Four Wash Heights Projects Submitted To Congress For Funding

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — Congressman Adriano Espaillat announced Thursday a slate of uptown Manhattan community projects that he has submitted to the House Appropriations Committee for funding — including four in Washington Heights.

The committee allows individuals members of Congress to direct funding to critical initiatives in their districts.

“I am pleased to submit these project requests on behalf of my constituents and look forward to working with my colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee to secure as much funding as possible for my district," said Espaillat in a news release.

The official process allowed Espaillat to recommend up to 10 projects for funding. His 10 choices ranged from initiatives in the Bronx, Washington Heights, and Harlem.

In total, Espaillat's submissions add up to $11.5 million in community project funding.

Espaillat's office did not specify when the funding submission would be decided on.

Here are the four projects based in Washington Heights:

• Project name: ARC Community Kitchen
• Requestor name: ARC XVI, FT. Washington, Inc.
• Requestor address: 4111 Broadway, New York, NY 10033
• Amount requested: $400,000
• Project/Request location: 516 West 181 Street, New York, NY 10033

"The funding would be used to build a new kitchen for the ARC XVI Fort Washington Senior Center, which is being relocated to 516 West 181 Street, New York, NY 10033. The build-out of the new space does not include the kitchen. For the past 48 years ARC has provided home-cooked meals from our community kitchen for older adults 60+. They have also cooked take-home meals for seniors who are unable to leave their homes. In addition, they will expand to serving breakfasts, as well as continuing their weekly food pantry. The kitchen in their previous space has been used as a classroom to teach seniors to prepare nutritionally sound meals that require limited cooking, to support the desire of older adults to remain healthy and independent in the community."

• Project name: CLOTH Food Pantry Reimagined
• Requestor name: Community League of the Heights Inc. (CLOTH)
• Requestor address: 500 West 159th St, New York , NY 10032
• Amount requested: $740,000
• Project/Request location: 508 West 159th St, New York , NY 10032

"This request is for the physical expansion of CLOTH’s existing Food Pantry. Our current Pantry will be upgraded, expanded, and re-engineered to better serve our community. The new pantry will be a short-term emergency food-based distribution facility and a long-term center to address the root causes of the food insecurity. They will increase the square footage of the Pantry by 15%. Additional space will give room to add more refrigerators and freezers to store more fruit, vegetables and meat. In addition, new shelving will be installed to accommodate more packaged food."

• Project name: Columbia COVID-19 Northern Manhattan Community Mental Wellness Corps
• Requestor name: Columbia University Irving Medical Center
• Requestor address: 630 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032
• Amount requested: $750,000
• Project/Request location: Same as requestor

"The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on residents of the 13th Congressional district. Higher rates of mental disorders have worsened gaps in mental health services for vulnerable communities. It is critical to increase access to timely, effective, culturally relevant mental health care among community members. The Columbia COVID-19 Northern Manhattan Community Mental Wellness Corps (CmwC) will address this mental health disparities crisis in Northern Manhattan and parts of the Bronx by building capacity and increasing community employment opportunities, either directly or through addressing the community mental health needs. Informed by our work in Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and low-resource settings in the US and abroad, CmwC will provide training and increase access to mental health services by partnering with churches and trusted community-based organizations. Columbia’s Department of Psychiatry is the #1 ranked psychiatry program in New York State, making us ideally suited to lead this project. CmwC will create model of community-based mental health service delivery replicable in other distressed communities in the United States."

• Project name: Weisberg Commons renovation
• Requestor name: Yeshiva University
• Requestor address: 500 West 185th Street, New York, NY 10033
• Amount requested: $1,000,000
• Project/Request location: 2495 Amsterdam Avenue

"Yeshiva University proposes the renovation of Weissberg Commons, a multipurpose events space located on the ground floor of 2495 Amsterdam Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The project is anticipated to provide critical structural upgrades to the space and modernize audiovisual equipment utilized in both academic and public-facing events, extending the useful life of the space and providing an improved experience for visitors."