Gov. Kathy Hochul made an exciting announcement in White Plains on Thursday: Three different cities and villages in the Hudson Valley will receive a tremendous influx of cash.

The city of White Plains was awarded $10 million, as part of the state's Downtown Revitalization Initiative.

"What this money will allow us to do is to bring our downtown- not all the areas are as pedestrian friendly as they should be, not as bike-friendly. We need to do a lot of work as the downtown becomes more residential," said Mayor of White Plains Tom Roach.

Highland Falls and the Village of Montgomery both received $4.5 million from the NY Forward program.

The governor said this type of money doesn't just change the landscape of a community,

"It changes the psychology of a community, and I've seen it all over the state where people felt no one cared about them, especially our smaller communities they feel like they were overlooked, and this says you matter to us," said Gov. Hochul.

All three winners say they plan to spend the money on revitalizing their downtown districts.

"We talked about a pedestrian bridge connecting the Village of Montgomery park, to the Town of Montgomery park and a river walk along the river connecting the city winery to our downtown business court," said Mark Devitt, who assisted the village in applying for this grant money.

Highland Falls will focus more on infrastructure and building facades, which Mayor Joseph D'Onofrio says are in dire need of repairs.

Each winner spent several years applying to be awarded this money.

"I've been working on this for five years. To be honest with you I almost gave up last year, I'm so glad I didn't and I didn't give up because it's so needed so that's what kept me going," said Mayor D'Onofrio.

A coordinator from the state will meet with each winner and go over what the program entails and explain exactly how they can spend the money.