U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand today revealed that the Hudson Valley will receive $35,694,472 in community project funding from the omnibus end-of-year spending package for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 for critical local projects.
“From boosting lifesaving cancer treatment at Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern to connecting communities along the scenic Hudson River in Westchester and Rockland to boosting public safety in New Rochelle and finally fixing our aging water infrastructure in Middletown, these projects will address some of the most critical infrastructure, public health, and community needs across the Hudson Valley,” said Senator Schumer. “This funding means good-paying jobs, gun violence prevention programs, safer streets, a cleaner environment, getting lifesaving healthcare where it’s needed most, and so much more. I am proud to deliver this major over $35 million investment in the Hudson Valley’s future.”
“This is a critical investment that will help revitalize the Hudson Valley,” said Senator Gillibrand. “Today, we are committing to putting millions toward rebuilding our roads and sewers, improving public safety, and expanding health care access. I’m proud to have fought to secure this funding and I’ll work tirelessly to make sure Hudson Valley families, workers, and businesses have what they need to thrive.”
The successful Community Project Funding requests are as follows:
MUNICIPAL INFRASTRUCTURE UPGRADES (7 Projects, $19,150,472)
- $5,000,000 For The Town of Orangetown To Complete Route 9W Safety Improvements At Oak Tree Road: The funding will build a single-lane roundabout at the intersection of Oak Tree Road and Route 9W in Palisades, New York, where many accidents occur every year. This project was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $4,000,000 For The Village of Ossining To Construct Its Route 9 Road Diet: The funding will design and construct a road diet to improve safety and balance the Route 9 corridor in the Village of Ossining. Earlier this year, village officials met with Senator Schumer and Congressman Jones’ offices to show them the dangerous intersection leading to this successful funding request. This project was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $3,452,972 For The City of Middletown To Make Critical Water System Improvements: This project will commence phase three of a multi-stage upgrade to the City of Middletown’s water infrastructure. These funds will go towards replacing pipes from 1887 with new infrastructure and builds on the funding that Senator Schumer secured last year to expand reliable water infrastructure for Middletown residents and businesses. This project was in partnership with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.
- $2,797,500 For Westchester County And Scenic Hudson To Construct The Route 9-RiverWalk Transit Connector: The funding will connect Route 9 neighborhoods and businesses with the iconic Westchester RiverWalk. This ADA-compliant trail connection will provide bicycle and pedestrian access between Tarrytown Station, a multi-modal transportation hub, and homes, businesses, and jobs. This was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $2,400,000 For The Village of New Square To Make Key Drainage And Flood Mitigation Improvements: The funding will replace storm sewers with larger diameter pipes for increased flow capacity and the ability to provide some attenuation of peak flows by providing increased storage capacity. In New Square, a densely populated urban center, flooding impacts thousands of residents and businesses in a short timeframe, creating significant health and safety hazards, a problem that this project seeks to help address. This project was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $1,500,000 For Water Treatment Facility Improvements In The Village Of Kiryas Joel: This investment will help the village enhance its publicly-owned water treatment facility. Modernized upgrades will help the village to create cleaner and more reliable water for its residents.
- $1,000,000 For The Town Of Poughkeepsie’s Hudson Heritage Sewer System Project: Hudson Heritage is a mixed-use development project on the 156-acre site of the former Hudson River Psychiatric Center. This funding will allow the Town of Poughkeepsie to create a waste water system at the site, entirely within a federally-designated Environmental Justice Area.
HEALTHCARE, ARTS AND EDUCATION (12 Projects, $14,869,000)
- $2,000,000 For Good Samaritan Hospital To Construct Oncology Surgical Suite: This funding will provide Hudson Valley patients who need cancer surgery a fully-equipped and dedicated surgical oncology room with on-demand service that will offer responsive, timely cancer surgeries and will result in increased patient satisfaction as well as improved health outcomes. This funding follows Senator Schumer’s personal visit to Suffern’s Good Samaritan Hospital in November of 2021.
- $2,000,000 For Sun River Health To Build A New Urgent Care Center In Beacon: This project will renovate the Beacon Health Center in Dutchess County to significantly expand access and capacity, raise visibility, and contribute to community revitalization in downtown Beacon. The new Urgent Care Center will provide walk-in access to a full complement of primary care services, as well as radiology and labs, through expanded hours of service, including weekends, with easy linkage to a medical home for ongoing primary, preventive, behavioral and oral health care. This project was in partnership with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.
- $1,975,000 For Montefiore Nyack Hospital To Upgrade Critical Electrical Infrastructure: Montefiore Nyack will purchase and install two new emergency generators allowing for greater capacity for critical equipment not currently on emergency power. This includes much of the hospital cooling in patient care areas. The plan will also develop campus wide emergency power generation capacities to allow for sustained operation in the event of prolonged power failure. This funding follows multiple meetings and months of work between Senator Schumer’s team and Montefiore Nyack.
- $1,900,000 For New York Medical College To Implement Its Equity And Compassion In Medical Education Project: This project will expand a highly specialized healthcare training facility to provide students and residents with patient encounters specifically engineered to teach and test their ability to recognize patients’ issues that go deeper than the health problems they report. The project will train healthcare professionals in Westchester and Rockland to better serve diverse populations, not only with standard practices, but also systemic issues of food insecurity, sustainability, substandard housing, and resilience during community-wide emergencies This project was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $1,600,000 For Storm King To Complete Its Entrance and Conservation Facility Renovation Project: This project will complete the renovation of the entrance and welcome facilities to the park along with the facility used for the conservation of art projects. This project will help sustain tourism and economic development in Orange County and the surrounding towns. This project was in partnership with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.
- $1,300,000 For Jawonio To Construct A State-Of-The-Art Behavioral Health Center: This funding will build out a new space in Rockland County for the Jawonio Behavioral Health Center where people with a mental health diagnosis and the dually diagnosed can receive holistic mental health services, achieve their recovery goals, and actively participate in their community. The program is unique as it provides integrated psychiatric rehabilitation and clinical services that promote treatment through a recovery-oriented lens. This was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $1,000,000 For Good Samaritan Hospital To Construct Modernized Cancer Screening Endoscopy: The funding will be used to establish a modernized Cancer Screening Endoscopy suite to facilitate preventative screenings aimed at detecting cancerous growths during early treatable stages that are commonly without external symptoms. . This funding follows Senator Schumer’s personal visit to Suffern’s Good Samaritan Hospital in November of 2021. This was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $1,000,000 For St. John’s Riverside Hospital To Upgrade Its Emergency Department: This funding will renovate and expand the Emergency Department space at St. John’s Riverside Hospital to add additional patient care space and workstations to the currently overcrowded location. This hospital primarily serves Medicaid and Medicare recipients, and the renovations will help create a safer and more effective healthcare delivery setting. This funding builds on Schumer’s successful 2021 CDS request which revamped the hospital’s maternity unit. This project was in partnership with Congressman Jamaal Bowman.
- $825,000 For New York Medical College To Launch The Women’s Institute for Science Entrepreneurship (WISE): This transformative program will support female undergraduates pursuing STEM education to cultivate new scientific concepts and launch new businesses. WISE creates a multidisciplinary entrepreneurship educational opportunity for students and launches careers for alumni who will make significant differences to their communities and around the world.
- $537,000 For Access: Supports for Living For A Renovation & Training Facility: This will fund the renovation of the Access: Supports for Living’s headquarters, creating functional, efficient space, including shared workspace used by staff working in program administration. This will allow one of Orange County’s largest employers to eliminate other costly, inefficient space, and redeploy those funds into serving the community. Senator Schumer worked closely with Access to secure this funding and was honored with their Vision of Hope award last year for his efforts.
- $500,000 For The Westchester Residential Opportunities Aging-In-Place Home Repair Program: This funding will launch an Aging-in-Place Home Repair program, which will support aging-in-place repairs, energy efficiency, and healthy living for Westchester County’s seniors. This was in partnership with Congressman Mondaire Jones.
- $250,000 For Riverkeeper’s Water Quality Web Portal: This funding will support Riverkeeper in updating and expanding upon this nearly 10-year-old data portal, in order to better serve the public’s interest in safe recreation, and inform climate-resilient water quality improvements and equitable access to the joys of outdoor recreation. Riverkeeper’s Publicly Accessible Water Quality Web Portal will be a collection of unique scientific data on the presence of E.coli and Enterococcus, two fecal-indicator bacteria, in the Hudson River, New York Harbor, and many tributaries.
PUBLIC SAFETY AND COMMUNITY VIOLENCE INTERVENTION (3 Projects, $1,675,000)
- $1,125,000 For Justice Innovation Inc. To Implement The New Rochelle Community Youth Violence Intervention Initiative: This funding would be used to prevent youth violence in New Rochelle. Project staff will leverage the services of local social service providers, reengage disconnected youth, support their enrollment and completion of socioemotional, educational, and economic services, and facilitate the improvement of their economic self-sufficiency, thereby improving community violence outcomes. This project was in partnership with Congressman Jamaal Bowman.
- $300,000 For The City Of Middletown Police Department To Upgrade Its Police Security and Technology: This project will assist with the acquisition of additional public security cameras and license plate readers, which will help with the investigation of criminal activity. This project will contribute to public safety in Middletown by providing first responders with additional tools to prevent criminal activity. This project was in partnership with Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney.
- $250,000 For The City Of New Rochelle To Make Key Upgrades To Its Youth Bureau: The funding will be used to furnish, outfit, and establish the first-ever youth-based community center in New Rochelle, to be managed by the City of New Rochelle’s Department of Parks and Recreation and Youth Bureau. The community center will be located in downtown New Rochelle, where there are thousands of low- and moderate-income children and families living and working within walking distance. This funding follow’s Senator Schumer’s personal meeting with the New Rochelle NAACP earlier this year.