Paul Szmal: It is 8.38 on FLX Morning here on Finger Lakes News Radio. We welcome in Jeff Shimpley from Discover Seneca, the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce. Good morning, Jeff.
Jeff Shipley: Good morning, Paul. Glad to be with you.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. Glad to have you back. It's been a while since you and I have had a chance to chat.
Jeff Shipley: It has. We're getting the band back together again, I see, though.
Paul Szmal: Yeah. There we go.
We had a conversation today talking about the Chamber University Program. What is that all about?
Jeff Shipley: Yeah. So this is an opportunity for the Chamber of Commerce to bring forward some practical, you know, real life experience or expertise in a particular matter. We really have a great, diverse wealth of knowledge in our chamber community. And so we bring sessions to the forefront. So every month or so really meant to, again, expand the knowledge, the awareness of things happening in our community. So we have a couple of really exciting ones that I'm glad to be able to tell your audience about the first one. And we call that, by the way, Chamber University. It's our little moniker to sort of denote what people are going to get when they come to these educational sessions.
So the first one that's coming up is this Thursday, actually. And for those people in Seneca County, you really don't even have to be in Seneca County, but all four school districts in Seneca County, the superintendents are going to come together and they're going to update our business community on what's called the portrait of a graduate. It's a new program, a new initiative in New York State to really redefine the graduation requirements and the graduation process. And so the school districts in New York State are going to be going to a, moving to a one high school diploma rather than Regents and a non-Regents diploma. They're moving to one high school diploma, they're kind of redefining the graduation process to include experience and skill sets.
And so Paul, one of the things that I get all the time from business owners, local business owners is, you know, issues regarding the local workforce, you know, do we have the right skillsets? Are the students coming out of high school being given the real life experiences that they're going to need to succeed? Right here is a perfect opportunity to connect with our school superintendents and really insert yourself, insert the local business community's needs into this process. And so we're really excited about this session. It's going to be, again, this Thursday in the afternoon, call our chamber to register for this, but really a great opportunity for the local business community to work with the local school district on building that workforce of tomorrow. So we're really, really excited about that particular one.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, it sounds like this is going to be a pretty interesting program, should have some pretty good data coming out the other side of it, I would think.
Jeff Shipley: You know, we really hope so, and we really think that this could be one of those touchstone, monumental moments for our community to engage with the school system. And we're all in this together, obviously, and this is a great opportunity to learn more and more importantly, connect with the leadership at the school system. And so we're really excited.
That's our first chamber opportunity. And then the second chamber university is going to be happening a week from this week, where we're going to be hosting the leadership at Wegmans. And they're going to come down and talk about how to build a great workplace culture. And not only that, but how to build a workplace culture for women as well. You know, Wegmans is routinely cited as one of the best places to work in not just this region, but in America. And we can learn a lot from our members over at Wegmans. We're really, really excited to come and hear this great conversation, this great session. It's going to be actually happening at the theater in the National Women's Rights Historical Park. And what better way to kick off Women's History Month, which starts in March, than with this really, really dynamic talk from Wegmans at a place very special to all of us, but also the women's rights movement.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, perfect timing for Women's History Month in March. We're talking with Jeff Shipley from the Seneca County Chamber of Commerce and Discover Seneca here on FLX Morning. One of the projects that you've been working on that's getting a couple of steps closer to reality is the Underground Railroad Corridor. Can you give us an update on where we stand with that, Jeff?
Jeff Shipley: I sure can. So this is an initiative that tourism offices across the state have been working on diligently for some time now. And the first phase has been to garner support. And garner support from, more importantly, the municipalities that the proposed trail will run through. So the Underground Railroad is planned to be a 550-mile experience from New York City to Niagara Falls. And it's going to be the largest trail of its kind in the country. And we're really, really excited about that.
And one of the things that we've been working on is to ensure that the trail comes through our neck of the woods. And so obviously, with Auburn being the home of Harriet Tubman, very centralized place on this trail, and we've been able to work with them to plan the connectivity route right through Seneca Falls, going through the heart of women's rights in Seneca Falls and in Waterloo and into Geneva and then points west. So we've been working on securing support from our local legislators over the last couple of months. We've got Seneca County that has already signed their support. The towns of Waterloo and the village of Waterloo has also signed their support. We're going to be coming to the town of Tyre this week and the town of Seneca Falls next week. We're really excited. This is really nearing the first hurdle in this process. It's been met with a lot of positivity throughout the state, not just our region.
But the other thing here, Paul, to keep in mind is we are always looking to bring opportunities forward to increase the tourism experience and, more importantly, bring in more visitor dollars in the shoulder seasons, in those off seasons, the January, February, March type of year, time of year. And with February being Black History Month, this presents a world of opportunities for not just Seneca County but also Geneva and Ontario County, Cayuga County, all of those places in the Finger Lakes who's got a really compelling story to tell on the Underground Railroad.
Paul Szmal: Jeff Shipley joining us here on FLX Morning. And I'm going to have you keep the tourism hat on here for a moment, Jeff, as we talk about some of the tourism initiatives for the upcoming spring season. What's on the bonfire for the springtime?
Jeff Shipley: Yes, sir. So we're always looking to equip the visitor with knowledge to not just sort of meet the moment for where they might be at any one given time in our area, but also to equip them with a world of opportunities to go explore the rest of our region. The Finger Lakes is so vast, so big, and so are our communities, quite honestly. And so this year, we're going to be coming out with a couple new items, one of which we're really excited is a tear-off map. And you know, you think, Paul, in this day and age, everyone with their head kind of buried in their smartphone, right? That it's the digital age and people don't want paper couldn't be the farthest thing from the truth. It's the farthest thing from the truth, actually. The people are looking for maps. They're looking for things that they can hold in their hand and see.
So we're building, we're creating a tear-off map of our community that outlines all of the tourism experiences to behold in a really fun, illustrated way for all of our tourism information centers throughout the county and as well as some of our establishments like wineries or restaurants or hotels, obviously, to navigate our visitor around the community to see other things that would be great experiences for them. So we're really excited about the tear-off map. It's the first time we've we've done something like this and we think we really have a fun design on store.
And then the other thing is we're always targeting digital advertisements to hopefully influence and lure prospective visitors to our community. And so we've really been reworking the heart of our digital advertisements over the last couple of months to include new video content, some of those really captivating content that you have to see to appreciate in the Finger Lakes. And so we're really excited to launch a new version of our advertisements that's going to start in March and really help to influence those visitors for the spring and into the summer travel season here when when everyone knows that that lives here in the Finger Lakes, Paul, everyone knows that's when our area really comes alive from a tourism standpoint.
Paul Szmal: Indeed, it does. And there's also been some updates to the visitor's guide, too, correct?
Jeff Shipley: Yeah, you know, this visitor guide for Seneca County has won the best of the state for the last for two out of the last six years. We're super proud of that. We build off a theme of outdoor adventure and there are so many wonderful outdoor experiences to be had in Seneca County, certainly, and throughout the Finger Lakes. And so that's what our visitor guide is really focused on coming up this year. And we're really, really proud of the work. And more importantly, you know, it kind of speaks to what I just said with the tear off map. People are looking to hold something, see something, read about some of the captivating stories we have in the Finger Lakes. And that's what our visitor guide does. It really highlights the work of a lot of very talented individuals in this area. So we're going to be launching that at the end of April. And we're super excited about the season to come.
Paul Szmal: And wrap up the conversation this morning. I wanted to get an update on the mobile path system that you've been working on.
Jeff Shipley: So this, again, is a new new new venture for us, a way to incorporate technology into our efforts. And basically it's going to use a phone, a mobile smartphone is going to be a kind of a personal concierge, if you will, for visitors to our community and not just visitors. But you can be a visitor in your own backyard, as we know here and we encourage. So from the confines of your phone, you're going to be able to see all sorts of different experiences to to learn about, to visit and also deals and discounts that might be happening at those wonderful places. So we're excited about this one as well. It's another part of our of our tourism marketing toolkit here. And we're happy to build and hopefully see how this mobile concierge service in your phone works and is able to help this visitor experience here in the community.
Paul Szmal: Great conversation as always, Jeff. Thanks for the information. Much appreciated, sir.
Jeff Shipley: Thank you, Paul.
Paul Szmal: It is 8.50 on FLX morning.
