KeyBank, in partnership with the First Niagara Foundation, is donating $1 million to D’Youville College to support its new Health Professions Hub.
The donation pushes D’Youville closer to its fundraising target for the $26.7 million education, training and community health center. The college is partnering with Catholic Health System on the hub, which is scheduled to open in February.
“It’s a high-quality project on the West Side that will benefit a number of the different constituents there, whether it’s the general population, the students, the college, the West Side in general,” said Gary Quenneville, Key’s regional executive and Buffalo market president. The project will also provide an economic boost to the West Side, he said.
The Hub is nearing completion amid a Covid-19 pandemic that has brought greater public attention to the issue of inequities in health care in society, said Elizabeth Gurney, executive director of both the First Niagara Foundation and KeyBank Foundation.
People are also reading…
“I think this project became even more relevant as Covid just rocked our world,” Gurney said. One component of the hub will be a Center for Health Equity and Innovation, a think tank to develop ideas and solutions to address social and health inequities.
Including Key’s $1 million donation, the Health Professions Hub is about $4 million away from its fundraising target, said D'Youville president Lorrie Clemo. The project was announced in 2017.
Clemo said the Hub will make an impact in the community in different ways: providing health care, training students, creating jobs and addressing pressing social issues.
Key’s $1 million donation is “huge for us," she said. "Key is going to be one of our biggest partners in moving this project forward.”