33 Nonprofits Receive Grants In Manhattan

Nearly three-dozen community nonprofit organizations in lower Manhattan will receive $37 million in community enhancement grants from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Governor Spitzer and Mayor Bloomberg announced yesterday.

The 33 grants will help fund projects that focus on health care, education, community services, recreation, and cultural enrichment.

"As lower Manhattan blossoms into a residential destination, these funds will ensure that critical public amenities receive necessary support," Mr. Spitzer said. "This is part of our vision to transform lower Manhattan into a 21st-century community."

The New York Downtown Hospital will receive $5 million, the largest grant allotted, for the funding of a new preventative care unit primarily to address health disparities in the Chinatown population, and to purchase and install lower Manhattan's first public MRI, Mr. Spitzer announced.

The grant will also allow the hospital, which is the first responder to every emergency in lower Manhattan, to increase access to primary and preventive care for residents, the president of the hospital, Jeffrey Menkes, said.

Other grant recipients include the Downtown Manhattan Little League, which will receive $2 million to create a home baseball field, the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, which will receive $2 million to complete their new building, and the Alliance for Downtown NY, which will receive $1.5 million to mitigate the impact of lower Manhattan construction projects.