PRESS RELEASE: ThePowerLab, Yonkers Non-Profit Incubator New Co-working Space and Neighborhood Plan

YONKERS, NY — May 1, 2017 — On Thursday, May 4th, at 6pm, CGDC (Community Governance & Development Council) 45 Ludlow Street, Suite 310 (ThePowerLab), a Yonkers based non-profit, will hold an event to present the initial phase of their neighborhood plan for Southwest Yonkers, unveil ThePowerLab, a community business incubator and co-working suite located at 45 Ludlow Street, Suite 310 (ThePowerLab), where the presentation will be held. Telephone contact: 914-281-1109.The ThePowerLab has been defined and devised to provide affordable workspace for local entrepreneurs, community projects, and start-up community businesses.

The space will also provide technical assistance and support services for local start-ups, and will also serve as a community space for classes and workshops on topics like financial literacy and business development. CGDC has partnered with Defiant Media Group (DMG) — a strategic marketing and brand development agency that will be leading the operations and marketing for the ThePowerLab.

“We saw this partnership as the perfect catalyst to create the foundation for social and economic development in this community,” advised Anthony Bailey, CEO of DMG.

In his support letter for the project, Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano wrote: “Start-up incubators and coworking facilities are becoming common and necessary throughout major cities and this project is in alignment with the city’s goal to assist residents and business owners to build strong sustainable communities by creating employment opportunities and investing in local entrepreneurs, and the facilities that house them.”

LaMont OyeWale’ Badru, CGDC Executive Director said, “We want ThePowerLab to play a transformative role in Southwest Yonkers. There’s a lot of development happening around us, and unless we prepare local residents to participate in the growth of Southwest Yonkers, people will end up priced out of their own communities. ”

ThePowerLab is one of three projects that make up the first phase of CGDC’s neighborhood plan that they will outline on Thursday, all relating to the economic revitalization of Southwest Yonkers. The neighborhood plan also includes the proposed creation of a “community innovation center” which would be a facility to house business, technology, coding, and engineering training for youth and community members. The final key part of the plan is building a coalition to promote the adoption of a “community benefit ordinance” for the City of Yonkers, that would create requirements for large developers to provide benefits (local hiring, prevailing wages, etc.) to the neighborhoods within which they are developing.

CGDC’s neighborhood planning project, The Highland Hill Project, was begun in response to the sale of the then abandoned Yonkers Public School 19 building, located at 70 Jackson Street, to a Long Island-based developer 4 years ago. They informed that they will build 91 market rate housing units. School 19 was a property that CGDC had planned to convert into a community facility but was outbid by Alma Realty. Even so, there was strong community opposition to the sale of School 19 because of strong local support for the community center.

CGDC is asking the developer to invest in the local neighborhood by supporting their efforts to revitalize the surrounding neighborhood. CGDC believes that with the developer investing in projects like ThePowerLab, they and the community would be bridging their efforts in compromise, facilitating the development to provide a concrete community benefit, while helping to revitalize the neighborhood surrounding the development site. The developer is currently awaiting approval from the Yonkers Industrial Development Agency for $1.6 million in tax abatements.

CGDC is currently crowdfunding the remaining needed dollars to officially launch ThePowerLab in June. To make a donation, or to learn more visit: cgdcny.org/powerlab

ThePowerLab will be a community incubator and co-working suite in the heart of Southwest Yonkers. We provide space and resources for local entrepreneurs and leaders to help take their projects and businesses to the next level, with the goal of revitalizing Southwest Yonkers.