In 2015, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo created the Upstate Revitalization Initiative (URI) competition to strategically focus on the economic development of Upstate NY, as part of long-term, regionally-based plans for economic growth through the state’s 10 Regional Economic Development Councils (REDCs). The REDCs have changed the way NYS invests state resources, through a community-based, bottom-up approach designed to meet each region’s needs, involving private-public partnerships of local experts and stakeholders. Through a competitive process for state resources, the Consolidated Funding Application (CFA), the REDCs create strategies for growth through projects and initiatives that attract private investment and create jobs. The Central New York, the Finger Lakes and the Southern Tier regions were announced as URI awardees, each committing $500 million of NYS funds, allocated in $100 million increments, to implement their strategic plans to transform their local economies over the next five years.