Local Groups Share In Grants
POSTED DEC.4, 2006

Friends of Lower Manhattan chose eight Downtown non-profit groups from among 44 requests to share in $125,000 in grant awards.
The grants, announced late last month, include:

•$5,200 to the Synagogue for the Arts, 66 White St., for public concerts by the Richmond County Orchestra.

•$4,800 to the Downtown Little League to reach out to Chinese and Spanish speaking children in Lower Manhattan who otherwise might not know about the leagues.

•$15,000 to Friends of Washington Market Park for the installation of a children’s garden in the park, at Duane and Greenwich Streets. The group will host three annual events that will teach children about horticulture

•$5,000 to St. Margaret’s House, a senior residence at 50 Fulton St, . for a weekly art workshop and exhibition.

•$25,000 to the New York City Rescue Mission, 90 Lafayette St., for its “Food Services Expansion Project,” that serves thousands of meals through a variety of food programs.

•$25,000 to Friends of Bogardus Viewing Garden, Hudson and Reade Streets, to redesign and reconstruct part of the garden to correct a “design flaw” that the group says has allowed the garden to become “a haven for drug dealers and vagrants.”

•$20,000 to the New York Public Interest Research Group Fund, Inc. for the Lower Manhattan Civic Engagement Project that includes various programs to increase voter participation.

•$25,000 to the Downtown Boat House Inc. to support the construction and maintenance of a floating dock for public access for human-powered boats at Governor’s Island.

The groups were chosen by a 10-member committee headed by Martha Gallo. Five members sit on Community Board 1.

Previous grants from Friends of Lower Manhattan, formerly Friends of Community Board 1, have helped fund the startup of Millennium High School, planning studies for two city-owned development sites, and improvements to firehouses after Sept. 11, 2001.