Cornell plans to invest $20 million over the next decade in the Ithaca and Tompkins County communities, said Stephen Golding, the Samuel W. Bodman Executive Vice President for Finance and Administration, speaking at Ithaca Rotary Club, Oct. 10, at the Holiday Inn. The investment will support workforce housing initiatives, transportation management programs and infrastructure improvements.

Cornell President David Skorton had announced the $20 million initiative at an annual brunch with community leaders Oct. 6. Golding went into some detail on how the money will be spent, focusing on six areas of importance: economic development, preK-12 and educational services, health care, infrastructure, housing and the environment.

"While Cornell's relationship with New York is special, our relationship with the area's local communities is essential to promoting their economic strength, quality of life and cultural vitality, which, in turn, are critical to Cornell's ability to recruit its next generation of faculty, staff and students," Golding said.

The investment marks a new relationship between Cornell and its neighbors and will be made over and above Cornell's annual contribution of about $2 million to the community.

"The university further hopes to leverage our combined local resources to attract state-, federal- and private-sector dollars to the maximum extent possible by emphasizing the progress and the promise of sustainable economic development and environmental stewardship in this part of upstate New York," Golding said. "And Cornell's commitment is more than just dollars. ... we are committed to work with community leadership to take our case to Albany for state resources to invest in these very important initiatives for our community."

Golding detailed these investment areas:

Golding noted that Cornell has undertaken a comprehensive master plan that "will serve as a larger frame of reference for how the activities of the university affect the surrounding community, to share our hopes for the future of Tompkins County and to play a role in shaping our collective destiny."