Ohio General Assembly may award $4 million to YSU

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio General Assembly’s proposed 2019-20 $2.6 billion state capital budget includes $4 million to Youngstown State University to help fund the Mahoning Valley Innovation and Commercialization Center.

The budget bill also includes funds for numerous other projects at YSU and about a dozen others in the Mahoning Valley.

The MVICC will be housed in a building, formerly owned by Mahoning County, at Fifth Avenue and West Commerce Street.

If approved, it will be the second consecutive biennial capital bill that includes a special allocation for the MVICC.

YSU received $3 million for the project in the 2017-18 capital budget.

The cumulative $7 million in state capital funds are being used to fund the establishment of the MVICC.

YSU has also received $1 million from the Appalachian Regional Commission and $2 million from the U.S. Department of Economic Development for the project. The university will raise an additional $14 million through an ongoing capital campaign led by the YSU Foundation.

MVICC will include YSU, Eastern Gateway Community College, county career and technical centers, the Youngstown Business Incubator, America Makes, the Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center, regional economic development organizations and the Mahoning Valley Manufacturers Coalition. The center will be a shared resource training center that will include all academic disciplines and innovation of all kinds.

YSU would receive an additional $10.6 million in the proposed capital bill for a variety of campus building projects, including $2.3 million for renovations and expansion of the Physical Therapy program in Cushwa Hall, $1.75 million for structural improvements to Ward Beecher Science Hall, $1.5 million for renovations to the pedestrian bridge over Wick Avenue, $1.1 million for campus roof replacements, $1 million for renovations to Fedor Hall and $684,000 for building envelope renovations.