News

In the private sector, corporate sustainability is no longer a peripheral interest to be addressed with platitudes or tertiary pilot projects. Organizations that continue to ignore the impacts of climate change and other aspects of social responsibility in their core strategic planning increasingly do so at their own peril.

A new effort by a coalition of organizations and businesses to address what is described as "the housing crisis in Westchester" was launched June 24 with a news conference in front of the Regent Street Senior Apartments in Port Chester.

A new online resource enables Westchester County property owners to easily assess the feasibility of geothermal heating and cooling for any building or property in the County.

“At the Westchester County Association, we are pleased to be working with Tim Foley and the Building and Realty Institute on its Welcome Home Westchester campaign. The WCA has identified the shortage of affordable housing as one of our region’s principal economic challenges and last year we revised our Real Estate Policy Playbook to include a separate section on this issue,” Michael Romita, president & CEO of Westchester County Association said. “Adequate housing impacts directly the availability of a skilled local workforce for our businesses and nonprofits. It is not simply that there is not enough residential real estate. It is that the cost of housing is fast becoming out of reach for middle-class families. That threatens the long-term health of our economy. The BRI has heard the call and are helping take on this challenge.”

WCA's President & CEO Michael Romita and Chairman William Harrington are featured as two of the top names you need to know to do business in Westchester.

"We want to create a system that works for everybody. That's not only morally just, its good for business." Michael Romita, President & CEO of WCA

Westchester’s business community is confronting its biggest challenge in recent history: a grueling pandemic that’s slowed the economy to a crawl. That means Michael Romita — the new president/CEO of the WCA — has a Herculean task ahead of him. "We need to think more strategically about how our regional economy fits into the broader national conversation."

Many in the business community believe the county’s economy has the fundamentals in place to stage a strong recovery as vaccines become more available and schools transition back to normal operations. “We are pretty resilient,” says Michael Romita, president and CEO of the White Plains-based Westchester County Association. “We have a pretty diverse economic ecosystem. It is not dependent on any single sector of the economy.”

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. Considered a marker for the modern environmental movement, it was born of a bipartisan effort between a Democratic Senator from Wisconsin, a Republican Congressman from California and a small cohort of student activists. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did not yet exist. Neither did any of the laws or international treaties that now make up the canon of environmental protection.

The Westchester County Association (WCA) is one of seven organizations that have been selected to participate in Project OVERCOME, designed to speed up the delivery of broadband services to underserved communities across the United States.

White Plains, New York - (December 8, 2022) Susan Fox, WCA Board Chair, President & CEO, White Plains Hospital, and Michael N. Romita, President, and CEO of the Westchester County Association (WCA), announced this week that the WCA, the county’s premier business membership organization, will welcome eight new board members representing important industry sectors to bolster the WCA’s economic development and advocacy work.

White Plains, New York - (November 21, 2022)…. Westchester’s professional community packed the Westchester Marriott ballroom on November 17th for the Westchester County Association’s annual leadership dinner to honor Westchester’s most influential leaders and celebrate another year of impactful work by the WCA, the region’s premiere business advocacy and economic development organization.

White Plains, N.Y. (February 25, 2022) During the Annual County Executive’s Breakfast hosted by The Westchester County Association (WCA) on Thursday, February 24, 2022 at the Sleepy Hollow Hotel & Conference Center in Tarrytown, New York, County Executive George Latimer and WCA President & CEO Michael N. Romita jointly announced the launch of the Healthcare Talent Pipeline Program (HTPP).

The Westchester County Association (WCA) joined community leaders from Nonprofit Westchester (NPW), the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region (BRI), the Construction Industry Council of Westchester and Hudson Valley (CIC), and the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors (HGAR) to put forth an advocacy letter urging government officials to find statewide solutions to Westchester’s housing crisis.

Yonkers, N.Y. – Today, the Westchester County Association joined community leaders, elected officials, and project partners in a press conference at the Yonkers Public Library to highlight the latest developments since the launch of the Y-Zone (Yonkers Zone), a broadband pilot program funded by US Ignite and Schmidt Futures as part of Project Overcome.

White Plains, N.Y. (December 2, 2021) – The Westchester County Association (WCA) hosted their Annual Fall Leadership Event: Driving Westchester Forward on November 30 at the Westchester Marriot in Tarrytown, New York. With over 400 people in attendance, the evening honored the achievements of organizations Skanska, Westhab, and WMCHealth, as well as outgoing WCA Chairman William P. Harrington Esq., Partner at Bleakley Platt & Schmidt who received the Alfred B. DelBello Visionary Award.

White Plains, N.Y. (September 23, 2021) –The Westchester County Association (WCA) is excited to announce that at today’s meeting of the Board of Directors, Susan Fox, CEO and President of White Plains Hospital, was selected to succeed Bill Harrington as the next Chairperson of the WCA.

White Plains, N.Y. (November 23, 2021) – The Westchester County Association (WCA), and Nonprofit Westchester (NPW), are hosting a free virtual event, An Open Conversation with US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, on Thursday, December 9, 2021 at 1:30 – 3:00 p.m. EST. This event will include an interactive dialogue, discussing the most pressing issues impacting businesses and the Hudson Valley community.

White Plains, N.Y. (October 21, 2021) – Today, the Westchester County Association in partnership with the City of Yonkers, STEM Alliance, Yonkers Partners in Education (YPIE), Fordham University, and Westhab launched the much-anticipated Yonkers Zone (Y-Zone). This project is made possible through support from US Ignite, the National Science Foundation (NSF) (Award # CNS-2044448), and Schmidt Futures. By utilizing Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum, the newly deployed, digital opportunity zone provides free internet access to approximately 250 to 400 need-based households in downtown Yonkers.

The Westchester County Association (WCA) is hosting their 2nd Annual Regional Workforce Summit on Friday, April 23, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EST. Join the WCA and leaders from business, education, government, and nonprofits as they gather to discuss the mega shifts occurring in our region’s talent ecosystem. This event will showcase how businesses are leveraging the “new normal” in training, recruiting, and retention developments of the region’s talent.