June 18, 2025 — Recognizing the importance of quality health care in the Brooklyn community, and after nearly 18 months of advocacy by unions, clergy, and stakeholders, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced at a press conference June 17 that New York state will invest more than $1 billion in SUNY Downstate Hospital.
“Every New Yorker deserves access to innovative, high-quality care,” Hochul said. “This historic $1 billion investment into SUNY Downstate’s hospital will contribute to modernization and infrastructure efforts that will lead to a brighter future for this community.”
When the plan to close SUNY Downstate was first introduced in early 2024, PEF joined a coalition led by United University Professions (UUP), members of the Brooklyn clergy, and community stakeholders to hold a massive rally outside the hospital to kick off a public awareness campaign with a simple message — “Brooklyn Needs Downstate.”
At least a dozen marches, rallies and community meetings followed, prompting the formation of the Downstate Community Advisory Board, charged by Hochul to reimagine how Downstate can best serve the community and come up with a plan to revitalize the hospital. At the time, the governor allocated $750 million for the board’s recommendations. However, staff and students at Downstate, PEF members, members of other unions, and the wider Brooklyn community said that was not enough and fought for a $1 billion investment.
“This would not have been possible without the workforce,” President Wayne Spence said at the press conference. “But not just any workforce – a unionized workforce. To the dedicated professionals of PEF and UUP who work here at Downstate, thank you for raising awareness of the life-saving care you provide every day. Your expertise and courage were essential to this outcome.
“I’m incredibly proud of the coalition we built,” he said. “One that came together swiftly and purposefully on Martin Luther King Day a year ago when the SUNY chancellor announced that there had to be some type of transformational plan. From that day forward, we never wavered. We never gave up on Downstate’s future and today we celebrate that future.”
The Governor acknowledged exactly what union and clergy leaders have been shouting from the rooftops – that Brooklyn Needs Downstate.
“For 165 years, this hospital has been a vital safety net facility taking care of God’s children every single day,” she said. “It’s a basic human right to have quality healthcare by professionals in a facility that is worthy of the people. And we’ve had that for a long time, but then things got a little tough. You know, if you don’t make investments things deteriorate. This is still a great facility, it is an amazing place, but I think we can do better. I think we can do better by the people of Central Brooklyn.”
Many of the recommendations from the board reflect the demands of the coalition, such as rolling back the plan announced earlier this year to eliminate inpatient services. Not only does the proposal retain inpatient and outpatient services, it also will convert all double occupancy rooms to private rooms with showers, as well as add additional rooms, resulting in 225 beds at the hospital.
The proposal from the advisory board also will expand the emergency department at the hospital, establish dedicated inpatient specialty units for cardiology, oncology and orthopedics and build a new hospital annex with a brand-new ambulatory surgery center.
Bishop Orlando Findlayter, who is the Senior Pastor at New Hope Christian Fellowship in Brooklyn, led a coalition of clergy that joined with PEF to mobilize the community and save SUNY Downstate.
“This was a lot of hard work. It was difficult. Many trips to Albany, to Washington, D.C., rallies, marches, press conferences and prayer. I think we need to take a moment to pause and celebrate this,” said Bishop Findlayter. “But, after we celebrate, we need to meet with the State Comptroller, find out what the Request for Proposal (RFP) requirements are and prepare the community for what is to come.”
