SJC and Senator Brian Foley Announce $1.77 Million Grant

August 17, 2009 LI

PATCHOGUE, NY AUGUST 18, 2009 St. Josephs College is pleased to announce that it has received a $1.77 million grant from the New York State Higher Education Capital Matching Grants Program (HE Cap) for the construction of a state-of-the-art athletic complex on its Long Island Campus. The grant, which is the largest in the Colleges history, was secured by State Senator Brian X. Foley (D-Blue Point).

"We are extremely grateful to Senator Foley for securing this grant for the construction of our new athletic complex on the Colleges Long Island Campus, said SJC President Sister Elizabeth A. Hill, C.S.J., J.D. "The HE Cap program is an investment in our future, and we have every intention of using these secured capital funds to continue to provide our students with the top-of-the-line facilities they need for a superior education.

In 2008, St. Josephs College purchased 24.8 acres of property located in the Hamlet of East Patchogue, Town of Brookhaven, approximately one mile east of its Long Island Campus, for the installation of a new state-of-the-art athletic complex that will support a wide array of intercollegiate athletic programs and various athletic fields.

"I am pleased to secure this major grant for St. Josephs College which continues to serve as an exemplary institution of higher learning, said Foley, who serves on the Senate Higher Education Committee. "The $1.77 million grant will not only help bolster St. Josephs, the construction and maintenance jobs created through work on the project will help working-families right here in Suffolk County.

The Higher Education Capital Matching Grant Program (HE Cap) was created to recognize private colleges and universities in New York State for the role they play in providing low and moderate-income students access to higher education by leveraging private investment with public dollars during a historic five-year capital program. The program is expected to help stimulate both short- and long-term economic growth by creating more than 7,000 jobs and providing more than $9 in campus funding for every $1 in state capital dollars for projects totaling more than $540 million.