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About Our Initiatives

Welcome to Chinatown offers support and resources to Manhattan, Chinatown small businesses while considering how their goods and services can benefit the broader Chinatown community. This is done through our initiatives which focus on:

  • Driving immediate revenue to provide urgent relief while addressing broader community needs

  • Providing resources for long term sustainability that can embrace change without compromising the owner’s principles

  • Preserving the community by reclaiming the narrative around Chinatown and amplifying voices of those most at-risk through storytelling.

Our initiatives are made possible by donations to our cause. Learn more below about how your generous donations are making an impact.

 
 

The Longevity Fund

Over $500,000 in small business grants distributed to Chinatown small businesses.

Welcome to Chinatown launched The Longevity Fund in July 2020, the only small business relief program for Manhattan Chinatown with equitable access in mind. The Longevity Fund prioritizes the most at-risk businesses based on cultural and socioeconomic barriers that have prevented them from applying for assistance programs, and will also consider how much their shuttering will impact the Chinatown community as a whole. It is vital that we ensure Chinatown - its community and legacy - will be here for future generations from all walks to life to enjoy. And to do so, we must do all that we can to say Chinatown will always be open for business.

Launched July 16 - Active

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Meet Chinatown

Over 150 small businesses listed in our community-first digital directory.

Chinatown lacks digitalization – we will solve for this by putting community first. Meet Chinatown is a digital solution produced by Welcome to Chinatown. It's a single source of truth for Chinatown small businesses, eliminates toxic review culture cluttered by sponsored posts and reviews, and drives sustainability by increasing digital access and capturing insights for small businesses. Meet Chinatown aims to serve as a helpful tool for residents, New Yorkers and tourists alike to (re)discover Chinatown through the eyes of its community.

 

Small Business Innovation Hub

We’re open at 115 Bowery!

Our 2,500 square foot Hub is a first-in-kind gathering space for the community to empower small businesses, build bridges, and champion sustainable growth. Welcome to Chinatown’s official Chinatown headquarters is a space for entrepreneurs to gather, learn, and grow alongside each other. The Hub will accelerate existing businesses and incubate new ones, while also serving as a community center and event space.

 
 
 

Made in Chinatown

$130,000+ in sales generated through uniquely designed merchandise in collaboration with Chinatown small businesses and passionate artists

Made in Chinatown is a brand exclusively created by Welcome to Chinatown to help launch a new revenue stream for Chinatown small businesses. The initiative pairs a business owner with a passionate, talented artist to create merchandise that is representative of the small business and their brand. There are zero overhead costs to participate in the program and profits of the merchandise sold benefit the small business.

The Made in Chinatown moniker is deliberate — it’s our way of subverting traditionally negative connotations of ‘Made in China’ products and redefining what ‘Made in Chinatown’ means to us: high-quality goods filled with cultural vibrancy designed by hardworking people.

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Sik Faan Fund

Over 90,000 meals donated from 35 Chinatown restaurant partners.

“Sik fa-an” 食飯 means “let’s eat!” in Cantonese. The Sik Faan Fund (rebranded from our Feed Our Heroes initiative) focuses on providing fresh and nutritious food as well as essential goods through Manhattan Chinatown’s small business, restaurant, grocery, market, and tea purveyor partners. Gifts to this fund will help Welcome to Chinatown purchase items and familiar food from local Chinatown businesses to distribute to low income, senior residents, food insecure neighbors, and essential workers. This fund nourishes New Yorkers, provides marketing and revenue for the businesses, and encourages new customers to buy goods from these shops. The idea is inspired by the culinary richness of Manhattan's Chinatown and the cultural traditions of eating together and sharing a meal. We are eager to invite everyone and to learn, experience, and taste the flavors beloved for generations. Let’s eat!

Launched Feb 1, 2021 - Active

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Past Initiatives

In the Mood for Food

  • Inspired by Wong Kar-Wai’s 2001 Hong Kong film, In The Mood for Love, and how food plays an integral part in the human experience, we crafted a thoughtful and innovative self-guided food tour that encouraged the exploration of Chinatown in an intimate way. In the Mood for Food invited attendees to explore 7 local businesses while taking COVID-19 precautions into account. Our sold out events generated $9,000+ for small businesses and created press hits from Time Out New York and EATER to promote the neighborhood.

  • $9,000 raised for 14 Chinatown small businesses through an inventive self-guided food tour

Census Outreach

  • New York City has historically lagged behind the national Census response rate, and Chinatown is particularly vulnerable to being under counted due to factors including language barriers and mistrust of providing information. To increase representation, Welcome to Chinatown conducted Census outreach through meal donations with neighborhood pantries (Project EATS, UA3) and housing settlements (Grand Street Settlement, Henry Street Settlement), neighborhood canvassing with multilingual flyers, and a social media campaign including a Instagram live with the U.S. Census Bureau to encourage our followers to ensure their older family members were counted. Through our campaign, we were not only able to increase awareness on the importance of being counted, but we were able to generate $20,000 in sales for Chinatown restaurants through our meal donations.

  • 14,000+ people reached in Lower Manhattan with $20,000 raised for Chinatown small businesses

Greens for Good

  • Welcome to Chinatown and Asian-Veggies.com launched Greens for Good, a partnership with the Chinese-American Planning Council (CPC) to broaden our support efforts to the senior community in Manhattan’s Chinatown while continuing to support a small business negatively impacted by the pandemic. Due to the novel pandemic, senior residents of the Hong Ning Housing for the Elderly (managed by CPC) began their quarantine at home for their health and safety. This has taken a toll on the senior residents' health and well-being because they can no longer go out to do their usual errands with their home care attendants. As such, CPC partners with community initiatives like Greens for Good to ensure their senior residents are living happily and healthily. The fundraiser allowed CPC to supply their senior community with produce bags to help them stay home, cook meals and not worry about food supply during New York City’s PAUSE mandates.

  • 7,700 pounds of fresh produce donated to seniors and other underserved groups in Chinatown

Care for Chinatown

  • Graphic illustrations have the ability to convey strong messages and emotions better than words. In the same spirit, murals give businesses the opportunity to tell a compelling and memorable brand story, and reinvent the way they promote themselves. By partnering with Loe, Welcome to Chinatown helps carry out her vision of bringing back love and morale to the neighborhood through art that celebrates the culture and narrative of Chinatown. Loe will design and paint 10 custom murals: two murals for the Chinese American Planning Council (CPC) and eight for businesses in the community impacted by COVID-19. The murals will be at no cost to the business owners to promote their reopenings.  To learn more about Loe’s work, visit her portfolio and Instagram.