Jamaica Center BID Holds Their 41st Annual Meeting

Jamaica Center BID
161-10 Jamaica Avenue, Suite 419
Jamaica, NY 11432

Jamaica.nyc

Media Contact:          

Trey Jenkins

Director of Marketing and Business Services

[email protected]

718-873-2506

For Immediate Release:

JAMAICA CENTER BID HOLDS THEIR 41st ANNUAL MEETING

Jamaica, Queens, November 12, 2020 – The Jamaica Center BID celebrated their 41st annual meeting today in a unique virtual setting. Dr. Berenecea Johnson Eanes, President of York College, CUNY was the keynote speaker for this special event.

Executive Director of the Jamaica Center BID, Jennifer Furioli, highlighted the unique challenges that the BID faced throughout 2020 with the emergence of the Coronavirus pandemic. During this time, the BID was forced to pivot their activities and operations, focusing less on shopping promotions and community events to implementing emergency programs to help businesses stay open and comply with government directives. The BID also decided to focus more on quality of life issues due to City budget cutbacks and their resultant emphasis on the commercial district.  

Prior to the onset of the pandemic, there were some early marketing successes that Jennifer Furioli pointed out in the virtual meeting. These included a holiday shopping initiative last December titled ‘Procrastination Station’ where the BID visited the Avenue with their mascot Snowman, created a last-minute Gift Giver’s Idea guide promoting 46 district businesses, activated empty storefront windows with ugly sweater contest decals and enlivened Jamaica Avenue with a live pop-up brass band. The BID also created an ‘I Love Jamaica Avenue’ campaign to encourage local shopping loyalty in tandem with Valentine’s Day where they adorned 75 businesses with “I Love Jamaica Avenue” decals and ran another online campaign promoting 27 local businesses.

In addition to these pre-pandemic marketing initiatives, the Jamaica Center BID also conducted a full analysis of tree pits and trees on the Avenue which resulted in a $10,000 allocation of funding from Council Member Rory Lancman to fix several tree pits on the Avenue, work that will take place this year.  The BID also invited a skilled horologist to examine the historic and landmarked street clock at the corner of Union Hall and Jamaica Avenue. The BID is now working closely with Council Member I. Daneek Miller’s office and NYC government entities to develop a plan to secure funding to restore the street clock to its historic glory. A generous seed grant has been provided by Council Member Miller towards this effort.

Jennifer Furioli highlighted the Jamaica Center BID’s response to the Coronavirus pandemic including the creation of a special Coronavirus webpage on the BID’s site (jamaica.nyc) that kept property and business owners abreast of coronavirus directives, loans and grants and technical assistance resources. The BID provided 25 of their district’s small businesses one-to-one help and referrals on matters such as PPP, EIDL grants, the NY Forward Loan, and the NYC Small Business Services small business grant and loan program and served as an official City of New York distribution partner for PPE supplies to Southeast Queens businesses, distributing 5,200 pieces of PPE to date. The BID also created a list of essential businesses that were open during the initial shutdown of NYC. Lastly was the launch of the BID’s ‘Shop Local Pledge’ reminding Southeast Queens consumers that local businesses need shopping dollars now more than ever and encouraging them to “sign-on” to supporting Jamaica Avenue retail and restaurants. This pledge was revealed at several events including the celebrations at the Black Lives Matter mural on Jamaica Avenue.

One of the key programs that was introduced to the Downtown Jamaica community this year was the creation of JBID Alerts! a cell phone notification program where the BID can easily notify businesses or property owners if there is a district-wide emergency on Jamaica Avenue or if timely coronavirus news affecting businesses is released. Currently there are over 100 businesses and property managers signed up for the alerts.

 “Jamaica Avenue is resilient. Queens is resilient. And New York City is resilient and open for business. Now is the time for us to safely support our local businesses community by giving them our patronage,” said Jennifer Furioli.

Jamaica Center BID also acknowledged their contracted Clean Team which provides cleaning services in the district. In the past year, the BID spent 16,655 hours on sanitation-related issues, removing 37,447 bags of trash from the 101 trash receptacles on Jamaica Avenue and cleaning up 24,337 incidents of graffiti, stickers, and illegally posted bills. In early October the Clean Team removed 150 bags of illegally dumped trash from two spots within a one block radius of one another.

The Annual Meeting concluded with final remarks from President Michael Hirschhorn.

To learn more about the Jamaica Center BID and stay up-to-date on all happenings on Jamaica Avenue, make sure to visit www.Jamaica.nyc, sign up for our weekly newsletter and follow us onFacebook, Twitter and Instagram.

About the Jamaica Center Business Improvement District (BID)

Founded as the Jamaica District Management Association in 1979, the Jamaica Center BID is central to one of New York City’s fastest growing communities. Jamaica Center BID is the proud home to national and regional retailers, several major cultural and educational institutions as well as City, State and Federal Offices, and more than 400 businesses. The Jamaica Center BID seeks to maintain Jamaica Center as a thriving business hub and premier destination to shop, work, live and play. For more info visit www.Jamaica.nyc.

###

Gift Bag Giveaway THIS WEEKEND

This Halloween Saturday we have a fun promotion that’s no tricks, just all treats! Shop or dine at any business in the Jamaica Avenue BID* and YOU just might be one of five lucky winners handed a Jamaica Avenue Halloween Goodie Bag packed with fun surprises and a $25 gift card redeemable at all stores accepting credit cards within our BID boundaries. 2020 has been a pretty frightening year for our business community, with foot traffic down to unimaginable numbers due to the pandemic. Please support Jamaica Avenue’s bricks and mortar businesses and remind your friends to do the same by hashtagging #ILoveJamaicaAvenue and #ShopJamaicaAvenue whenever you shop downtown. 

View the rest of our E-newsletter here.

We Cleaned A BIG Mess

On Wednesday, our BID and our Clean Team removed approximately 150 bags of trash illegally dumped in two different locations on the Avenue. Next time you see our organization’s sanitation workers please give them thanks for their hard work! 

We already sweep and remove tens of thousands of bags of trash from our corridor annually as part of our seven-day-per-week cleaning. We will continue to monitor the Jamaica Avenue business corridor, and whenever we see an abundance of trash throughout the district, we will notify our Clean Team as soon as possible to take care of it.

Businesses, please remember that you are required to use a private carter for all of your commercial trash and that fines apply for those that do not follow City regulations on this matter.

View the rest of our E-newsletter here.

Jamaica Avenue Falls in the Yellow Cluster: What this Means for Business

If you haven't heard, precautionary measures have been put into place to stop the spread of COVID in hot spots throughout NYC per Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio. Jamaica has been designated as a Yellow Zone — Precautionary Zone which means the following:

We encourage all businesses to read up on the zones and the different guidelines you will have to follow if we are elevated to orange or red hereNOW is the time to prepare. Sign up for our BID’s emergency cell phone alert system JBID-Alerts! so that we can reach out to you if our zone or regulations change (see next article for more info). 

Next, enter NYC’s Department of Small Business Service’s business hotline into your phone—you can call them for assistance regarding closing, reopening and compliance guidelines: 888-SBS-4NYC (888-727-4692). You should also visit NYC’s Department of Small Business Service’s webpage for a variety of resources and news regarding coronavirus business support (PPE Marketplace, info on reopening rules and regulations, etc., list of financing resources, and so on.)

View the rest of our E-newsletter here.

Let’s Make Downtown Sparkle

Queens Youth Justice Center (QYJC) Partnership
We are excited to announce a new partnership with one of our neighborhood nonprofits, the Queens Youth Justice Center to remove litter from our downtown. Every Saturday, starting this month, youth enrolled in workforce development programming at the Justice Center will help sweep litter from north-south cross streets bisecting Jamaica Avenue between Sutphin Boulevard and 169th Street. The youth will also remove litter from a portion of Archer Avenue. Litter collected by the youth will then be transported out of the district by our own Jamaica Center BID Clean Team (which cleans Jamaica Avenue from Sutphin Boulevard to 169th Street seven days a week.) The partnership is expected to provide an additional 2,430 hours of community benefit services to Jamaica’s downtown over the next three years. You can read our joint press release with QYJC here

View the rest of our E-newsletter here!

(Photo Credit: Odathrowback Festus)

Downtown Jamaica Storefront Improvement Grant Applications

We are happy to share that the Department of Small Business Services' phase 2 of the Downtown Jamaica Storefront Improvement Grant applications are now open. If you are a small business or property owner in the Downtown Jamaica area who is interested in this grant opportunity, please visit the Downtown Jamaica Storefront Improvement Application & Guidelines pages.

You can find more information about the program on the SBS website here

If interested, please direct all questions to [email protected]The deadline for this grant opportunity is September 30.

Our Latest Activities - E-newsletter

Our Latest Activities
Jamaica Center BID spent much of August canvassing hundreds of our local businesses to inquire about their recovery, inform them about the City’s proposed Jamaica Avenue busway, assess internet bandwidth strength downtown, and most importantly, to enroll our local storefront businesses in our new emergency alert system, JBID-Alerts!   

What’s JBID-Alerts? Something very important in our eyes…In early February a portion of the Avenue was shut down due to an alleged bomb threat. Shortly thereafter, Coronavirus began spreading in full force and many businesses suddenly needed to shut down or modify operations based on their business type. In both instances, our staff struggled to efficiently get time-sensitive info to our businesses, due to varying degrees of email, social media or landline connectivity of each business. The lesson learned? In times of emergency, our BID needs a rapid-fire way to communicate with businesses beyond email, store visits, or calls to store landlines. Enter JBID-Alerts! When a business owner or key manager provides our organization with their cell phone number, we can now send up to the minute emergency blasts directly to their cell phone, using a new software powered by Textedly. 

If you’re a business owner within our BID boundaries that would like to be enrolled in this program, please contact Trey Jenkins at [email protected]. We will never share your cell information and we will only notify you with critical information that we feel is time sensitive and important to your business’s survival (read: no junk texts). Property owners—we would also like to provide this emergency alert service to you, building supers and building managers who want to be alerted of downtown emergencies (water main break, fire, etc). Please reach out to Trey Jenkins if you or your building staff wish to enroll in these alerts. We can’t prevent disasters, but we certainly can prepare for them, allowing us as a business community to rebound much quicker!

We also spent August reminding the community to support local businesses. We gave away I LOVE Jamaica Avenue and “Shop Local” postcards to passersbys at the Family Fun Day hosted by the Queens Chronicle and King Manor Museum on August 21. Later that day we joined Elected Officials I. Daneek MillerAdrienne AdamsJames Sanders and Department of Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Jonel Dorris for the kickoff of their Advancing Black Entrepreneurship (BE NYC) report. Natasha Morales and Candi Semone of Make Me Over Beauty Bar (166-11 Jamaica Ave) and Henry Arroyo of Henry’s Carrot Cakes (located inside Jamaica Market 90-40 160th) each spoke at the press event about what it means to be a Black business owner and part of the Downtown Jamaica community. Dawn Kelly of The Nourish Spot (107-05 Guy R Brewer Blvd) also spoke at the event on Jamaica Avenue at the location of the Black Lives Matter street mural.  

View the rest of our E-newsletter here!

Black Lives Matter Ground Mural & Black Entrepreneurship on Jamaica Avenue - E-newsletter

Black Lives Matter Ground Mural & Black Entrepreneurship on Jamaica Avenue 
If you haven’t noticed already, a Black Lives Matter ground mural was recently installed on Jamaica Avenue on the portion between the Family Courts and King Manor Museum. Post-installation, our local elected officials, with the significant leadership of Council Member I. Daneek Miller, put on a series of festive and themed events intended to draw attention to the mural and provide necessary—but socially distant—community engagement with the public. Themed days included Gospel, Youth and Community days, each with their own sets of joyful and educational activities. Our BID was pleased to participate in several of these days, where we encouraged attendees to learn more about and support our Jamaica Avenue Business Improvement District merchants, which during these times need our shopping support now more than ever! We handed out flyers showcasing our new website (Jamaica.nyc) and recently opened businesses; gave away reusable Jamaica Avenue shopping totes and asked shoppers to commit to supporting our local economy by signing our “Buy Local” pledge.

This Friday we will return to the same spot from 1-2 p.m. to participate in the City of New York’s launch announcement for its recently-released report Advancing Black Entrepreneurship in NYC. Two of our very own BID Black-owned businesses (Make Me Over Beauty Bar and Henry’s Carrot Cakes) will be present. Please come and support them.

We’re also partnering with King Manor Museum and the Queens Chronicle to ‘Celebrate The Jewels of Jamaica,’ this Friday from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. We’ll be at the King Manor Museum front lawn for a socially distant family fun day. Stop by, see us, sign a pledge to shop local on Jamaica Avenue and get a new ‘I Love Jamaica’ shopping bag! 

View the rest of E-newsletter here!

The New Jamaica Center BID Website - E- newsletter

The New Jamaica Center BID Website
It’s Here! At long last, we’ve launched our new website, a hub for all things Jamaica Avenue: jamaica.nyc. Use our site to navigate what's happening in the neighborhood, explore all there is to see and do entertainment-wise, access a full directory of businesses on Jamaica Avenue and (if you’re a business owner) learn more about how the BID can help you achieve your goals. Test drive it here!

View the rest of E-newsletter here!

COVID-19 Updates 6/26/20

COVID-19 UPDATES   

Our BID is committed to ensuring that our local business community receives the latest resources necessary to help them weather the current coronavirus situation. We will be updating this page regularly with information we receive from City, State, Federal agencies and other respected economic development and business support institutions. Please bookmark this page and check back often. *Information changes regularly. Please be sure to skim the full page on a periodic basis to ensure you are not missing new information, such as our recently added “reopening” section.* 

Know something we are missing? See something inaccurate? Please email us at  [email protected].    

This page was last updated on 6/26/20. Items subject to change and we cannot guarantee up to the minute updates. It is your responsibility as a business to follow government directives and stay abreast of the news and changing regulations.    

START HERE (Empieza aqui*)     

RE-OPENING GUIDELINES/MODELS/SUPPORT 

Additional Reopening Support 
Our BID has designed several templates you can insert in your window to alert customers of your COVID-19 opening hours, purchasing/ordering procedures and to remind shoppers of social distancing courtesies towards your employeesDownload the packet here.  

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES (Loans, Grants, Capital Raising Platforms)   

City of New York Loans and Grants for Small Businesses     

State Loans  

Federal Government Loans (Small Business Administration Loans)      

On 6/5 The Paycheck Protection Flexibility Act was passed to give businesses more time and flexibility with the use of the PPP loan and forgiveness. This short webinar explains these new changes succinctly.  

Private Grants  

Private Loans 

**For Restaurant-specific Grants/Loans, see restaurant section below.    

Organizations with Business Counselors that Can Help Businesses with Loan/Grant Applications (and more):      

Additional Financial Support for Business (Commercial Rent Relief)     

Financial Support for Businesses (Insurance Relief)     

Per Gov. Cuomo’s announcement 3/27: Small businesses experiencing coronavirus-related financial hardship may defer paying premiums for property and casualty insurance for a 60-day period. This includes auto, homeowners, renters and other kinds of insurance. (No late fees will be assessed and there will be no negative impact to your credit.)     

NY State’s page on understanding Commercial Business Interruption Insurance.     

LOGISTICAL/ADMIN/LEGAL SUPPORT FOR BUSINESSES     

WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY  

Below are updated resources to help you and your business stay safe and prevent the spread of germs.      

WORKPLACE CLEANING AND DISINFECTION    

INDUSTRY-SPECIFIC NEWS 

Property Owners/Facilities Management  

Restaurants   

Freelancers     

Freelancers Union has a rolling list of resources and advice for 1099 workers and is regularly updating its membership on efforts to include freelancers in the various relief plans.     

Freelancers/1099 workers are eligible for the Paycheck Protection Program Loan and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans Grants (Advance) and Loans.     

PROMOTIONAL SUPPORT  

Yelp is offering a variety of temporary free resources to businesses, including $100 in free advertising for restaurants offering takeout/delivery as detailed here.    

Our organization, Jamaica Center BID, can help your business pass on important information to our 15,000 social media followers and 2,000 e-newsletter subscribers. If you offer delivery, takeout or curbside pick-up, let us know and we will promote it. If you sell gift cards, let us know and we will encourage our followers to purchase them so that you can have a continued cash flow. If you offer online shopping, facetime shopping or other innovative methods that customers can utilize to keep spending money at your establishment, let us know. Email Trey Jenkins at [email protected] and we will help promote.    

Have an update your business would like to share with the Queens eco-system? Queens Chamber is accepting business updates on its rolling COVID-19 announcement list. Please email your details to [email protected] with the subject line – QUEENS BUSINESS CORONAVIRUS UPDATES.    

NYC +Co, the City of New York’s official tourism body, is gathering and publicizing info on local businesses, cultural organizations and more for citywide promotional purposes. Make sure your business is covered.  Museums, theaters, performing arts organizations can submit a virtual experience for consideration here, Restaurants open for business can get listed here.  

Welcome Back Shoppers! - E-newsletter

Welcome Back Shoppers!
 
With Stage II underway, many of our retail locations and salons/barbershops have reopened, along with the restaurants and essential businesses that were open throughout the entire Coronavirus outbreak. Plantain Werkes (147-21 Jamaica Avenue), Make Me Over Beauty Bar (166-11 Jamaica Avenue), Jackie’s Kids (147-09 Jamaica Avenue), Pretty Women(165-09 Jamaica Avenue), CH Martin (148-22 Jamaica Avenue, Jackpot Savings (148-17 Jamaica Avenue) and many of the food vendors at Jamaica Market...these are just a few of our beloved establishments that are back in biz and ready for you. We’ve been popping into many of these businesses the past few days to check in, and are here to report that the Jamaica Avenue business community is taking your safety seriously with limited occupancy, six-foot spacing reminders, masked employees, special certifications, and more.
 
Now we ask you—the customers—to do your part! Wear a mask when you shop, follow the rules the store or business establishment has thoughtfully put together to protect you and their employees, socially distance from your fellow customers and the staff helping you, and SHOP Jamaica Avenue. Now is not the time to order online from retailers across the country. Keep your dollars in your community—these businesses need your business to make a successful recovery. Need some motivation to adopt a “buy local” mindset.? Tag @jamcenterbid on Instagram with your posts featuring your shopping excursion on Jamaica Avenue and we’ll send you a Jamaica Avenue BID tote!
 
View the rest of our e-newsletter here!

What We’ve Been Up To Lately - E-newsletter

What We’ve Been Up To Lately 
Our BID is now one of NYC’s designated distributors of PPE (masks) for local Southeast Queens businesses. Special thanks to Fred Green, our key point person on the ground who is coordinating delivery to our local business community that needs them, and thanks to our local neighbor The Nourish Spot for their recent note of appreciation. If you are a SE Queens-based business that would like some of these masks (5 masks per employee), please email [email protected] to discuss—pick-ups are by appointment only. Our neighboring economic development organizations, Sutphin Blvd. BIDGateway Jamaica Center BID, and Greater Jamaica Development Corporation are also serving as distribution hubs and can also be directly contacted to coordinate a pick-up. More about this service here.
We’re also nearly done with the redesign of our new website. Our current website, jamaica.nyc has all the necessary info needed to share important information with Jamaica Avenue customers, business owners and property members, but...we admit that as the sands of time have passed, it has become difficult to navigate. Today’s circumstances have shown that its more important than ever to have an effective digital presence to distribute critical information quickly. We look forward to revealing a fresh, new and easy-to-navigate website by early July!
Our Executive Director Jennifer Furioli also recently appeared on Council Member Lancman’s virtual town hall on “Phase 1 Reopening: Everything You Need to Know with panelists from the Governor's Office, Queens Chamber of Commerce, Diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, Jamaica Muslim Center (Official), First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, NY and Vaad Harabonim of Queens. We thank the Council Member and the fellow guests for the opportunity to discuss the next steps in safely reopening our community.
View the rest of E-newsletter here!
Top