Chorus, entrepreneurship program receive grants
The Trenton Children’s Chorus announced that it has received grants totaling $121,600 to provide choral music education and performance opportunities for Trenton children.
The awards came from the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, $20,000; Mary Owen Borden Foundation, $10,000; the Bunbury Fund, $20,000; Edward T. Cone Foundation, $10,000; Mercer Fund of the Community Foundation of New Jersey, $5,000; Princeton Friends of Opera, $600; Colgate-Palmolive Inner City Education Fund, $6,000; Trenton Funders Collaborative (which includes Princeton Area Community Foundation, the Bunbury Fund, Mary Owen Borden Foundation, and Harbourton Foundation), $40,000, and a $30,000 Community Development Block Grant from the City of Trenton.
Established 27 years ago, the Trenton Children’s Chorus provides choral music education as well as academic, personal, and performance opportunities for 170 young people in grades K-12 in the greater Trenton area. Every child who has stayed a member of TCC through high school has been accepted into — and gone to — college.
The chorus has performed at the White House, including for President and Mrs. Obama, United Nations, National Cathedral, Princeton University’s Martin Luther King Day Celebration, the swearing-in of former U.S. Representative Rush Holt and the inauguration of Governor Chris Christie, and in concert with Bobby McFerrin and Dave Brubeck. The group also performs for corporate, community, church, and private events throughout the greater Trenton area.
For more information visit www.trentonchildrenschorus.org.
Minding Our Business Inc. (MOB), a nonprofit organization that has fostered youth entrepreneurship in Trenton, recently received a $7,000 grant from State Farm Insurance.
MOB began in 1997 as a community outreach program of Rider University’s College of Business Administration. It has since coached and mentored more than 3,000 students on creating and running their own businesses.
In 2016 the MOB Service-Learning Program operated from February to May at the Kilmer, Rivera, and Dunn middle schools in Trenton and at the John Witherspoon School in Princeton. “One hundred low-income middle-school students and 36 Rider University mentors participated in this year’s program. Rider University mentors guided 13 groups of middle school students through the process of planning and running a small business,” noted the organization. The State Farm grant allowed MOB to infuse financial literacy into the curriculum to help students learn about making and managing money, budgeting, and credit. “Financial illiteracy is especially prevalent among low-income groups including many African-Americans and Hispanics. MOB students and parents belong to these groups and are in greater need of financial education,” said MOB’s co-founder, Dr. Sigfredo Hernandez. For more information visit www.minding-our-business.com.
Assemblyman pushes for UEZ extension
Assemblyman Reed Gusciora is calling on Gov. Chris Christie to sign into law a bill that will extend New Jersey’s Urban Enterprise Zone (UEZ) program by an additional 10 years.
“The UEZ program provides valuable incentives to local, small businesses to operate in our state’s urban centers,” says Gusciora, a Democrat who represents Mercer and Hunterdon counties. “It would be a huge blow against urban revitalization if this legislation wasn’t signed.”
Benefits in the bill range from tax credits for new hires to tax exemptions for electricity and gas for manufacturing businesses. It also allows businesses operating within certain designated areas in a municipality to charge 3.5 percent sales tax rather than the standard 7 percent rate.
“This reduction can be hugely attractive for customers and draw significant economic activity into an area. In Trenton alone, there are over 150 businesses registered for the UEZ program, and there have been over 800 since the program started in the mid-’80s,” says Gusciora. “If they were to suddenly lose their tax credits and sales tax incentives, they could see their businesses disappear in front of their eyes. Those that survive would have to move to maintain their customer base.”
Gusciora’s legislation (A-2576) was approved by both the General Assembly and Senate in June with bipartisan support. Timely enactment of this legislation is critical as five significant UEZ markets — Trenton, Newark, Camden, Bridgeton, and Plainfield — are set to expire at the end of 2016.
“These are cities that have made a lot of progress recovering from urban decay and blight in the past five or ten years and that’s in large part due to the new businesses that they’ve been able to attract. If anything, we want to give these areas more opportunities, rather than taking them away. Gov. Christie needs to do the right thing and approve this bill. The program costs the state little and provides benefit to many. It’s a sound move, economically,” says Gusciora.
Old Barracks goes back in time for Tavern Night
The Old Barracks Museum will transform into a colonial tavern filled with music, drinks, and candlelight on Friday, September 16, from 7 to 10 p.m., during the organization’s Tavern Night Fundraiser. Festivities include musicians performing popular songs from the 18th century, a dance master providing dance instructions, hors d’oeuvres, an open bar of beer and wine, and a silent auction that includes tickets to Disney World and a New York Jets game, family portraits, a one-week stay at a Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, beach house, and more prizes donated by local businesses.
This event is sponsored by Saul Ewing LLP, New Brunswick Development Corporation (Devco), and Karl Weidel Insurance. All proceeds support educational programming for more than 10,000 New Jersey students through the museum’s “Meet the Past” field trips.
Tickets are $60 and can be purchased online at www.barracks.org or by visiting the Old Barracks Museum, 101 Barrack Street.
