While many of the City’s neighborhood development programs focus on housing and social services, the Avenue NYC program targets the economic base of the neighborhood – the local commercial corridor.

Avenue NYC provides funding for non-profit economic development organizations (local development corporations, merchants associations, BIDs) in all five boroughs to carry out commercial revitalization activities in the districts they serve.

The goal of the program is to create the conditions under which businesses thrive and residents enjoy access to a vibrant mix of goods and services.

Learn more about the City’s investments in commercial districts in the FY2010 Avenue NYC Annual Report.

The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) is accepting applications for the Fiscal Year 2013 Avenue NYC program.  The deadline for submission is April 13, 2012 by 5:00 pm.  

In Fiscal Year 2013, SBS will fund nonprofit economic development organizations to carry out one or more initiatives under six project categories:

1. Business Attraction
2. Façade Improvement Management
3. Merchant Organizing
4. Placemaking
5. Capacity-Building Initiatives
6. Website Development

You can download the Avenue NYC Proposal Guidelines, Applications, Budget Page and Instructions, and Personnel List below.  Applications must be completed in Adobe Acrobat Reader (except for the Budget Page and Personnel List, which must be completed in Microsoft Excel).

Avenue NYC Proposal Guidelines: All applicants should review the Proposal Guidelines prior to completing an application.

Organizational Capacity Application: All applicants must complete the Organizational Capacity Application, in addition to applications for individual project categories.

Project Category Applications: Complete one application for each project category for which you are applying.

• Business Attraction Application
• Façade Improvement Management Application
• Merchant Organizing Application
• Placemaking Application
• Capacity-Building Initiatives Application
• Website Development Application

Budget Page and Personnel List: All applicants should submit a single Personnel List for their organization and a single Budget Page that includes proposed budgets for all proposed project categories. 

• Avenue NYC Budget Page
• Avenue NYC Budget Page Instructions
• Personnel List

Information on the FY2013 Avenue NYC application process and eligibility requirements is below:

Am I Eligible to Apply?

What are the Evaluation Criteria?

How Do I Apply?

Am I Eligible to Apply?

Avenue NYC provides funding for non-profit economic development organizations (local development corporations, merchants associations and other organizations) throughout the five boroughs to carry out commercial revitalization activities in the districts that they serve. 

Applicants must be:

• Nonprofit economic development organizations operating in any of the five boroughs of New York City; 
• Incorporated as a nonprofit in New York State; and
• Compliant with annual state and federal filing requirements that are pertinent for their type of organization, including New York State Charities Bureau filings. 

Proposed commercial revitalization projects must:

• Operate within defined geographic boundaries; 
• Consider the needs of small- and medium-sized businesses operating in the geographic area; and 
• Target commercial corridors as a whole. Projects cannot provide individual business assistance, such as one-on-one business plan development assistance.

Income Eligibility Criteria:

Organizations must target areas that are designated by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to be low- or moderate-income neighborhoods.  This designation prescribes that at least 51% of the residents in the census tracts included in the commercial area must be low- and moderate-income persons living in households with incomes below 80% of the median household income ($47,100 for a 4-person household in 2000).  

Note: for fiscal year 2013, the Avenue NYC will use 2000 census tract data to determine target areas' CDBG eligibility.  If the New York City Department of City Planning releases tract data from the 2010 census prior to the final funding determination for the fiscal year 2013 Avenue NYC program, any target areas that are newly CDBG-eligible under the revised tract data will be considered by SBS as meeting income eligibility criteria for fiscal year 2013.

If an organization's target area is CDBG-eligible under the 200 census tract data and no longer meets income eligibility criteria upon release of the 2010 data, SBS will still consider the affected target area as meeting CDBG eligibility requirements for the fiscal year 2013 Avenue NYC program.

To determine your census tract, visit the New York City Census Factfinder: http://gis.nyc.gov/dcp/pa/address.jsp 

To learn more about Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) eligibility and to view the City’s census tracts that are CDBG eligible, visit the Department of City Planning’s online Census Report: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/resource/censustractreport.shtml.

If your organization has not received funding through Avenue NYC in the past two fiscal years, please contact SBS at avenuenyc@sbs.nyc.gov to determine your district’s eligibility.

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What are the Evaluation Criteria?

All organizations applying for the FY2013 Avenue NYC program were evaluated on three criteria and rated on the corresponding points scale:

1. Existing organizational capacity (40 points) 
2. Strength of Avenue NYC project proposal (50 points) 
3. Viability of proposed Avenue NYC budget (10 points) 

Details on each of these criteria are included in the Avenue NYC Proposal Guidelines.

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How Do I Apply?

All completed applications (including Budget Page and all other required attachments) must be submitted in electronic format via e-mail to the New York City Department of Small Business Services at avenuenyc@sbs.nyc.gov.

Applications must be received by Friday, April 13, 2012 by 5:00 pm in order to be considered for FY2013 funding.

Avenue NYC Program applicants should include the following documents as attachments with your submission e-mail:

1. Organizational Capacity Application    
2. Project Application(s). Please include each project proposal as a separate attachment; do not combine the files into one document.
3. Application Budget
4. Personnel List
5. Organization's FY2011 Actual Operating Budget
6. Organization's FY2012 Current Operating Budget

Organizations with questions on completing the application should direct their inquiries to SBS via email at avenuenyc@sbs.nyc.gov.  You will receive a response within one business day.

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