September 2018
City of New Rochelle Awarded State Prize at Sept. 27 Event
NEW PALTZ, NY – New Paltz-based Choice Words LLC developed and wrote the the City of New Rochelle’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI) application that was awarded $10 million last week.
Howard Zemsky, CEO and President of the Empire State Development Corporation, announced that New Rochelle had won the prestigious award on Sept. 27th during a ceremony at the Boys and Girls Club of New Rochelle. The annual competition awards the prize to one village, town, or city in each of the state’s 10 economic development regions. Previous Mid-Hudson Region winners have included the cities of Middletown and Kingston.
Suzanne Reider, Senior Project Manager of the Department for Development for New Rochelle, expressed the City’s appreciation. “Big applause and thanks to Choice Words, New Rochelle’s DRI grant-writing partner! We are excited to share the spotlight with Steve Densmore, Briana Maloney, and the team at Choice Words!”
“We are excited for our partners at the City of New Rochelle and look forward to the many great projects that will be funded by this significant award,” said Choice Words’ President Steve Densmore. “This achievement would not have been possible if not for the incredible work of Choice Words Vice President Briana Maloney, who served as lead writer on this application.”
While Empire State Development requires a rigorous, community-based planning process before expending any of the funds, New Rochelle’s application prioritized the need for train station upgrades, expansion of North Avenue Bridge over I-95 to include open space and improved pedestrian circulation, creation of an elevated park (the “Linc”) to facilitate pedestrian travel from Lincoln Avenue to North Avenue, capital improvements to the Boys and Girls Club, two-way traffic conversion of the downtown road network, and improved connectivity from the Downtown Overlay Zone to nearby employment centers, health care facilities, educational institutions, and recreational amenities.
Along with year around work on behalf of nonprofits, municipalities, and colleges, Choice Words specializes in the state’s Consolidated Funding Application (CFA), where non-profits, for-profit businesses and municipalities can compete to win funding for regional economic development projects. To date Choice Words has helped its clients win more than $63 million in grant awards from both government and private philanthropic sources .