New York State has launched Mohawk Valley Empowers, a new three-year, $10 million initiative designed to strengthen the region’s workforce ecosystem and improve workforce participation by expanding wraparound services and redefining career readiness.

The state also announced new funding for SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s semiconductor processing lab, according to a Tuesday news release from Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Mohawk Valley Empowers is the result of collaboration across six counties including nine colleges and BOCES locations, 22 nonprofit partners, and industry experts. Through data analysis and stakeholder engagement, the initiative identified actionable solutions to address the core challenges hindering workforce participation in the region.

“The Mohawk Valley is becoming a destination for semiconductor manufacturing and research, and this initiative will empower New Yorkers to take part in the transformative economic potential and future that lies ahead — both in this industry and beyond,”Hochul said in the release.

The region’s workforce participation rate has remained flat at less than 60 percent since 2011, and about 74 percent of the region’s current working-age population does not have bachelor’s degrees.

Mohawk Valley Empowers seeks to change that by empowering individuals through culturally sensitive and community-driven approaches to meet the growing demands for workers in the tourism, agribusiness, and STEM sectors while also creating pathways out of poverty.

Projects and programs that address fundamental barriers to employment, advance professional-skills development, empower individuals, and promote workplace participation are encouraged to apply for a share of the $10 million by submitting a consolidated funding application online before June 28. More information about the initiative and eligibility requirements is available online at:https://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/file/mohawk-valley-empowers-guidance-document.

To complement the new initiative, Empire State Development has awarded a $4 million capital grant to support SUNY Polytechnic Institute’s $26.5 million Semiconductor Processing to Packaging, Research, Education and Training Center in the NY Creates Quad C building, currently occupied by Semikron Danfoss. The center will serve as an epicenter for semiconductor research, education, and training with a goal to increase graduates across advanced-manufacturing disciplines by 10 percent over the next four years. The facility will include 5,000 square feet of cleanroom space, two classrooms with space for 30 students, and office space and will train up to 150 students a year.

“We are grateful for the investments New York state has been making in SUNY Poly and for the Mohawk Valley Empowers program, which will simultaneously elevate individual lives and the economy of our region,” SUNY Poly President Winston Soboyejo said in the release. “SUNY Poly’s new Semiconductor Processing to Packaging Research, Education, and Training Center will have a transformational impact on the Mohawk Valley, New York state, and beyond.”

Semiconductor and supply-chain companies Wolfspeed, Danfoss, Micron, Indium, Marquardt Switches, Menlo Micro, and NoMIS Power, along with NY CREATES, will collaborate with SUNY Poly, Working Solutions-the Workforce Development Board of Utica, Fulton Montgomery Community College, Mohawk Valley Community College, and Onondaga Community College to establish a curriculum with wraparound services for in-demand jobs in the industry.

“Today’s announcement continues to solidify Oneida County and the Mohawk Valley as the premier hub of the semiconductor and advanced-manufacturing industry,” Oneida County Executive Anthony J. Picente, Jr. said. “The new center at SUNY Poly will be the epicenter of semiconductor processing and packaging research education and training, producing the next generation of advanced manufacturing workforce right here in Oneida County. That workforce will be strengthened through the MV Empowers Fund, that will allow this county and its regional partners to supercharge the local ecosystem.”