Regions with considerable higher education and health care resources are prime assets for economic development. The Hudson Valley is home to more than 30 public and private colleges and universities with an estimated 35,000 employees, and 37 hospitals employing nearly 100,000 individuals in health care-related occupations. In the past year, nearly $1 billion in health care and academic campus expansions have been announced or are currently under construction.

According to a 2013 Economic Policy Institute Report on Education, “High-wage states are states with a well-educated workforce. There is a clear and strong correlation between the educational attainment of a state’s workforce and median wages in the state.”

According to a 2011 New York Academy of Medicine Report, “Health is fundamental to one of the main inputs for economic development: human capital. Along with financial, intellectual, social and political capital, development schemes rely on skilled, healthy individuals as workers and consumers.”

Hudson Valley EDs & MEDs brings together the region’s colleges and universities along with major health care providers and health organizations to produce jobs and spur economic growth in the region. With this initiative, HVEDC forges stronger strategic alliances between Hudson Valley-based health care organizations and public and private colleges and universities; thereby, encouraging their collaborations in order to generate the workforce necessary to continue feeding economic prosperity for the community at large.

Hospitals

Colleges & Universities