CenterState CEO, SU’s SSIC to use federal funding to prep area businesses for Micron’s arrival

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — CenterState CEO and Syracuse University’s South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) will use federal funding awards to help prepare area businesses for the impending arrival of Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU).

SSIC will allocate its $1 million in funding to upgrade the facility along South Salina Street to expand workforce training and “prepare local small [businesses] to succeed in the semiconductor industry through CenterState CEO,” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.) and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) announced Friday afternoon.

In addition, CenterState CEO will use its $2 million award to “boost supply chain capacity,” per the announcement.

The lawmakers said they secured the $3 million in the fiscal–year 2024 appropriations bills.

“From upgrading facilities on Syracuse University’s South Side Innovation Center to help training our workforce and increasing small businesses’ ability to access the semiconductor industry, this funding will help get Central NY ready for the transformation ahead,” Schumer said in the announcement. “This will work hand-in-hand with the vision I created with Tech Hub designation for Syracuse & Upstate NY, to ensure that Micron and many other projects spurred by my CHIPS & Science Act are a success, laying the foundation so the future of Upstate NY is brighter than its past.”

SSIC funding

SSIC will use its funding to “modernize” its facilities to better serve Syracuse’s south side and surrounding communities.

The work will include compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility regulations; infrastructure upgrades to reflect “current business needs and workspace expectations,” and technology upgrades to “provide 21st century business and technical training in an inducive and innovative environment,” Schumer’s office said.

The project supports entrepreneurship and economic development on the south side of Syracuse, an area that has faced higher levels of unemployment, high concentrations of poverty, and limited economic activity, and it “has the potential to ensure that upcoming economic development investments will be equitable and inclusive.”

CenterState CEO funding

This funding will help CenterState CEO prepare local businesses — with a focus on minority, women, and/ or veteran owned businesses — to access procurement and other business opportunities related to the Micron project in the town of Clay, “empowering these local businesses to add new jobs, make new capital investments, and generate new business,” per Schumer’s office.

CenterState CEO will work with local partners to promote procurement opportunities to regional businesses and identity specific procurement opportunities that local businesses “may be suited to fulfill,” ranging from construction trades and high-tech manufacturing to industrial laundry services and catering.

CenterState CEO will also help local businesses target procurement and other business opportunities at Tier I semiconductor suppliers in New York state. More specifically, CenterState CEO will provide local businesses with business advising and technical–consulting services, assistance accessing growth funding, and connecting to the growing list of companies participating locally in this industry.

The funding will also support efforts to attract and provide soft–landing services to Micron’s supply–chain companies that are looking to locate in this region. It’s meant to help them connect with local and state incentives, coordinate with local workforce–development collaboratives, and identify and target real estate in areas that are “accessible to underserved workers and are in need of economic revitalization.”