The following is the full text of the statement released Wednesday by UMass Medical School regarding its Economic and Educational Support Agreement with the City of Worcester:
The University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and the City of Worcester have agreed on an Economic and Educational Support Agreement to support programs in Worcester that create a skilled and technologically literate workforce for the future and are crucial to support the growth of the life sciences research and development industry which is central to the region’s economy.
The agreement calls for UMMS to make voluntary contributions totaling $1,575,000 over five years to support the Worcester Public Library’s programs and initiatives around reading readiness and the Worcester Technical School’s health and biomedical science programs and initiatives. Both actions will help prepare Worcester students and residents for careers in the region’s health and life sciences and will forge critical foundations for lifetimes of educational and career successes.
The contributions are in addition to the significant financial and in-kind support that UMMS already provides to city and regional science education programs and initiatives, which will continue.
UMMS and the City of Worcester also agreed to work closely together to leverage their collective strengths in support of mutual economic and educational development goals and objectives, and also to leverage their collective expertise and abilities towards the ultimate outcomes of job creation, job retention, workforce development, new educational opportunities and tax base expansion.
“UMMS has a vested and mission-based interest in maximizing the economic and educational potential of its translational science and research programs that benefit Worcester, the Commonwealth and the nation. We look forward to working with the city to collaboratively promote and market Worcester to commercial targets in the life sciences, medical devices and related industries, while helping to build the local workforce of the future,” said Chancellor Michael F. Collins, in announcing the agreement.
“We have forged an agreement that more than recognizes our mutual respect and mutual goals. These are self explanatory - our world class UMass Medical School and its world changing research will be much more successful with a thriving commercial biotech cluster adjacent to its campus. This will provide the opportunities for their translation of research into treatments and therapies by private biotech and life science companies. The City will be much more successful with a thriving UMass Medical School, with its excellence in education and breakthrough science as a catalyst for our biotech cluster. The results will be further economic development, job creation/retention, City/ State tax-base expansion and world-wide recognition. Our five-year agreement reflects all these realities and aspirations,” said City Manager Michael V. O’Brien.
UMMS and the city have already endeavored to collaboratively promote and market Worcester to commercial targets in the life sciences, medical devices and related industries and will continue to do so through future collaboration between UMMS’s Office of Community and Government Relations, City, and local business recruitment organizations.
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