A plan to renew the downtown area by opening a new culinary art school in the Niagara County Community College is underway thanks to a big check that has helped keep the ball rolling on the project. Students in areas with an interest in the culinary arts will be able to use the new facilities to complete coursework and practice their skills in a brand new facility capable of housing 350 students, according to the Chicago Tribune:
(Chicago Tribune) The Niagara County Community College culinary arts institute, seen by many as a key to downtown revitalization, remains on schedule for a September opening.
As officials Friday accepted a $375,000 check from the Seneca Gaming Corp. that will fund a pastry laboratory on the school’s third floor, they said they will be ready to accept 350 students when classes begin Sept. 1.
“This facility, we believe, is going to revolutionize the way our hospitality students learn their various crafts,” said NCCC President James P. Klyczek. “This is the kind of experience public and private schools elsewhere are not providing yet.”
The Seneca donation is the first payment of the $1.27 million the gambling corporation pledged to the college last summer.
“This project needed a private partner, and the Seneca Nation has stepped up very generously,” said State Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane.
It also marks the Indian nation’s latest attempt to invest in properties outside of its casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca. The Senecas announced last year they would establish a $1 million fund for improvements in the neighborhoods surrounding the Buffalo casino.
“People don’t live in there and never leave,” Seneca President Robert Odawi Porter said of the casinos. “This is just a tangible recognition of how Seneca Nation businesses are collaborative and harmonious with…
Read more: Culinary arts school receives $375,000, on track for opening
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