Greater Jamaica Development Corporation

See schedule oeffective parking to catalyze economic growth:with a large driving population, the economic vitality of downtown Jamaica is underpinned by car-based transportation - as local residents and workers rely on vehicles to get to and from work, home, shopping, school and cultural venues. To address this basic need, gjdc provides augmented, below-market parking to support and bolster economic activity downtown. Jamaica first parking, llc ("jfp"), a wholly owned subsidiary of gjdc, owns and operates parking in the downtown in order improve transportation, support local economic activity and Development. As the nonprofit owner of four parking facilities with approximately 1,800 spaces in the downtown, jfp provides safe, attractive, affordably priced parking to support economic and cultural activity in Jamaica.

See schedule ofacilitating affordable housing development:in response to resounding demand for affordable housing and new retail by the Jamaica community, gjdc has worked closely with private developers to help facilitate the construction of more mixed-use, affordable buildings in downtown Jamaica. Events and programming:in order to help connect residents to their neighborhood, gjdc sponsors several events throughout the year, including a women's history month celebration in march, a legislative cocktail hour in may and a 5k walk/run in the fall. Improving infrastructure and access: gjdc has played a key role in advocating for and securing funding for various, large-scale transportation improvement projects in the downtown. These projects aim to increase pedestrian access and safety, improve traffic flow, accommodate increased bus volumes, create new public open space and support economic revitalization.

See schedule ojamaica market:since its opening in 1990, the Jamaica market has established itself as a community meeting place offering an eclectic array of affordable culinary choices - from salads and sandwiches to juices and ethnic foods from asia, latin america, and the caribbean all in a convenient location. Over the years, the market has helped many creative and ambitious entrepreneurs start businesses in a commercial corridor where it might otherwise be too expensive for them to open shop; there are currently over 20 shops selling hot food, news, coffee, magazines, flowers, cosmetics, jewelry, hair products and more. In addition, the harvest room is located in the Jamaica market. As one of the only offerings of its kind in downtown Jamaica the harvest room serves as a large scale event space that gjdc offers for community convening purposes. Able to accommodate up to 150 guests, the local community uses the harvest room for a wide variety of family, social, and business events. Not only can the venue be rented for affordable rates, gjdc also provides the space in-kind for certain community events. Greater nexus:greater nexus is a leading coworking space and entrepreneurship hub based in new york. It is downtown Jamaica's first accessible and affordable coworking space offering flexible terms to the mostly minority small business community. With over 10,000 square feet of shared space, state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment, wellness rooms, soundproof phone booths, and comparable amenities to any modern manhattan office space, our co-working facility promises to be a magnet for innovative entrepreneurship.opened during the summer of 2022, Greater nexus prides itself on taking a hospitality-first approach to our space from our design to our staff, and technology we are always putting our members' experience first. We pride ourselves on creating a culture that understands the needs of the business and community, by providing solutions through diverse-industry educational programing, professional networking events and mentoring opportunities.greater nexus wants to support the small businesses and entrepreneurs to work in an innovative, tech driven space that inspires innovation, cross collaboration of various business to support new business opportunities, and an environment of technical resources. This level of community expertise and access to resources is a unique and critical aspect of the facility. Members will gain access to a wide spectrum of high-level business resources to help expand business knowledge and personal Development through our small business initiative.greater nexus' small business initiative will provide up to 15 local businesses | entrepreneurs with the opportunity to work out of the coworking space for a one-month span. Businesses that are selected for this opportunity will have full access to our space, and the opportunity to engage with a variety of business sectors within the space. In addition, Greater nexus curates and provides resources for the community around financial literacy, civic engagement, and the opportunity to have one on one meetings to learn about and gain access to the multitude of resources offered through our business services group. Greater nexus also hosts several programs that are offered to the community in the sectors of civic engagement, financial literacy, academic enrichment/education, workforce Development, technology and opportunities to contract in the mwbe arena.

Business services: gjdc's business services group (bsg) provides direct services to local businesses with a particular focus on industrial and minority and women owned businesses in the area.bsg monitors and reports to the city on general business needs in city-designated industrial business zones. It also monitors infrastructure needs in these areas and recommends improvements. It provides assistance to industrial businesses in the areas of financing; access to incentives and benefits for businesses and navigating government. Recognizing the need for urgent action in response to the covid crisis, gjdc and its affiliate gjldc, significantly increased emphasis on providing our free suite of technical assistance to small businesses in our service geography, with a special focus on mwbe's. Specifically in 2018 and 2019, we provided service assistance (through canvassing, community engagement events and one-on-one assistance to about 500 entities per year). By contrast, in 2021 as a result of covid's impact on small businesses, we provided direct assistance to 1189 businesses. Our services resulted in business funding and/or grants secured of $5,076,722. Throughout the pandemic, we partnered with federal, state, and local governmental units to provide focused assistance and guidance on access to newly available business resources.this dedication continued in 2022 and 2023 as our service geography of mostly minority owned entities recovered in very slow fashion from pandemic restrictions. These businesses require special attention since they typically did not have adequate cash reserves, lacked access to expertise, and could not move their businesses online during the lockdowns.