Spectrum Health and Human Services is receiving $4 million from the New York State Assembly to help renovate its offices at Main and Bryant Streets that were severely damaged during 2022’s blizzards.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie hand-delivered the news earlier today, and says it was Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes who convinced him of the location’s importance.
Mental health services are increasingly important, and that’s proven in a recent survey where 16-to-24-year-olds said that is what’s most needed in the area, Peoples-Stokes said. And she adds that it’s the government’s duty to make sure those resources are available.
“When you collectively put substance abuse and mental health in the same person, you know we need to do some things to help people," she said. "I want to thank Spectrum for being willing to, kind of, redo this building to get this space in this in the kind of condition where people can walk in here and get the services that they need.”
The first two floors will be operational by the end of this year, but there will be space for 100 employees and six programs when the full refurbishments are done in the future.
This wasn’t the only stop for Heastie in Buffalo. He also visited the Carousel Factory Museum and Amherst Senior Services Center with state leaders from the area.
The senior services center was among the most active Heastie said he'd ever seen. Services focusing on personal health are an absolute priority, he added.
“Making sure that people have access to health care is probably more important now than it's ever been," he said. "So, happy to be here, happy to do what the majority leader asked of me to do. And like I said, this is such an incredible, incredible delegation.”
