Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and Chinatown Partnership Executive Director Wellington Chen jointly announced an open call for project proposals to be considered through the $20 million Chinatown Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI).
The announcement on March 4 signaled an opportunity for any organizations or individuals to submit proposals for any project seeking funding within or adjacent to the Chinatown DRI area.
To be considered for the open call, applicants must meet the following criteria: Be a capital construction project such as the development or rehabilitation of real estate or an improvement to public space, have a project sponsor with the ability to lead project planning and implementation and to cover project costs while awaiting reimbursement from the State, have a defined scope and budget based on professional plans or comparable estimates, demonstrate ownership or control of the project site, either by the proposer or a partnering entity, and support from any required private partners or government agencies, be fully funded once funds requested through DRI are included and be able to break ground within 2 years.
This new open call initiative adds onto projects already included in the city’s DRI proposal through New York State.
Project applications will be reviewed through the Chinatown DRI Local Planning Committee (LPC) – a group of community leaders nominated by New York State Governor Kathy Hochul and is co-chaired by Borough President Levine and Chinatown Partnership Executive Director Chen – which will then recommend a slate of projects for funding by the state.
In addition to this public open call, there will be numerous opportunities for members of the Chinatown community to learn about as well as provide input on the DRI’s strategic investment plan in the coming months.
This will include meetings of the LPC which are open to the public.
Visit https://www.chinatowndri.com for more details, including the full schedule of LPC meetings.
