Jersey City Office of Innovation

Millennium Strategies played a major role in Jersey City being selected as one of 12 cities in the United States to participate in Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Innovation Delivery program. Jersey City received $2.25 million to establish an Office of Innovation (i-team) tasked with solving the City's most complicated local issues. I-teams function as in-house consultants, moving from one mayoral priority to the next. Using Bloomberg Philanthropies’ tested Innovation Delivery approach, i-teams help agency leaders and staff through a data-driven process to assess problems, generate responsive new interventions, develop partnerships, and deliver measurable results. Focusing initially on the revitalization of struggling commercial districts, the Office of Innovation will rely on a data driven approach as it defines and responds to complex urban challenges, deploys resources to meet those challenges, and measures the impact of solutions implemented. For more information, visit Innovate Jersey City.

Some examples of the work completed to date by the Office of Innovation include:

BUSINESS DISTRICT REBOOT

Designed to re-energize and rebrand commercial districts to help business owners and entrepreneurs by pursuing streetscape improvements, more effective waste management solutions, targeted marketing and branding campaigns to showcase Jersey City’s diverse neighborhoods and business districts.

REBRANDING NEIGHBOORHOODS

Components include: producing a guide for branding so communities can develop unique logos and signage for their neighborhoods and installing new street banners in commercial areas.

ACTIVATNG VACANT STOREFRONTS

Components include: launching Make›Shift›Gallery, a program to install art in vacant storefronts and working with groups of architects and design students to create renderings showing how vacant commercial spaces might look if they had tenants as part of a new program called “Imagination Stations.”

STREETSCAPE UPGRADES

Components include: installing new waste and recycling bins in commercial districts; creating new educational materials to teach the public about the benefits of recycling; spring clean-up efforts such as repainting crosswalks and fire hydrants, fixing streetlights, planting trees and power washing sidewalks; and, installing new planters and flowers.

ALLOCATING MANPOWER TO FOCUS ON BUSINESS DISTRICTS

The Department of Public Works is creating a Neighborhood Improvement Department and hiring six new field representatives who will be stationed in each of the City’s wards and will be responsible for proactive upkeep of their district’s roads and sidewalks.

Haledon Streetscapes

In 2004, the Borough of Haledon made the determination that the Belmont Avenue corridor, the primary business/commercial corridor within the community, was in need of rehabilitation. As such, the Borough developed a three phased streetscape project that would incorporate various aesthetic elements including decorative brick paver walkways, benches, streetlights and street trees. In addition, this project called for the installation of various unique engineering features that include curb bump-outs at sidewalk corners, widening of sidewalk areas for increased pedestrian friendliness and intersection reconstruction for increased pedestrian safety.

Since being retained by the Borough, Millennium Strategies has played an integral role in securing approximately $1,480,000 in alternative grant funding for this project from various State and Federal sources. To date, the Borough of Haledon has successfully completed Phases I and II of this project and is preparing to complete Phase III by the end of 2016 capping what has been an aesthetically transformative project as well as one that has spurred economic growth within the Borough. The project was funded with the following awards:

• 2015 NJ DOT Municipal Aid Grant $100,000
• 2014 NJ DOT Transportation Alternatives Grant $620,000
• 2008 NJ DOT Municipal Aid Grant $160,000
• 2005 NJ DOT Centers of Place Grant $100,000
• 2005 US FHWA THUD Federal Appropriation $500,000

Hoboken Bicycle Network

Millennium Strategies has worked closely with the City of Hoboken to advance its extensive bicycle / pedestrian network. Grant funding, such as a recent $530,000 award from the NJDOT Transportation Alternatives Program helps connect key features including:

• Hoboken Terminal – New Jersey’s busiest commuter hub. Every day more than 50,000 people use this vital intermodal facility that links 10 New Jersey Transit and Metro-North commuter rail lines, the PATH rapid transit system, the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail Line, New York Waterway ferries and various bus lines.
• Hudson Bike Share – Hoboken’s city wide bike share system that includes 29 stations and 250 bicycles;
• Hudson River Walkway – an 18 mile waterfront path stretching from Bayonne to the George Washington Bridge.

Millennium Strategies has the know-how and hands-on experience to seek, secure and manage Disaster Recovery funding. We led the procurement and administration of over $71 million in disaster recovery and mitigation funding for county and municipal governments and non-profit entities following Hurricane Irene and Superstorm Sandy. Grant programs which fall within the expertise of our Disaster Recovery and Sustainability Division include the FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program, FEMA Hazard Mitigation Grant Program, FEMA Pre-Disaster Mitigation Grant Program, FEMA Flood Mitigation Grant Program, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Blue Acres Grant Program, and United States HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Program.

Projects include:

• County of Bergen, NJ Managed grant procurement, application and approval process for $3,888,888 Hazard Mitigation Infrastructure Project - DR4086. Provided grant administration, reporting and oversight of project development.
• Borough of Pompton Lakes, NJ Managed grant procurement, application and approval process for $15,000,000 Hazard Mitigation Grant Program – DR4021, Hazard Mitigation Grant Program – DR1954, Severe Repetitive Loss Grant Program and Residential Home Elevations.
• City of Passaic, NJ Managed grant procurement, application and approval process for $2,000,000 HUD Disaster Recovery Community Development Block Grant Program – DR4021 Hazard Mitigation Infrastructure Project.
• Borough of Moonachie, NJ Managed grant procurement, application, appeal and approval process for $4,500,000 FEMA Public Assistance Grant Program – DR4086 for replacement of Borough Hall.
• Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, NJ Procured grant funding to replace the Ocean Grove Boardwalk. Secured grant approval from FEMA Recovery Directorate via formal appeal to fund the project through the FEMA Public Assistance Program. Supported the acquisition of Local, County and State Permits to enable project development.
• Borough of Oceanport, NJ Secured grant approval from FEMA Public Assistance Program through project appeal and numerous scope change requests. Project ongoing, responsible for the development of an improved project request, facilitation of environmental and historical reviews and cost reconciliation support..
• New York Public Radio (WNYC), Kearny, NJ Procured grant funding to replace an essential transmitter, which services the New York Metropolitan Area. Developed and advocated for an appeal to FEMA Recovery Region 2 to reverse an initial denial, to enable the infrastructure to be replaced.

Union Turf Soccer Field

Our client Union Township was one of only three New Jersey communities who were awarded a grant from the US Soccer Foundation in 2013. Union was awarded $100,000 towards the installation of field turf at Volunteer Park as a core component of a world class youth soccer field. The US Soccer Foundation strives to assist and grow the sport of soccer, as well as improve the well-being of children in under-resourced communities to support their programming and field-building initiatives. Of the 48 grant awards distributed by the US Soccer Foundation, 29 were given as part of the Safe Places to Play program which develops or enhances field spaces in underserved areas to provide safe places for children to play.