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City of Seattle
Gregory J. Nickels (former Mayor)
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NEWS ADVISORY
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| SUBJECT: Mayor Announces Grants to Help 20 Neighborhood Business Districts
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
7/23/2003 10:05:00 AM |
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Karin Zaugg (206) 733-9810
Office of the Mayor (206) 684-4000
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Mayor Announces Grants to Help 20 Neighborhood Business Districts
Strengthening community economies, investing in small business
SEATTLE - As part of his strategy for creating jobs and improving Seattle's business climate, today Mayor Greg Nickels awarded grants to 20 Neighborhood Business District Associations in communities throughout the City.
"Small businesses are a major economic driver in our community and investing in our neighborhood business districts is a big step towards ensuring a thriving economy," Mayor Greg Nickels stated. "It's easy to focus on our region's large companies, but we must support our local small businesses. In the greater Seattle area, more than 59,000 small businesses employ more than a half million people, with a total payroll of more than $18 billion."
The Office of Economic Development received proposals totaling more than three times the amount of money available. The total grants to 20 neighborhood business organizations amount to a total of $134,000.
"The Capitol Hill Chamber has worked to promote the vibrant business districts of Capitol Hill for over 80 years. We are excited to work with the City, the Greater Seattle Business Association, and other community groups to continue this process," said Charlie Hamilton, President of the Capitol Hill Chamber's Board. "These projects will help visitors rediscover our diverse and unique dining, entertainment and shopping establishments."
"These funds will strengthen our emerging business association and energize our work with the small businesses and other partners in our community in finding solutions to the challenges facing us," said Ollievette Wade, Program Coordinator of the Cherry Street Association. "We're focused on providing a safe and thriving business district in the Central Area."
"I have made it a priority to make City government a better partner with business, and today we're celebrating the work by some of those partners - the non-profit business associations that work side by side with small businesses to improve our neighborhoods," Nickels stated.
"One of the Mayor's Economic Opportunity Task Force recommendations was to invest in the community business districts. Our office is focused on helping neighborhood businesses city-wide grow and thrive," stated Jill Nishi, Director of the Office of Economic Development. "The grants we give out today will be used for a wide range of projects, from graffiti removal to tourist maps, all designed to help strengthen and grow these local business communities."
Some examples of funded projects include: Business district promotion (brochures, advertisements), board and volunteer training, physical improvement and enhancement projects for business districts, information technology projects and neighborhood business district assessment and analysis.
The following organizations are recipients of the 2003 Neighborhood Business District Grants:
| • Aurora Avenue Merchants Association |
$ 2,000 |
| • Belltown Business Association |
$12,500 |
| • Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce |
$ 8,000 |
| • Cherry Street Association |
$ 5,500 |
| • Chinatown-International District BIA |
$ 4,500 |
| • Columbia City Business Association |
$10,000 |
| • Fremont Chamber of Commerce |
$ 7,500 |
| • Greater Seattle Business Association |
$10,000 |
| • Greater University Chamber of Commerce |
$ 9,500 |
| • Greenwood-Phinney Chamber of Commerce |
$ 5,000 |
| • Lake City Task Force |
$ 5,000 |
| • Pike Place Merchants Association |
$ 5,000 |
| • Pioneer Square Community Association |
$ 9,500 |
| • Rainier Beach Merchants Association |
$ 5,000 |
| • Seattle Chinese/Chinatown Chamber |
$ 6,000 |
| • SODO Business Association |
$ 5,000 |
| • Union Street Business Group |
$ 5,500 |
| • Vietnamese American Economic Development Assn |
$ 5,000 |
| • Wallingford Chamber of Commerce |
$ 5,000 |
| • Washington CASH |
$ 8,625 |
| Total Amount of Grants: |
$134,125 |
To learn more about the 2003 Neighborhood Business District Grants, please visit the Mayor's website at: www.seattle.gov/mayor.
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Office of the Mayor
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