City Will Award Over $750,000 To Implement Local COVID-19 Recovery for Small Businesses - SBS

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 22, 2021

CITY WILL AWARD OVER SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS TO IMPLEMENT LOCAL COVID-19 RECOVERY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

NEW YORK - NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Jonnel Doris today announced that the City will award over $750,000 through the Strategic Impact COVID-19 Commercial District Support Grant during the first phase of the program.

"As we continue to recover from this pandemic, it is imperative that we all work together to bring our small businesses back," said J. Phillip Thompson, Deputy Mayor for Strategic Policy Initiatives and Co-Chair of the Racial Inclusion and Equity Taskforce. "These grants will help local nonprofits increase the impact of their work in the communities they serve.

"The Strategic Impact Grant exemplifies the City's commitment to help small businesses stay afloat amid the pandemic," said Jonnel Doris, Commissioner of the Department of Small Business Services. "Our work with neighborhood non-profits will revitalize our most impacted commercial corridors and implement an equitable approach to support small businesses in a post-COVID-19 economy."

The grant first opened applications in November and was designed to execute local COVID-19 recovery support to small businesses and strengthen the City's commercial corridors. The grant builds on existing investments such as SBS' Avenue NYC and Neighborhood 360° grant programs, its Storefront Improvement Program, and the supplementary services provided by the Business Improvement District (BID) network, to reach targeted neighborhoods.

Selected community-based development organizations (CBDOs) will use grant awards to conduct merchant organizing, provide technical assistance, and increase awareness and comprehension of new City and State rules and regulations, for small businesses in the targeted 38 neighborhoods. Neighborhoods were selected in alignment with the City's Racial Inclusion and Equity (RIE) taskforce and their efforts to help neighborhoods most impacted by COVID-19.

Strategic Impact Grant recipients are nonprofit CBDOs that serve a single-neighborhood, organizations that serve multiple neighborhoods or a borough, and citywide organizations that can provide organizing and technical assistance to neighborhood-serving organizations across the city.

The grants will be distributed in two phases to local communities. Over $750,000 will be distributed during the first phase and will include the following 25 recipients:

Bronx

161st Street BID (Morrisania)

Bronx Chamber of Commerce (Melrose, Morrisania, Mott Haven, Morris Heights)

Bronx Cooperative Development Initiative (Crotona, East Tremont, Kingsbridge Heights, Soundview, Soundview Bruckner)

South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (Longwood, Hunts Point)

Women's Housing and Economic Development Corporation (Highbridge)

Brooklyn

Alliance for Coney Island (Coney Island)

Brighton Beach BID (Brighton Beach)

Brooklyn Alliance (Bushwick, Canarsie)

Brooklyn Chinese American Association (Sunset Park)

Carribbeing (East Flatbush)

East New York Restoration LDC (East New York)

Evergreen (Bushwick)

Local Development Corporation of East New York (East New York, Starrett City)

Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation (Sunset Park)

Manhattan

Fredrick Douglas Blvd Alliance (Central Harlem)

Harlem One Stop (Hamilton Heights)

Hope Community (East Harlem)

Lower East Side Partnership (Lower East Side)

Think! Chinatown (Chinatown)

Welcome to Chinatown (Chinatown)

Woodfield Christian Ministries (Inwood)

Queens

Jamaica Center BID (Jamaica)

REMA 4 US (Rockaways)

Rockaway Development Revitalization Corporation (Rockaways)

In an effort to provide additional support, a Citywide Strategic Impact Grant will be made to the Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD), who will provide technical assistance and implementation support to all CBDOs that are awarded Strategic Impact Grants in the neighborhoods listed above.

"Throughout this pandemic, community-based organizations have been facilitating small businesses' access to necessary programs and resources," said Barika Williams, Executive Director of the Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development (ANHD). "Sustaining these businesses is crucial to an equitable recovery – particularly in communities of color and immigrant neighborhoods – and we are excited to join with SBS in these efforts by providing technical assistance to neighborhoods severely impacted by COVID-19."

Applications for the second phase will open on January 25 and close on February 8, 2021. It targets the following neighborhoods where SBS did not receive applications:

Bronx: Kingsbridge/Jerome Park

Brooklyn: Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville

Manhattan: Morningside Heights and Washington Heights

Queens: Briarwood, Corona, Queensbridge

Staten Island: St. George, Stapleton

For more information on the Strategic Impact Grant, visit nyc.gov/strategicimpactgrant.

About the Department of Small Business Services
SBS helps unlock economic potential and create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating stronger businesses, and building vibrant neighborhoods across the five boroughs. For more information on all SBS services, visit nyc.gov/sbs, call 311, and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.