U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer and U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, along with Queens members of the House of Representatives, today announced they secured over $9 million in funds for the borough as part of the final omnibus funding package for Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.
The senators secured a total of $9,874,245 for projects across the borough, which include funds going toward mental health programs for the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, vocational training at CUNY LaGuardia Community College for underemployed Queens residents, and equipment upgrades at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.
“I’m proud to bring home these investments that I fought to secure on behalf of all Queens residents,” said U.S. Senator Gillibrand. “These funds will not only bolster initiatives such as the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens mental health programs and youth leadership and workforce programs at Haitian Americans United for Progress, but will also go toward upgrading the borough’s health care services, helping to provide Queens residents with affordable and accessible quality health care.”
“I’m proud to secure $9 million in federal funding for these projects to support Queens residents and strengthen our communities,” said U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. “These funds included in the federal budget bill will advance healthcare equity, bolster a food relief network, support people of color-owned businesses, workforce development training and adult literacy, as well as fund youth leadership and mental health programs. I won’t stop fighting to deliver the resources needed to better our communities and the organizations that help them flourish.”
“I am pleased to provide millions of dollars in federal funding to local projects in Queens,” said Congressman Gregory W. Meeks (NY-5). “The investment will guarantee that constituents are receiving the resources needed to live and thrive. The federal funding will aid several priorities including assisting residents interested in pursuing a higher education and workforce training, along with access to affordable healthcare programs, services for senior citizens and youth support and enrichment programs.”
“As New York’s senior member of the House Appropriations Committee, I am proud to work with Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senator Gillibrand to help make sure these critical initiatives and programs in Queens get the funding they need to improve The World’s Borough,” said Congresswoman Grace Meng (NY-6). “Queens and its residents deserve their fair share, and I am looking forward to this new session of Congress to continue making sure that happens.”
Organizations receiving funds include:
- Jamaica Hospital Medical Center ($4,305,000)
- Jamaica Hospital assists some of the borough’s neediest communities by operating the busiest Level 1 Trauma Center in New York City, the closest acute care hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center to JFK, and a critical Stroke Center and STEMI Program. As a financially distressed safety net hospital, Jamaica Hospital serves a high volume of low-income individuals covered by Medicaid.
To ensure Jamaica Hospital patients have access to state-of-the-art surgical equipment and equitable health care, the funds would go toward purchasing and installing critically needed surgical robotics equipment, including the da Vinci Xi Single Console System, da Vinci SimNow Simulator, E-100 generator and da Vinci Xi Integrated Table Motion.
These advanced surgery systems will enable Jamaica Hospital Medical Center to successfully perform more complex surgeries for patients whose health has decreased significantly due to the inequalities they face in health care, advancing health equity in the community.
- Jamaica Hospital assists some of the borough’s neediest communities by operating the busiest Level 1 Trauma Center in New York City, the closest acute care hospital and Level 1 Trauma Center to JFK, and a critical Stroke Center and STEMI Program. As a financially distressed safety net hospital, Jamaica Hospital serves a high volume of low-income individuals covered by Medicaid.
- The Floating Hospital, Inc. ($1,040,489)
- The Floating Hospital offers health care to medically underserved communities in Queens, including homeless families and those living in public housing, as well as families living in shelters and domestic violence safe houses throughout New York City. The funds attained will provide seed funding to bring comprehensive eye care, dermatology, gastroenterology, and mammogram screening to The Floating Hospital’s primary care setting in Long Island City.
- NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst – Queens ($1,000,000)
- The Infectious Disease Clinic at Elmhurst provides care, support and prevention services for often underserved and marginalized persons, including patients with tuberculosis, chronic Hepatitis C, and HIV. The funds will be used to modernize the clinic, bringing the space up to current code and improving both the patient experience and the clinical caregiving environment.
- Arts Business Collaborative, Inc. ($650,000)
- Funding will be used to improve access to capital, networks, and knowledge for arts businesses of color.
- Queens Economic Development Corporation’s Queens Together Program ($500,000)
- The Queens Economic Development Corporation will use the funds to continue to build a Queens-wide food relief network of restaurants and community groups and invest in local businesses by educating stakeholders through peer-to-peer and expert knowledge to help small business owners work smarter and improve profits.
- Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, Inc. ($502,250)
- Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens will use these funds to help implement a Mental Health program at its Teen Academy, which offers free college and career readiness training to underserved high school students living in Queens. Recognizing the mental health impacts of the pandemic on youth, between the loss of loved ones and extended periods of remote learning, this funding will allow Variety Boys & Girls Club to hire social workers and other mental health counselors/professionals to support young people in achieving their goals.
- LaGuardia Community College – CUNY ($404,774)
- LaGuardia Community College’s Plumbing 1, Electrical 1 and HVAC 1 Training Programs connect people living in poverty with skilled employment opportunities through skills-building training that prepares students for in-demand occupations. However, the college does not currently have the internal capabilities to deliver these skill trainings on-site and to scale.
This funding will allow LaGuardia Community College to establish a Workforce Development Training Center on campus, which would give LAGCC the needed flexibility to begin offering more of these classes and serve more students.
- LaGuardia Community College’s Plumbing 1, Electrical 1 and HVAC 1 Training Programs connect people living in poverty with skilled employment opportunities through skills-building training that prepares students for in-demand occupations. However, the college does not currently have the internal capabilities to deliver these skill trainings on-site and to scale.
- Make the Road New York ($400,000)
- Funds will be used to sustain and enhance Make The Road New York’s Adult Literacy program for low-income immigrant New Yorkers. Through adult literacy instruction, students will access better career opportunities and advance their language, literacy, and digital literacy skills to enable them to participate more fully in civic life. Funding will also enable MRNY to purchase technology to integrate digital literacy skill building into class instruction in FY23 and beyond, in order to address the widening technology gap that left low-income communities even further behind during the nationwide pivot to virtual platforms during the pandemic. Additionally, MRNY will assess program participants’ urgent needs and connect them with survival services and other key resources.
- Haitian Americans United for Progress (HAUP) ($364,558)
- HAUP will use the funds to support its youth leadership and youth workforce programs aimed at serving the needs of immigrant communities in the borough. HAUP’s programming provides youth participants with employment, training, and skills-building opportunities.
- AABR, Inc., College Point ($382,174)
- AABR, Inc., one of the largest service providers for individuals with developmental disabilities in the region, will use the funds to provide services to the 400+ individuals in its congregate care and Day Habilitation settings.
- Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center, Inc. ($325,000)
- The Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (JPAFHC) will use the funds to establish a Diabetes Wellness Center. The Wellness Center will provide a comprehensive array of diagnosis, engagement, education, peer support groups, culturally and ethnically sensitive nutrition education and guidance, diabetes management tools, and a coordinated provision of appropriate primary services (podiatry, dental, cardiology, ophthalmology, etc.) to primarily a low-income and disenfranchised community that suffers from an exceptionally high rate of Type 2 diabetes often left undiagnosed.
Outreach will be conducted throughout the community and referrals will be accepted into the program with JPAFHC serving as a medical home. Culturally targeted behavioral change strategies will also be utilized to improve the outcome for patients diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes.
- The Joseph P. Addabbo Family Health Center (JPAFHC) will use the funds to establish a Diabetes Wellness Center. The Wellness Center will provide a comprehensive array of diagnosis, engagement, education, peer support groups, culturally and ethnically sensitive nutrition education and guidance, diabetes management tools, and a coordinated provision of appropriate primary services (podiatry, dental, cardiology, ophthalmology, etc.) to primarily a low-income and disenfranchised community that suffers from an exceptionally high rate of Type 2 diabetes often left undiagnosed.