Bridge Builders Award (Jamaica-Queens, NY)
Jacqueline Arrington, Vice President, Citibank Community Relations and F. Carlisle Towery, President, Greater Jamaica Development Corporation for their decade long commitment to putting culture to work as a community building strategy, especially for the banks efforts in using culture as a primary resource for reinvigorating the neighborhood of Jamaica, Queens and helping to transform it into a dynamic metropolitan area.
A former ancient trail for tribes as distant as the Ohio River and the Great Lakes, Jamaica, Queens has come a long way since colonial days. Now, Jamaica is a dynamic center for the greater Queens area offering various services and cultural and higher education opportunities to serve its 650,000 residents.
In the 1960’s NYC Mayor John Lindsay challenged downtown Jamaica’s business and civic leaders to form a partnership to prevent threats from encircling regional malls and demographic change from destroying Jamaica’s own locational attributes and prime location.
Working together over the past decade to breathe life back into Jamaica, Carlisle Towery, President of the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, in a joint venture with Jackie Arrington, Vice President of Citibank Community Relations, have invested time into a cultural collaborative that has helped spark the growth of a new Jamaica.
As part of a community-building business, Towery knows the importance of jobs, culture and commerce within a community and its connection to personal growth. Armed with the knowledge that Jamaica was once before a hub of activity, Towery and his corporation set out to once again achieve that status and hopefully propel Jamaica above and beyond. Teaming up with Jamaica native, Jackie Arrington of Citibank, the project moved into full swing with the support of the bank. Arrington, an avid volunteer and committed to the betterment of communities for the lives of its residents, represents Citibank’s belief in culture as a building block and stepping stone in achieving prosperity. Sharing the same vision, Arrington and Towery, utilized art and cultural-related programs to boost Jamaica back to center status.
One of the first projects established in the Jamaica area was the Jamaica Arts Center. Now in its third decade as a multi-cultural center, the center offers a wide variety of programs including exhibitions, performances, workshops and classes in performing and visual arts disciplines with a focus on appreciating cultural differences through the arts. Jamaica continues to develop with summer festivals, the introduction of a commuter train, city murals, and preservation of ethnic establishments among many other venues.
Through the partnership of Towery and Arrington, today Jamaica has been restored to a commercial hub status. Bustling with activity and opportunity, Jamaica continues to grow as it attracts both locals and tourists to its cultural, historical and artistic richness.