow's Workplace
offers help
• Leadership Rockland
Graduates class of 2007
• Youth Forum & Awards
Rockland Youth Volunteers Honored

Odds & Ends
• Letters to the Editor
• Rockland Newsmakers

Dedicated Section:
Rockland Business Association:

The President’s Desk
Heart-felt Congratulations
to Rockland's only B2B resource

RBA/United Way Golf Outing
A beautiful day for all

RBA Happenings
• Committee and Council Info
• Calendar of Events
• New Members

One of the biggest issues that many small business owners voiced in a recent Rockland Business Digest survey was a lack of qualified candidates to fill their positions. Many potential employees have a different lament—they are indeed well qualified, but can’t find anyone to hire them.

Tomorrow’s Workplace bridges that gap. Tomorrow’s Workplace was established to assist job seekers and employers by providing job search services and information to create a viable labor market in Rockland County.

Services at Tomorrow’s Workplace are available to anyone who is interested, and includes those who are employed, unemployed, underemployed, attending school and anyone else in need of information and job search tools and resources. With a staff of 12, the program has a budget of $1.2 million and works with 700 people each month.

At their resource center, the following agencies have representation: Rockland BOCES, Community Action Partnership of Rockland, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Rockland County Department of Social Services, Office for the Aging, Rockland Community College and VESID.

“Our goal is to create a viable and vigorous labor market in Rockland County,” says Jennifer M. DeLeon, the executive director of Tomorrow’s Workplace, which is based on Perlman Drive in Spring Valley. DeLeon, a former Fordham University program manager, took over the top spot in May, succeeding Pam Weisberg, who left for a job in the private sector. DeLeon has worked at Fordham since 1997, most recently in the Office of Career Planning and Placement, where she was manager of special programs. She has lived in Rockland since 2001.

What You’ll Find
In essence, this is a high-tech user-friendly employment resource center; there are state-of-the-art tools and technology to help anyone become competitive in today’s job market. Job seekers can access info and programs on a website, or in the center, free of charge, while employers can work within Employer Center which provides a wide range of services to assist in human resource and staffing needs.

For those interested in sales, the Sales and Service Training Institute at Tomorrow’s Workplace provides comprehensive training programs in sales and customer service. These programs cover a wide variety of skills that help unemployed and employed individuals become more proficient and enhance their skills when dealing with the public. Recently, they sponsored a seminar at the Nanuet Mall.

Tomorrow’s Workplace works with small companies and large businesses, including some of the largest corporations in the county. They also work with other employers in the region to ensure a well-trained and competitive workforce. RBD

For more information about the services offered to employers, contact Tomorrow’s Workplace at: One Perlman Drive, Spring Valley, NY 356-5100; or visit them online at: www.tomorrowsworkplace.org.

Hours:
Monday 9:00am - 4:30pm
Tuesday 9:00am - 4:30pm
Wednesday 9:00am - 4:30pm
Thursday 9:00am - 9:00pm
Friday 9:00am - 4:30pm

Leadership Rockland Graduates Class of 2007
For almost two decades, Leadership Rockland has run a program that is designed to “identify, Inform and Inspire leaders to better serve our community by increasing their awareness of the many facets of Rockland County.” Students, who apply to join the program and then pay $1,000 tuition, are exposed to different dimensions in Rockland’s landscape to better equate them with the issues of the day and to arm them with the tools to make a difference in the county’s future.
“Our goal is to attract and nurture exceptional leaders and to provide opportunities and structure for a continuum of professional development activity which will enhance their knowledge of Rockland County,” said Roberta R. Zampolin, the elected chairwomen of the Leadership Rockland Board of Directors.

The Class of 2006 is ready to graduate and the 2007 Leadership Rockland Class Graduation & Annual Alumni Reunion Dinner will be held at the Pearl River Hilton on June 21. The evening will also honor Frank Broelli, Jr. as Leader of the Year.

For more information or to make reservations, contact Samira Allen, Program Administrator at 845-598-7006. RBD

Rockland Youth Volunteers Are Honored
The 27th Annual Youth Forum and Awards honored many of the county residents, including three teenagers, who have shown tremendous volunteer efforts and texceptional community service. The Awards were presented by the Rockland County Youth Bureau’s Volunteer Board of Directors at an event on the evening of May 10th.

“All of the honorees have volunteered much of their time to serve our community and we thank them for their outstanding efforts,” said County Executive Scott Vanderhoef. “Their dedication helps encourage other members of our community to get involved and make a difference.”

High school seniors Daniel Mann and Kathleen Edsall received the Joseph A. Myers Outstanding Youth Volunteer Award. Mann, a student at Clarkstown North High School, has been involved with the New City Ambulance Corps, the Clarkstown Central School Board, the Clarkstown Youth Court and Healing the Children. Edsall of Pearl River High School has been extremely active with the Orangetown Youth Police Academy, St. Margaret’s Children’s Choir and the Girl Scouts of America.

Daniel and Kathleen will each receive a $1,000 award for their community service which were made possible through donations from local private corporations including Provident Bank, Avon Products, Barr Pharmaceuticals, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Inserra Supermarkets and Tilcon.

Barry Lewis presented the Fourth Annual Bobbi Lewis Service to Youth Award to Stephen Dorfman, a senior at Clarkstown South High School, who contributed hundreds of hours to several worthy causes such as the Rockland County Explorers Post, the New City Volunteer Fire Department, the Jewish War Veterans, the American Cancer Society and the Rockland County YouthFest. He also received a $1,000 scholarship.

The Father F. Peter Malet Service to Youth Award was given to CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) of Rockland by the Chairman of the Youth Bureau’s Board of Directors, Dr. Walter Schneider and Gail Curtin will receive the Adult Volunteer Award from the Vice-Chair of the Youth Bureau, Dr. Debra Thomas. RBD

CASA of Rockland County, a not-for-profit organization that works with the Family Court, enlists volunteers to act as advocates for youngsters in foster care. The CASA program is in its 20th year of operation and has assisted more than 400 children and youth, many from abused and neglected backgrounds.