(WNY News Now) A historic $1.625 million award from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation is expected to boost Chautauqua County’s economic development initiatives and signal a turning point in the development of the area.
New York’s Jamestown.The Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth (CCPEG) is governed by the Chautauqua Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC), which approved the acceptance of a $1.625 million three-year funding award from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation on Tuesday, November 19.
The grant award, which represents CCPEG’s greatest financial commitment to date, will primarily fund the implementation of priority projects that line with the county’s economic development strategy, while also expanding and improving CCPEG’s administrative and project development capability. For catalytic economic and community development projects looking for funding from a variety of local, state, federal, and charitable sources, this flexible funding pool is intended to supply vital local matching funds.
As the County’s Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and CEO of the County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency (CCIDA), Mark Geise, co-chair of the CCPEG Advisory Board, expressed his gratitude to the Wilson Foundation for their ongoing support and his satisfaction with the Partnership for Economic Growth’s ability to foster partnerships and investments in the county’s top economic and community development initiatives.
In 2020, the Partnership for Economic Growth completed and approved a five-year plan for economic development. Five major initiatives and numerous other important recommendations that should be implemented by both individual and group partners were developed as a result of this thorough approach. It provides a clear vision for attaining economic development in Chautauqua County and was intended to act as a call to action. Most significantly, it encourages a cooperative, county-wide perspective that backs significant projects and calculated investments to gradually improve Chautauqua County’s economic standing in Western New York and throughout the state.
Although the strategic plan functions as a guide, partners meet on a regular basis in five separate work groups to determine priorities in the fields of infrastructure, housing, workforce readiness and development, placemaking, and business development. CCPEG uses this approach to find, evaluate, create, support, and carry out certain activities, projects, programs, and initiatives that fit the strategy.
Although the precise projects that will get funding from the Wilson Foundation award have not yet been decided, decision-making will be guided by factors like project readiness, feasibility, and economic effect.
Since the partnership’s inception in 2019, Chautauqua County has received over $45 million in financing to assist dozens of priority projects, according to Nathan Aldrich, CREDC and CCPEG’s Economic Development Manager.
According to Aldrich, this second significant grant win is revolutionary and will allow us to not only carry on with our work but also advance it. In the next years, we anticipate the enormous impact this investment will have on our capacity to carry out our purpose and carry out a number of ground-breaking economic development initiatives.
Geise and Aldrich both expressed gratitude to the Gebbie Foundation, which has supported the project, and the Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation (NCCF), which advanced the formulation of the countywide economic development strategy and the launch of CCPEG.
We would like to express our gratitude to all of our dedicated partners, donors, Advisory Board members, and staff for their commitment to this special public-private economic development partnership, in addition to the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, NCCF, and the Gebbie Foundation,” Geise stated.