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State allocating $50 million for East Side development

Chris Caya/WBFO News

Millions of dollars to revitalize Buffalo's East Side are on the way from Albany.

Speaking at the Northland Workforce Training Center Tuesday morning, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state will be spending $50 million on a variety of projects, including financial help for entreprenuers through a $10 million capital investment fund. 

"We have great small businesses on the East Side. They all have the same problem. They don't have access to capital. They don't have access to credit. They go to a bank and they don't have the balance sheet to get working capital to improve their program," Cuomo said.

Along with the East Side Corridor Economic Development Fund, Cuomo said another $10 million will be invested in improvements along the East Side's commercial corridors—Michigan, Jefferson, Fillmore and Bailey avenues. The governor said career training will be made available to residents through a $5 million grant from the University at Buffalo.

"You have this growing population. People need housing," Cuomo said. "[There is] great opportunity for real estate development, but you need the skills to do that real estate development."

The initiative Cuomo announced Tuesday also includes more than $6 million for upgrading Martin Luther King Park, $7 million for the Michigan Street African American Heritage Corridor and $4 million for improvements to The Broadway Market.

This story is developing and will be updated.