By GREGORY ZELLER //
With new water-quality and childcare initiatives front and center, New York State has announced $56.4 million in fresh economic- and community-development funding for Long Island.
The funds, announced Dec. 30, are split into two tranches: $30 million through the state’s Advancing Collaboration for High-Impact Initiatives for the Economic Visions & Expansion competition, which Gov. Kathy Hochul kicked off in May, and $26.4 million through Albany’s annual Regional Economic Development Council initiative.
The $26.4 million is earmarked for 29 distinct projects across Nassau and Suffolk Counties, including $5 million for a new Town of Brookhaven wastewater treatment plant, $3.5 million for new residential water and sewer lines in the Town of Riverhead, $3.2 million for similar water/sewer construction in the Town of East Hampton and $1.3 million for an expansion of the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreational Center.
Hope Knight: New funding for new ideas.
Dozens of smaller Long Island projects – $100,000 to support the Tilles Jazz Fest on Long Island University’s Brookville campus, $75,000 for new tourism campaign at Garden City’s Cradle of Aviation Museum and $50,000 to support the Village of Port Jefferson’s climate-resiliency plan, among others – were also included in the 2025 package.
The 29 awarded projects will leverage an additional $66.1 million in public and private investments, according to the Empire State Development Corp.
While technically part of the statewide REDC process, the high-stakes ACHIEVE competition – which encourages regional stakeholders to focus on economic-development projects that create jobs and encourage private investments – awarded a total of $150 million, shared by four of the state’s 10 economic regions.
The $30 million in ACHIEVE funding awarded to Long Island is earmarked for the creation of a Regional Commercialization Corridor that funnels Island-based research and manufacturing toward New York City’s capital-investment and commercialization pipelines. Advanced materials manufacturing, new aerospace and defense components and high-tech “green” energy systems are all in play.
While the total number of Long Island-based projects supported by the annual REDC initiative declined dramatically year-over-year – more than five dozen individual projects earned $27.5 million in REDC funding in the 2024 round – Long Island’s REDC windfall more than doubled in 2025, thanks primarily to the lucrative ACHIEVE competition.
Jazz hand: Long Island University’s Tilles Jazz Fest is among the Long Island programs earning 2025 REDC funding.
That makes the 2025 package one for the books, according to LIREDC Co-chairwoman Linda Armyn, president and CEO of FourLeaf Federal Credit Union, and Kimberly Cline, president of LIU.
“We are also grateful to our council members and partners whose leadership and hard work continue to drive progress,” the co-chairs said in a statement. “These investments will strengthen our communities, support local businesses and create new opportunities for Long Island residents.”
Empire State Development President, CEO and Commissioner Hope Knight praised the statewide REDCs – founded in 2011 by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo – for “continuing to recommend proposals that will create jobs and spur new growth.”
“By awarding state funding to projects that align with regional priorities, New York is investing in new ideas, new efforts and new developments to promote community growth throughout the state,” Knight added.
