LeFrak and Simon families give $2 million to 40 Jersey City nonprofits and pledge $1 million a year for five more years
The developers of Newport doubled their $1 million anniversary pledge on Sept. 24, choosing the 40 recipients from 135 applicants. They have not said how the yearly money that follows will be awarded.
Jersey City. Newport Associates Development Company, the partnership of the LeFrak and Simon families that built the Newport neighborhood on the Jersey City waterfront, gave $2 million in grants to 40 Jersey City nonprofits on Sept. 24, twice the $1 million it had promised for Newport's 40th anniversary. It also said it will give $1 million a year to local nonprofits for the next five years, $7 million in all over six years.
The grants were announced at an anniversary celebration at The Westin Jersey City Newport, attended by Gov. Mikie Sherrill, Mayor James Solomon and representatives of the 40 recipients.
Who received the grants
The 40 were chosen from 135 applicants. Four received cornerstone awards: Garden State Community Development Corporation, $200,000, and the Anti-Violence Coalition of Hudson County, Team Wilderness and Arts 14C, $100,000 each.
The other 36 received from $25,000 to $100,000, according to the list at the end of the families' release. The Jersey City Medical Center Foundation's $100,000 is the largest of those; 17 organizations received $50,000 and 16 received $25,000.
The recipients work in social services, health care, education, the arts, community development, environmental protection and athletics. They range from the United Way of Hudson County and Liberty Science Center to neighborhood associations, park conservancies and dance and theater companies.
How the first round worked
The partnership announced the program on Feb. 26, with $1 million for 40 organizations. It was open to 501(c)(3) organizations that principally and directly serve Jersey City, which applied online from Feb. 25 to April 10. The minimum award was to be $10,000, and cornerstone awards of $100,000 or more were to go to groups with a record of success in the city, according to the announcement as BINJE and the New York Real Estate Journal published it.
James LeFrak, vice chairman of LeFrak, said then that the awards came in addition to the families' annual planned giving.
Neither the September release nor the anniversary page on Newport's website says how the $1 million a year will be awarded or when a new round will open.
“We believed Newport's success would be measured not only by what we built, but by whether it created lasting value for Jersey City.”
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