BP will fund investments in 92 schools, 9 CUNY and SUNY campuses, 16 public parks, and more
NEW YORK – June 24, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer today announced her office’s Fiscal Year 2016 capital grant awardees. The grants will be included in the final Fiscal Year 2016 city budget, whose adoption by the City Council is expected later this month.
“Capital grants give us the opportunity to both fix nagging problems and invest in our neighborhoods’ future, and we’ve worked hard to evaluate every proposal and give Manhattanites the most bang for their buck,” said Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer. “Whether we’re fixing the roof at a branch library, renovating a playground, or building out a new computer lab at a local school, these capital grants are going to strengthen our communities and improve people’s lives.”
Each year, as part of the city’s budget process, the five borough presidents are mandated by the City Charter to allot a portion of the city’s capital budget for the purchase or improvement of fixed assets such as buildings or other infrastructure. Each borough president then allocates that funding to City agencies, cultural institutions, or nonprofit organizations according to each office’s own process and priorities.
Funding for Manhattan public schools
Earlier this week, Brewer announced her office’s capital budget allocations for advancing the use of technology in Manhattan’s public schools. Overall, Brewer funded a range of tech projects at 57 public schools, including upgrades and renovations for computer and media labs, the purchase of “Smartboard” instructional tools, and funding for general equipment upgrades. Each of these 57 schools received at least $100,000 in funding, enabling them to pursue major purchases and upgrades with significant impacts on students’ learning opportunities.
In addition to these tech projects, Brewer also funded auditorium upgrades at the Columbia Secondary School for Math, Science and Engineering, the Jackie Robinson Educational Complex, Park East High School, P.S. 189, P.S. 83, Stuyvesant High School, Talent Unlimited High School, the Eagle Academy for Young Men of Harlem, Frederick Douglass Academy I, Urban Assembly Gateway School for Technology, and West Prep Academy.
Brewer funded an array of other infrastructure upgrades at P.S. 347 American Sign Language and English Secondary School, the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, Baruch College High School, the Bea Fuller Rodgers International School, I.S. 528, C.S. 154, Food and Finance High School, the Harriet Tubman Learning Center, the Hamilton Heights School, the High School of Fashion Industries, the I.S. 70 Campus for NYC Lab High School, NYC Lab Middle School, the Museum School, LaGuardia High School, M.S. 54, the NYC iSchool, P.S. 130, P.S. 178, PS 187, PS 198, PS 199, PS 6, PS 84, the Special Music School, the Children’s Workshop, the Neighborhood School, the Roosevelt Island School, and the Harbor School.
Funding for Manhattan parks
Brewer also funded sixteen Parks projects, including renovation of the Red Panda exhibit at the Central Park Zoo. Other Parks projects include:
▪ Multiple playground and athletic field renovations, including: renovations to create an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant playground at the current Bloomingdale Playground site (Morningside); East River Park soccer field and track renovations (East Village / Lower East Side); Jacob K. Javits Playground redesign and renovations (Inwood); Samuel Bennerson Playground renovations (Upper West Side).
▪ Pathway construction at Randall’s Island Park
▪ Lighting improvements for the FDR Four Freedoms Park (Roosevelt Island)
Funding for Manhattan public libraries
Capital funds were included for five public libraries throughout Manhattan, including: the 125th Street Library Branch (East Harlem), the Bloomingdale Library Branch (Upper West Side / Manhattan Valley), Jefferson Market Library (West Village), Roosevelt Island Library (Roosevelt Island), and the
Seward Park Library Branch (Lower East Side).
Funding for CUNY and SUNY campus improvements
Investments were also made at local CUNY and SUNY campuses, including lighting upgrades at Borough of Manhattan Community College and a range of tech improvements at Baruch College, the CUNY Graduate Center, CUNY in the Heights, Hunter College, Fashion Institute of Technology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and the City College of New York.
Support for Manhattan cultural institutions
Forty-two different cultural institutions across the borough also received support in Brewer’s capital grant allocations, including: Aaron Davis Hall, the American Museum of Natural History, the Americas Society, Amigos del Museo del Barrio, the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, City Center of Music and Drama, Clemente Soto Velez Cultural & Educational Center, Downtown Art Co., East Harlem Arts and Education LDC, Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center, Fountain House, Harlem School of the Arts, Henry Street Settlement, the Hispanic Society of America, Home for Contemporary Theatre and Art, Hospital Audiences, Irish Repertory Theatre, Jazz at Lincoln Center, La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Mabou Mines Inc., Metropolitan Museum of Art, Metropolitan Opera Guild, Museum of Jewish Heritage, New 42nd Street Studios, New-York Historical Society, Nuyorican Poets Café, Performance Space 122 Inc., Playwrights Horizons, Publicolor, Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage Theatre, Seventh Regiment Armory Conservancy, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Studio in a School Association, Studio Museum in Harlem, the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, Theater for the New City, Vivian Beaumont Theater, WNET, and the Young People’s Chorus.
To view or download the full list of capital grant recipients and projects, click here (PDF).
Contact:
Andrew Goldston | agoldston (at) manhattanbp.nyc (dot) gov | 917.960.1187
