ESD awards grant funds to Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley organizations

The board of directors of Empire State Development (ESD) on Thursday approved funding that benefits organizations in the Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley.

ESD approved the funding awarded through New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs).

The Southern Tier Region Economic Development Corporation (STREDC) will use a grant of up to $2.1 million to fund a regional grant program to provide health-care businesses and organizations with financial resources to improve health care in rural areas, ESD said in a news release.

STREDC is a nonprofit local-development organization that manages revolving-loan and grant funds and provides financial and technical assistance for startup and expanding businesses in the Southern Tier region.

STREDC will administer the regional grant-fund program to provide the local health-care industry and educational institutions with financial resources to purchase tele-health systems, equipment, software, mobile audio/video devices, and vehicles, ESD said.

The program will assist health-care businesses and organizations in securing equipment and devices that might otherwise not be available, while improving health-care delivery in rural areas, the agency explained.  

Businesses and nonprofits using these funds can identify their own priorities and structure projects to support local needs in targeted areas.

Of the eight counties in the Southern Tier region, four are ranked among the “unhealthiest” in New York, ESD said.

Besides the STREDC, ESD also approved REDC grants for two organizations in Oneida County. 

Mohawk Valley grants
The Upper Mohawk Valley Memorial Auditorium Authority will use grants of up to $1.95 million for a portion of the cost of façade work, construction, and renovations to the Utica Memorial Auditorium (The Aud).

The Auditorium Authority is a public authority formed in 1993 when the city of Utica transferred ownership of the Aud, according to ESD.

The Aud is undergoing “much needed” renovations, ESD said.

The Masonic Medical Research Laboratory (MMRL) in Utica, a biomedical-research institute, will use a grant of up to $300,000 for a portion of the cost of purchasing machinery and equipment.

The purchases are related to MMRL’s work to establish a new organ-bioengineering program at the stem-cell center of its Cardiac Research Institute to explore alternative therapies for end-stage heart failure, ESD said.

As a result of the project, the institute will retain 32 current jobs and will create two new jobs.  MMRL has already created one job, recruiting a new scientist.

The project is “consistent” with the Mohawk Valley Regional Economic Development Council strategic plan, pursuing “future success” from the semiconductor, nanoelectronics, clean technology, and other high-technology sectors such as biosciences, according to ESD.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com