40 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • DECEMBER 28, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
kids & education
Local organization wins grant to create a business
plan for a life sciences hub in Long Island City
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com
Th e Long Island City Partnership was
awarded $100,000 by the state to create
a comprehensive business plan outlining
how to make the neighborhood viable for
life sciences companies.
Th rough the 2017 Regional Economic
Development Council Awards, the state
provided grants to organizations in all 10
regional councils.
In December 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio
announced his intentions to create a life
sciences campus through an initiative
called LifeSci NYC. Th e campus would
focus on “cutting-edge cures, novel technologies”
and building new companies.
Th ere has been a 16 percent growth in the
biotechnology sector since 2009, which
has convinced the city to invest in new
jobs in that industry, de Blasio said.
Th e mayor also fl oated Long Island
City as a potential site for his initiative.
According to Long Island City
Partnership President Elizabeth Lusskin,
her staff recognized that the area could
cater to this industry when they completed
their 2016 LIC Comprehensive Plan.
“We had been fortunate to get a similar
grant a few years ago for the comprehensive
plan,” Lusskin said. “Th is plan is
an outgrowth of the fi ndings of the comprehensive
plan where we found that it
was worthwhile to foster a life science and
tech-related hub in Long Island City.”
Lusskin and her staff hope to create a
“road map” for how to foster that hub and
will begin to speak to leaders in the life
sciences industry to fi gure out what steps
should be taken to make the neighborhood
an attractive place for employers.
“We are hoping to complete this in a
fairly tight turn around next year because
the idea is to work with industry experts,
area stakeholders to create really a road
map for how we can create that cluster
here,” she said.
She also added that Long Island City’s
proximity to schools like LaGuardia
Community College and the Cornell
Tech campus on Roosevelt Island translates
to a workforce that is “ready, willing
and able” to work in these industries.
“Th ere’s a lot here that’s very synergistic
and can be mutually reinforcing to allow
us to leverage the great workforce in the
area, as well as continuing to improve the
neighborhood,” she said. “We think Long
Island City has certain location and people
advantages that can possibly make this
industry that everyone has talked about
really blossom here.”
In de Blasio’s announcement last year,
he said that jobs on the campus would
include lab technicians, microbiologists,
research scientists, data analysts, medical
coders, marketing managers, sales
associates and more. About 80 percent
of these jobs require a bachelor’s degree
or less and the average salary in the sector
is $75,000.
Approximately 9,000 jobs will be in
commercial life sciences and 7,000 “indirect
jobs” will be created in other industries
such as marketing or construction.
As many as eight existing nonprofi t
institutions that focus on research in the
life sciences industry will receive $50 million
for research and development facilities
and more than $300 million in tax
incentives will be dolled out to develop
new lab space, he said.
Th e initiative would also create 1,000
internships for New York City high
school, college and doctoral students and
money will be invested to create fi ve new
incubator and innovation centers.
“Th is is a sector that could reach
100,000 jobs or more in this city if we
make the right investments quickly, if we
work with all our partners aggressively
and agilely and we maximize our competitive
advantage,” de Blasio said last year.
Photo courtesy of Flickr/Gabe Shore
Long Island City Partnership won a grant to create a business plan outlining how to make the neighborhood
a hub for the life sciences industry.
Hundreds of Corona kids had early Christmas fun
About 200 children and young adults
whose parents worship at St. Paul’s the
Apostle Church in Corona celebrated an
early Christmas on Dec. 17.
Noticeably absent this year was Santa
Claus, who was apparently back in the
North Pole working hard in preparation
for the holiday. But his absence didn’t
dampen the fun for the children, who
had over 300 toys to choose from. Parents
even picked some for their infants.
Since 1995, Nigerians from Igbo tribe
began to celebrate Mass in their native
dialect at St. Paul’s the Apostle Church
located at 98-16 55th Street, Corona. Th e
church celebrates Masses in their native
Ibo dialect every third Sunday.
Th is year Dr. George Onuorah, a
Corona resident for 22 years and member
of Igbo Catholic Mass at St. Paul’s,
helped secured toy donations from the
Queens Center Mall, Community of
Volunteers and Isaac A. Arasti from the
Omrani & Taub, PC an injury law fi rm
based in Elmhurst.
Renato Tavares, director of community
outreach for Community of
Volunteers and Adriana M. Mello helped
bring happy holiday smiles on the kid’s
faces. Community of Volunteers promotes
social awareness, public goodwill
and volunteerism by connecting amazing
people across America with their
local nonprofi t organization. Patricia
Mekamkwe and Dr. Chinwe Ani also
volunteered.