State officials on Monday hailed a $5 million grant awarded to D’Youville College and its proposed health center project as an economic catalyst for Buffalo’s West Side, and a sign of the city’s renaissance.
“Think about 10,000 — 10,000 jobs in health care that will have to be filled over the next six years, in Buffalo and Western New York,” said Mayor Byron W. Brown, during a news conference Monday at the college. “D’Youville will be on the front lines of preparing people in our community to fill those jobs.”
D’Youville has proposed the construction of a three-story, 50,000 square foot health care training and workforce development building, called the Health Professions Hub, near the Connecticut and West streets intersection. The project has an estimated $20 million price tag, and is receiving a boost from New York’s Higher Education Capital Matching Fund.
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Buffalo’s state legislative delegation said D’Youville’s $5 million HECap grant award, announced Monday at the news conference, is a major accomplishment.
“Colleges and universities, these are the safest economic development bets going,” said Assemblyman Sean M. Ryan, D-Buffalo.
Ryan told The News three $5 million grants were awarded by HECap this year. The other two went to Columbia University and New York University, respectively, he said.
The college’s project would provide city residents with health care services, “capitalizing” on majors at D’Youville including primary care, chiropractic care, physical and occupational therapies, and dietetics, among other things, said Maureen Finney, dean of D’Youville’s School of Health.
Western New York is considered a health professional shortage area, Ryan said, a federally designated classification that notes a lack of primary care, dental care or mental health care providers. The Health Professions Hub is an essential component in local efforts to combat the possibility of thousands of health care jobs going unfilled by 2024, said state Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-63rd district.
“Students coming out of D’Youville can seize those jobs, and stay here,” added state Sen. Chris Jacobs, R-60th district.
Ryan noted that the building would be in a census tract with a percent poverty rate of about 40 percent, according to federal data.
D’Youville’s health care project is just another example of the college’s efforts to help lift local residents out of poverty, Brown said.
“This Health Professions Hub is expected to provide for the health care needs of 10,000 people in our community,” the mayor said. “That’s good news for Buffalo, good news for the West Side.”
But there’s still $15 million left to raise before D’Youville meets its estimated project cost.
Colin Nekritz, D’Youville’s director of marketing and communications, said the college is planning a capital campaign to help meet that goal. He said the school is trying to entice "bigger donors" and also will consider dedicating the building in someone's name.
That process is expected to take two years, the spokesman added.
Nekritz said the proposed site of the Health Professions Hub, a parking lot, is owned by D’Youville. D’Youville has to buy a garage property nearby as part of the project, Nektriz said, but the college has “dibs on it,” and that shouldn’t be a problem.
