$116M gift to CUNY
Mets owner, wife set record to fund career center
Mets owners’ Steve and Alex Cohen’s foundation is making the largest donation in the City University of New York’s history to a new workforce development center at a Queens community college.
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation’s $116.2 million gift to LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City is also considered record-breaking for any community college in the country.
“I wanted to create a place where students have access to high-quality programs and facilities,” said Alex Cohen, the foundation’s president, “and can learn the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing world.”
“Our goal is to make a positive difference in people’s lives. We are proud to create the Cohen Career Collective and are committed to our neighbors here in Queens,” she added.
The 160,000 square-foot facility is expected to be completed in January 2029. By then, LaGuardia president Kenneth Adams predicted it will be the largest career and technical training center in the region.
“For too long, community colleges have been unsung heroes in higher education,” Adams said. “And this investment reminds us of the importance of community colleges. These are places where students of all ages and backgrounds — and aspirations — can get the education, the workforce training they need.”
The center is going into what was once the largest bakery in the world, Sunshine Biscuits, but is now a massive industrial building from 1912 that LaGuardia has never had the funding to fully renovate. The community college is only able to use roughly half of the nine-story structure, visible from the 7 train on Thompson Avenue and 29th Street, despite growing enrollment in its workforce programs.
“It comes down to our belief that our students — they’re working class, immigrant students from all over Queens — but we’re convinced, Alex is convinced, they deserve the top quality facilities we can provide.”
The investment in CUNY facilities comes as just 8% of its 300 buildings are considered to be “in good repair,” the Daily News previously reported. University officials testified at a City Council hearing this week that budget cuts this year totaling $94 million have only worsened an “extremely challenging” situation — and cost CUNY much-needed facilities staff to stay on top of repairs.
At the new center, LaGuardia will offer associate-degree and industry-credential programs in health care, construction, technology, culinary and hospitality, green jobs, and film and television with facilities for hands-on learning. Those include workshops, labs, a lecture hall and study areas, plus a career services center with advisors and interview prep.
Child care, financial literacy training, high-school equivalency classes, and English classes for foreign-born students will also be available, according to public plans.
The center will also be the worksite of LaGuardia’s Summer Youth Employment Program, part of a citywide initiative through the Department of Youth and Community Development that offers six-week summer jobs to young people ages 14 through 24. About 3,500 youth participate in LaGuardia’s program each year, making it the largest SYEP site in Queens, according to the college.
This week’s announcement marks the second time this school year that CUNY has broken records for the largest donation in the public university system’s history. In January, the Simons Foundation committed $75 million to fund CUNY’s participation in Empire AI, a public-private partnership proposed by Gov. Hochul to give seven New York universities and research institutions access to an artificial intelligence computing center upstate.
“This historic $116.2 million investment multiplies CUNY’s role as an engine of upward mobility,” CUNY Chancellor Félix Matos Rodríguez said in a statement, “and doubles down on our commitment to helping our students not only get a degree but a well-paying job after graduation.”