Downtown cultural organizations, including the Jewish Museum, among grant recipients

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) announced Thursday that it will award more than $37 million in grants toward the creation or expansion of community-enriching programs, services, and facilities throughout Lower Manhattan.

The grants -- 33 in all -- were awarded to a range of non-profit organizations that will use the money to improve healthcare services, expand downtown's recreational offerings, enhance the area's public schools, provide services to groups in need, and expand cultural facilities and programs with the aim of drawing more visitors downtown.

"As Lower Manhattan blossoms into a residential destination, these funds will ensure that critical public amenities receive necessary support," Governor Eliot Spitzer said in a statement.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, too, praised the grant allocations. "As we watch the transformation of this community into a 24 hour a day, seven day a week place to be, it's important that we continue to offer support to organizations that improve the quality of life here, and enrich our entire city," he said in a statement.

The awards were announced at the LMDC monthly board meeting on November 8^th. Among the recipients:

• Downtown New York Hospital, which will receive a $5 million grant to purchase Lower Manhattan's first public MRI machine and establish a new preventative care unit
  
• Lower Manhattan's 44 public schools, each of which will eligible for a share of the $4.5 million grant to apply toward mission-critical educational projects, programs, and equipment
  
• Downtown Manhattan Little League, which will receive $2 million for the construction of a new baseball field to serve as its home and also be available for use by all Lower Manhattan residents
  
• Lower Manhattan settlement houses (Grand Street Settlement, Education Alliance, University Settlement Society of New York), which together will receive $4 million to renovate their facilities and expand services for low- and moderate-income residents in Chinatown and the Lower East Side
  
• Museum of Chinese in the Americas, which will receive $2 million to fund its completion

"All year, LMDC has been committed to improving all of Lower Manhattan, not just the 16 acres of Ground Zero," said LMDC Chairman Avi Schick in a statement detailing the awards. "These grants, which support a wide number of wonderful community organizations, further that commitment and address important community needs."

To view a full list of grant recipients, click here.