Proven Regional Leaders Melanie Littlejohn and Tim Penix to Helm the Micron Community Engagement Committee as Co-Chairs

Committee will Develop a Community Priorities Document to Guide Strategies in Areas such as Supporting Underrepresented Populations, Workforce Development, Child Care and Housing

Governor Hochul: "$250 million commitment from Micron... $100 million from the State of New York... And this'll be making contributions to help fulfill the priorities of this whole region - training workers, improving educational opportunities, building housing that our workers can live in. And we need to build a lot of housing here, we know that. It's imperative that we have the local voices helping guide these decisions."

Hochul: "This is a transformative moment in our history. And you will be the transformers. So, thank you to everyone who said, 'Yes.' I will continue working to make sure that this is not only a global chip manufacturing hub - which it certainly is and will be - but also change the future of our state."

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul and Micron Technology, Inc. announced the members of the Micron Community Engagement Committee, representatives from Central New York and Micron that will support the company's community investment strategy. The Committee is made up of local stakeholders to ensure meaningful, ground-up participation and discussion of Micron's implementation and investments in the region, and will also include five ex-officio members. The formation of this group is a critical component of the Community Investment Framework agreement made between New York State and Micron in October 2022.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Thank you. Thank you very much. Am I still in Albany? The first place I came when I was liberated from the budget process was my home away from home for four years of college, but a place that I cherish. And I'm so happy to be back here for a thousand reasons, but when you wake up and you know you're going to Syracuse and you say, "It's going to be a great day." How do you spell a great day in Syracuse? M-I-C-R-O-N. Anytime we connect this great community to this great company, you know great things are going to happen.

So, I'm really excited to be here, and I want to welcome all of you to some fabulous announcements, and this is just a continuation. We were all together for the major announcement last fall, and with President Biden and our majority leader, Senator Schumer and all these elected officials. It was a great time, but it seems like every other week there's something great happening here connected to Micron. I do want to welcome all of you, but also our County Executive is here. You'll be hearing from him in a couple moments. Ryan McMahon, thank you for your seminal role in making this deal get closed. Thank you. Of course, I'll be introducing Sanjay in a couple minutes, so we're going to hold on that. Hope Knight, the Commissioner of Empire State Development. She is the deal maker of all deal makers, and I want to thank her and her extraordinary team, and Kevin Younis, the COO of Empire State Development - put their heart and soul in making this happen. And they're still haven't stopped smiling since then, and that is a good thing.

I want to give an extra shout out to Greg Lancette, the President of the Central New York Building Trades. You know, when you're doing your negotiations, when you're having conversations about just a few more things that need to be dealt with, can we just get this over the finish line? And we've got some challenges here. Well, let's get Greg on the phone and he'll solve it for us, and he did. And I want to thank him for making it happen. I can't wait to see thousands of union workers building an extraordinary building that's going to be going on for the children born today that can be working there 20 years from now. And that's what gets me so excited. So, let's give round applause to Greg Lancette as well. Rob Simpson, the President and CEO of CenterState, another driving force behind this. You'll always have this as part of your legacy. And Randy Wilkins, I want to thank him for joining us here as well, making sure we're focusing on manufacturing.

But I have extraordinary partners in Albany, and I think they're just as happy to be here as well, joining me at this event. They represent this area with such heart and conviction and passion. I want to first of all give a shout out to Senator John Mannion is here. Senator Rachel May has joined us. Assemblymember Al Stirpe is here. Did I miss anybody? All right.

Well, this is an exciting day, and you think about the history of innovation. People will be looking back at this time, but we look back a little bit further - 200 years ago, we talked about the Erie Canal. How bold and audacious was that when a bunch of people got together and said, "Why don't we dig a ditch across the entire State of New York, and maybe we can make this little village called New York City become something better than it is." And the vision that brought that to our State and executed it. And it was actually a Governor, DeWit Clinton, who worked with the idea that was originated by someone who was in jail. Do you know that story? Jesse Hawley? Another day. I won't tell you all my stories. I've got a lot of stories. But he asked President Jefferson for help building this, and President Jefferson told people that he thought the Governor was so crazy that he should be locked up for this idea that you could create a ditch, create a canal, create a pathway of commerce. I feel like we have those same challenges here today. We build on the innovation, carrier corporation, all the people, companies like JMA, but now we talk about next level. Next level. And Micron, no matter where I go in the State of New York, people know the name, they know the impact, and they know the possibilities.

I'll be giving a speech in New York City, heart of Manhattan, all the movers and shakers down there, and they're saying, "So, when is Micron opening? What's going on with Micron? Can we get a piece of the action?" So, this is not just - I know it's special to us here in Syracuse and Onondaga County and Central New York and Upstate - but this is something that all people in New York State are so proud of, and so we are on the cusp of a great era.

And to have this investment, and I'm going to say it again because I was being introduced with the big speech in New York actually, it was on an event with all the Governors across the states, and I was being introduced by the White House. And the White House economic advisor said, "Yeah, there's a big project up in - you know, the Governor worked on a big project - it's $20 billion in Upstate." I corrected him. I said, "$20 billion? It's $100 billion. Don't sell me short here. So, he goes, "Oh, I'm embarrassed, Governor. I didn't want to understate that it's $100 billion, 50,000 jobs." So, we are making history and we had to do our part as well. We were brought to the table after the CHIPS and Science Bill. And again, thank you, President Biden and Majority Leader Schumer, once again. Senator Gillibrand, our federal partners for making that happen. But in order to position New York to get the competitive advantage, because that was a nationwide program, we had to step up. And again, I applaud our legislators for what we did at the end of session last year, with our own Green CHIPS program to give extra incentives, but also to have our values as part of that program.

So, what that means is we value our people. We value our communities. We value giving opportunity to people in underserved communities who've been waiting their entire lives to have someone reach out and give them a hand, give them hope, training for our young people, working with our teachers, unions and our educators to make that happen. So, we said, "We can do this, but that's part of the deal. We'll give you assistance, but we want that kind of commitment." But for a company like Micron, it wasn't even a heavy ask because those are already their values. That's in their DNA as a company. So, when we ask for all this kind of help, it's like, of course we'll do it.

I wish more companies were that enlightened, and I think you're leading the charge, Sanjay. I really do. I think you're setting the bar to a certain place. The companies who want to be successful have to meet that bar, and that is going to lift all of us up, lift up all of our communities. And so, we're excited about this, but also there's a lot of work to be done. There are roads that need built. Schools that need to be built. Medical facilities we need to expand. So, this gives us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to just look at the whole region. What are the regional needs that we can address by preparing ourselves for the jobs and opportunities and the people that'll be here as a result of Micron's investment?

So, that's what we're doing, talk about getting ready now, and that's where the Community Engagement Committee comes in. We want them to be sitting here today in 2023, envisioning the needs, the challenges, the opportunities, and help be a guiding force to make sure we achieve them. They'll work closely with Micron and all levels of government to ensure that all the needs of Central New York and Upstate are met. Now, this is, again, as I mentioned, what sets us apart with our Green CHIPS Bill, because local engagement and representation is part of the core of this. So, they're going to be setting priorities. They'll have the Community Investment Fund. It's always nice to not just be a committee, but to have money to spend. And this is going to transform Upstate. They're going to be investing in people in the communities as well as the whole region.

So, here's the numbers. $250 million commitment from Micron. That is extraordinary, and that deserves a round of applause right there. $100 million from the State of New York. Thank you, State of New York. And an effort to raise $150 million more. And this'll be making contributions to help fulfill the priorities of this whole region - training workers, improving educational opportunities, building housing that our workers can live in. And we need to build a lot of housing here, we know that. It's imperative that we have the local voices helping guide these decisions, and that's where I thank Micron again - and they'll work on this. They'll have team members there, but also, they'll be listening to the people who invested their lives here and have been successful and have been contributing in so many ways. Those are the people who comprise this committee.

So, they're going to meet regularly with local residents, make sure that the communities have a voice at every juncture. And the leaders that have been selected - this is the best. This is the best of the best. These are people who lead charitable organizations, people who lead religious organizations, people who teach our kids, people who stand up for the most vulnerable. To them, this is personal. This is a way they can continue giving back in their communities in ways they never anticipated. So, I applaud each of these pillars of our community, and tell you your participation is not just vital to decide where the money goes, but it's a statement of our commitment as a people of what we're focusing on. And you'll be the ones that bring that to fruition. So, your work will be a catalyst that sparks lasting change.

And we talk about the word transformation. This is a transformative moment in our history. And you will be the transformers. So, thank you to everyone who said, "Yes." I will continue working to make sure that this is not only a global chip manufacturing hub - which it certainly is and will be - but also change the future of our state. That's what's in our hands right now, and I thank you.

And with that, I want to make sure that we introduce someone who has become a dear friend. Sanjay Mehrotra, you've changed all of our lives. And it's personal for me because I remember this community when it was kind of giving up on itself. Buffalo and Syracuse were very similar at the same time. When I was a student here in the 1970s, the lake was polluted. I remember driving by on the Greyhound bus into a very scary bus station at the time as a 17-year-old, and I went past the lake; like why is no one swimming in it? Well, it's polluted. It's dead, basically. The smoke was rising up from the factories, a lot of abandoned storefronts. It was a frightening time. And people who grew up in that time didn't see that there would ever be a future. And today there is a future, and that future is so bright that we're the envy of all the other states. And Sanjay, what you did by believing in us, changed the psychology of a community as well. That's not easy to do. But you accomplished that, and as the leader of this great state, I'll be forever grateful for the effect that you and Micron have had on a place that I love so dearly. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce the person of the hour, the person of the year, the person of the future, Sanjay Mehrotra.