Jamaica Center BID gets $300K To Help Local Businesses

JAMAICA, QUEENS -- A local Queens improvement district will receive hefty sum of cash to revamp downtown Jamaica's business scene, city officials announced on Monday.

New York City's Department of Small Business Services awarded the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District a $300,000 grant for projects to help businesses along Jamaica Avenue and surrounding streets in the district.

The grant will go toward commercial revitalization projects aimed at Jamaica Center's retailers and residents, including an assessment of businesses' needs and a years-long plan to satisfy them, the agency announced in a press release. It will also pay for the Jamaica Center BID to hire a full-time program manager.

“We are thrilled to have been awarded this grant, which will enable us to delve in and better understand how we can be most effective in serving our commercial and residential stakeholders,” said Jamaica Center BID Executive Director Whitney Barrat.

The funds are part of a larger SBS initiative called Avenue NYC, which helps fund community-based development nonprofits throughout the city.

"As New Yorkers, we take great pride in our neighborhoods, which is why the City is committed to empowering community-based organizations to strengthen and preserve their neighborhoods," said NYC SBS Commissioner Gregg Bishop.

The program awarded its first set of larger, multiyear grants totaling $1.17 million this year to nine community nonprofits, which it announced in late April. Grantees were awarded up to $100,000 per year for three years, Bishop said.

The Jamaica Center BID was among three new Queens groups awarded, alongside Jackson Heights' Chhaya Community Development Corporation and the Rockaway Business Alliance. Eight more groups who previously won grants - Including the Queens Economic Development Corporation in Woodside - got additional funding for multi-year projects.

View a full list of grant winners here.

(Lead Image: The Jamaica Center BID encompasses Jamaica Avenue and surrounding side streets in downtown Jamaica. Lead photo via Google Maps)