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EDC's investment in educational projects as economic development
0:33:11
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3 min
Andrew Kimball explains EDC's perspective on educational investments as a crucial part of economic development in New York City. He highlights the significant economic impact of colleges and universities and the importance of education in the city's overall economic strategy.
- Colleges and universities generate $35 billion annually in economic impact and employ over 200,000 people
- Since 2021, over 500,000 recent college graduates have moved to New York City
- EDC incorporates DOE programs and CUNY schools into many of its economic development projects
- The Spark project is highlighted as an example of integrating education and economic development
- EDC's BUILD program focuses on tax-exempt bond financing for not-for-profits, including private schools and charter schools
Amanda Farías
0:33:11
Yeah.
0:33:11
I just think for us what we're always trying to manage is making sure that there's intercommunication, right?
0:33:17
And that what the right hand is saying, the left hand is saying and both agree upon just so when we're looking at those assumptions on whether or not OMB agrees with them or whether or not the work you folks are doing is calculated into the future projections.
0:33:33
So I appreciate the response.
0:33:37
We've also been joined by council member Rustler that I saw come in and step out shortly.
0:33:44
More than half of the new investment projects in fiscal twenty twenty four were for educational or social service oriented projects.
0:33:51
These are not the types of projects traditional considers economic development.
0:33:58
How do you evaluate the appropriateness of these investments as an economic development agency?
Andrew Kimball
0:34:04
Well, first of all, I I believe firmly that educational investments are a key part of economic development in the city.
0:34:15
We put out a study, I really encourage everybody to check out, on the state of academia in the city and just in the colleges and universities alone here, they generate $35,000,000,000 a year of economic impact and employ over 200,000 people.
0:34:29
So it's it is a key part of our economy, just in terms of their daily operations and functions, also in terms of the people that they graduate.
0:34:40
Just bear with me for a second because this is one of my favorite stats, but since 2021, over 500,000 recent college graduates, university graduates have moved to New York and they tend to stay here over ten years.
0:34:53
There was recent census updates that just came out that show our population growing for the first time.
0:35:00
A lot of that is foreign immigration and migration, but there's also internal, domestic migration into the city, and that tends to be very young and highly educated people.
0:35:10
There are another 500,000 students in colleges and universities right now.
0:35:14
That's a million people, college and university recent or current.
0:35:19
And then you've got, of course, the build up to all of that, starts at pre k and all the way through the system and high school.
0:35:27
So, we're really proud of the fact that many of our economic development projects incorporate, DOE programs, as well as, college programs, particularly CUNY.
0:35:39
And really the project that speaks to our values the most is the Spark project, where we're taking three CUNY schools, a two year, a four year, and a graduate school, incorporating them into one building with a STEM high school focused on public health and biotech careers on half of the campus.
0:35:57
On the other half of the campus will be a million square feet of private biotech and two city agencies.
0:36:03
All of those things will be wrapped together into one coherent economic development strategy.
0:36:08
So those students are stepping into internships, apprenticeships, training programs, so that they get into these high wage, high growth, sectors of the future.
0:36:18
So going back to your question about IDA and BUILD, so we have a tax exempt bond finance program called BUILD.
0:36:24
It is primarily focused on not for profits.
0:36:27
A lot of whom come are private schools or charter schools and we've done a number of those projects in recent years and again I think those are all critical to our economic development future in the city.