KRVC is committed to the formation and support of Merchants Associations throughout our community. Merchants Associations are powerful entities that bring businesses together to address issues ranging from safety, parking and traffic, to efforts to beautify the commercial areas, organize events, build websites, plan cross promotion activities, collaborate on landlord/tenant issues and much more.Merchants are more powerful when they address issues and organize together. From 2010-2014, our organizing efforts had been primarily focused in North Riverdale and Woodlawn. However, for FY 2014-2015, KRVC received a grant from NYC Dept of Small Business Services to do merchant organizing work in Marble Hill and KRVC has also been supportive of the South Riverdale Avenue Merchants Association, which formed and incorporated in the spring of 2010. Through our organizing initiative, the merchants of North Riverdale and Woodlawn have formed incorporated merchants associations with officers, a regular schedule of meetings, have held events, developed plans and programs and more. KRVC was fortunate to receive grant funding from SBS to support the merchant group in Woodlawn in 2011-12 and 2012-13. We look forward to using our 2014-15 grant funds from SBS to build an Association in Marble Hill. KRVC was also awarded a NY City Council Discretionary Grant by Councilmember Andrew Cohen in 2014-15, which will serve to further our merchant organizing initiative in Riverdale. The funds awarded will be used to produce and promote a "Meet the Riverdale Merchants" Movie, similar to the one we produced in Woodlawn in 2013 with SBS funding.