When the Regional Economic Development Councils (REDC) were created in 2011, they were seen as a way to bring economic development in New York to a more local level that is community-driven and performance based. We’ve seen investment plans in these regions deliver projects like the Buffalo Billion and Nano-Utica that have brought positive outlooks to regions where SUNY campuses are key contributors to the workforce and economy. All of the strategic plans use a region’s strengths and resources, which include SUNY campuses, to boost the overall well-being and development potential of its area and population.

Early in 2015, Governor Cuomo introduced a new competition titled the Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI) to award a total of $1.5 billion to three regions to help transform local economies. The award winners were announced this week for the URI and Regional Economic Development Council Competition, and as in past economic development initiatives, our campuses were involved in large numbers. $23 million in investment is slated to go to SUNY campuses for future projects. It shows that SUNY will continue to be a key player in the developments that push our state into the future.

SUNY Poly

$1,600,000 – Acquisition of property and construction of a workforce training and educational facility in Rensselaer by Fuller Road Management Corporation on behalf of SUNY Polytechnic Institute to support the attraction of clean energy companies seeking commercial office and systems assembly space and further clean energy employment opportunities.

A roundup of these campus based awards are shown below. The full awards recap can be found in PDF format.

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By Taras Kufel