FEATURES Times Newsweekly Our Neighborhood: The Way It Was • Interesting People • Local History • Events Around Town And More 21 • TIMES, THURSDAY, AUGUST 7, 2014 GRYC Keeps Building On Future City Helps Fund Its Brand New Computer Lab Sunnyside Plays Tribute To Jazz Legend Jazz sounds filled the air under the Sunnyside Arch last Saturday afternoon, Aug. 2, during the 14th annual Bix Beiderbecke Sunnyside Memorial Concert. Hundreds lined 46th Street between Queens Boulevard and Greenpoint Avenue to enjoy an afternoon of Dixieland and swing era jazz music performed by bands including the Pendulum Swings, the Sunnyside Social Club and the Sunnyside Wolverines. The Sunnyside Drum Corps and the Big Apple Lindy-Hoppers dance troupe also delighted the audience with their own performances. Organized by the Bix Beiderbecke Sunnyside Memorial Committee and the Sunnyside Shines Business Improvement District, the concert paid tribute to Beiderbecke, an early jazz pioneer who died on Aug. 6, 1931 at his 46th Street residence. (photo: Chris Bishop) by Noah Zuss With $3 million in funding during each of the next three years, the Greater Ridgewood Youth Council (GRYC), will be able to greatly expand its programs, its president noted last week. Economic Developement Corp. Offers License Class Lets Them Buy Back Retirement Credit The Queens Economic Development Corporation (QEDC) will offer the next version of its Home Improvement Contractor Training (HICT) course in English in Jamaica over two weeks in mid August. The QEDC will provide an instructor who has worked with many small construction businesses to lead workshops that prepare contractors to pass the NYC Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) licensing exam. Classes will be offered on Aug. 16, Aug. 17 and Aug. 23 from 10 am to 4 pm at JFK Corporate Square, 93-43 Sutphin Blvd. in Jamaica. Participants must attend all three sessions, and after the last class, they will go as a group to take the licensing exam at DCA headquarters in Manhattan. The lessons, which cost $300, will be accompanied by free, oneon one business advisory services, such as consultations on permits and licensing, business development, avoiding liability, procurement and access to capital. QEDC offered its first HICT course in January 2012, and all participants went on to pass the DCA exam and obtain licenses to work legally as home improvement contractors. Since then, more than 200 individuals have taken these periodically offered workshops and then passed the licensing test. “This is a golden opportunity to get the necessary licensing to work in New York City’s always active construction industry,” stated QEDC Executive Director Seth Bornstein. “And thanks to our extra, free services, participants can learn how to run a business in addition to learning about home improvement and how to pass a test.” To register, go to www.queensny.org or call Michael Gillen at 718-263-0546. The expansion is funded by the city Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) and will allow GRYC to expand many services, from pre-kindergarten to middle school out-of-school-time, to an internship and summer youth employment program, Bob Monahan said. Three brand new afterschool programs will be opened in Middle Village, one in Glendale, he said. The expansion will fund additional School’s Out New York City (SONYC) programs as well, Monahan stated. “We have just been awarded 10 junior high school SONYC programs. They are all over Queens County,” he told the Times Newsweekly in a phone interview. The GRYC after-school services give young people mentorship and advisement in leadership skills, Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) subjects, literacy, healthy eating and others, Monahan stated. “It’s a completely comprehensive approach to extending the school day in a fun and creative way,” he said. “It offers them a broad-based, out of school time experience that extends the school day,” Monahan said. “It’s a well-thought out initiative that gives a better chance at success.” The GRYC also runs a young adult internship and a summer youth employment program. Rep. Grace Meng secured $52,000 for a computer learning lab that will open Tuesday, Aug. 12. at their Summerfield Street location, it was noted. A ribbon-cutting for the new learning lab will be held that day.S everal City Council Members including Eric Ulrich, Antonio Reynoso, Daniel Dromm and Borough President Melinda Katz all contributed funds to the organization to fund operations for the upcoming year. “It basically doubled the size of the youth council,” Monahan said. “It allows us to serve an additional 1000 kids and their families everyday.” The GRYC will now serve a total of 2,300 to 2,500 kids a day, he noted. The monies also enabled the GRYC to purchase its Forest Avenue headquarters, and without rent to pay -SEE GRYC ON PG. 59- City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley recently visited a Greater Ridgewood Youth Council (GRYC) summer camp at P.S./I.S. 128 in Middle Village.
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