AFTER FIGHTING FOR OVER A YEAR, SCHUMER ANNOUNCES WESTERN NY AS WINNER OF HISTORIC EDA REGIONAL CHALLENGE, BRINGING $25 MILLION TO WNY TO DEVELOP GROUNDWORK FOR MAJOR MANUFACTURING & TECH HUB; AFTER HIS PERSONAL ADVOCACY, SCHUMER DELIVERS MAJOR FED FUNDING TO REVITALIZE EAST BUFFALO, TRAIN WORKERS FOR GOOD-PAYING JOBS & TRANSFORM BUFFALO’S ECONOMY

After Schumer Directly Lobbied President Biden And Commerce Secretary To Advocate For Buffalo And WNY, Senator Delivers $25M To Train Workers And Bring Major New Opportunities In Tech And Manufacturing To Underserved Communities

WNY Advanced Manufacturing Cluster Will Advance Inclusive Workforce Development And Redevelop Industrial Sites To Expand The Advanced Manufacturing Sector

Schumer: Major Federal Investment Will Transform East Buffalo And Western New York, Giving The Region The Backing To Become The America’s Next Manufacturing And Tech Hub!

Following his personal appeal to President Biden and direct advocacy that secured Western New York’s spot as a finalist in the American Rescue Plan’s EDA Regional Challenge, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer today announced that Buffalo has been selected as a winner of the EDA Regional Challenge and will receive $25 million for the Western New York Advanced Manufacturing Coalition to train workers for in-demand jobs and position the region for new opportunities to grow American manufacturing. Schumer said this major federal funding, which he has fought to deliver for months, will elevate the region as America’s next major manufacturing hub and position it well for a federal tech hub designation as part of the new Regional Technology Hubs Program that was created in Schumer’s CHIPS and Science Act that was recently signed into law. This investment and the new opportunities it creates will fundamentally reshape the Western New York economic landscape and create a more equitable and brighter future for all of Buffalo.

“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that will transform Western New York’s legacy as an industrial powerhouse into a new national advanced manufacturing and tech hub, bringing back good-paying jobs from overseas and training our workforce to benefit from those new opportunities. I am proud to personally deliver this game-changing $25 million to revitalize East Buffalo and show the rest of the country what I’ve long known: Western New York will be the foundation for America’s manufacturing future,” said Senator Schumer. “I made sure everyone knew my vision for what Buffalo can become, and took the voices of the people of Western New York all the way to the President promising them that I would deliver the funding they needed to help make these groundbreaking efforts a reality. I am happy to say a promise made is now a promise kept. This funding will make sure that the East Side community and Western New York are the ones who secure training and good-paying jobs to bring manufacturing back to America.”

After standing alongside President Biden in solidarity with Buffalo following the horrific mass shooting at the Tops Market on Jefferson Avenue, Schumer launched a major push to deliver the federal funding for this project to help train East Buffalo residents for good-paying manufacturing careers. This came after Schumer made multiple calls last year to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to advocate for the selection of Western New York as a finalist and for them to be selected as a winner for federal investment. Schumer personally visited the Northland Workforce Training Center earlier this year to double down on his efforts to secure the award announced today.

The $1 billion EDA Build Back Better Regional Challenge Program, created by the American Rescue Plan which Schumer authored, received 529 Phase 1 applications from across the United States, and the WNY Advanced Manufacturing Cluster was one of only 60 proposals selected as a Phase 1 awardee allowing them to receive $500,000 in technical assistance to strengthen their project and compete for a Phase 2 final award which they received with this announcement. Only 21 of the original 529 applications nationally were selected as final awardees, including the WNY Advanced Manufacturing Cluster.

Schumer explained that the Western New York Advanced Manufacturing Cluster proposal, submitted by the Western New York Regional Economic Development Council (WNYREDC), will use the $25 million in funding awarded this week to help train workers for careers in manufacturing and tech by making a more diverse, highly skilled workforce and to expand opportunity for more workers to access good-paying and union jobs, with a focus on providing opportunities to East Buffalo residents. Specifically, funds will develop the Northland Corridor of Buffalo’s East Side, renovating two industrial buildings, creating a clean energy microgrid to power the campus, and supporting manufacturing training programs, including those offered at Buffalo Manufacturing Works.

In addition to his push for the EDA Regional Challenge award, Schumer has also highlighted bold new federal investment slated for research and development (R&D), entrepreneurship, tech training and education, and domestic manufacturing as a part of his recently signed into law CHIPS and Science Act that can also benefit Buffalo’s East Side and Western New York. These additional investments will work in unison with the efforts supported by the $25 million federal investment to expand the advanced manufacturing sector, boost training for underserved workers, and make the region into a national tech hub. His CHIPS and Science law includes the creation of a new $10 billion regional technology hub program, originally proposed in his bipartisan Endless Frontier Act introduced in 2020, that will select 20 regions around the country as tech hubs, which Western New York is primed to compete for by building off of the efforts of the Western New York Advanced Manufacturing Cluster.

In the past month, Schumer has passed some of the largest federal investments in decades to boost manufacturing in America, from his previously mentioned CHIPS And Science Act to the historic Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy manufacturing and fighting climate change in history, making today’s announcement for Western New York all the more timely to position the region for major new manufacturing opportunities.

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