LaGuardia Gateway Partners Awards Inaugural B-INSPIRED STEM Grant to NYC FIRST

LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP), the private manager and developer of LaGuardia Terminal B, announces NYC FIRST Inc. as the first recipient of the newly launched B-INSPIRED STEM Grant in collaboration with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

LGP’s STEM Grant Committee and the Port Authority awarded the STEM education non-profit its $15,000 grant, the first of an annual commitment to local organizations providing STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programming to Queens residents.

NYC FIRST, known for providing meaningful and joyful STEM and robotics programming city-wide, will employ the grant to resource its Queens-based robotics competitions, as well as teams at two Queens high schools - High School For Construction Trades, Engineering & Architecture and Jamaica Gateway to the Sciences - as they compete in the FIRST robotics competitions.

LGP and Port Authority applaud the organization's mission to inspire and empower students from diverse communities across New York City to engage with STEM and robotics through its network of STEM Centers. The STEM Committee identified the alignment between NYC FIRST’s work and the B-INSPIRED STEM Grant program’s aim of fostering innovation and education in the Queens community to make a difference in STEM education.

“We’re honored to award the first-ever B-INSPIRED grant to this incredible organization for its important work in extending opportunities to local Queens students interested in STEM,” said Suzette Noble, CEO of LaGuardia Gateway Partners. “We proudly launched this program to encourage innovation in our borough that is so important to our LaGuardia Terminal B community and are honored to grant NYC FIRST with new resources that will help support the next generation of scientists, engineers, builders, programmers, and more from our very own backyard.”

“The historic transformation of LaGuardia Airport from the nation’s worst to its best is also an opportunity to invest in students from communities around Queens to prepare them for careers in the aviation industry,” said Hersh Parekh, Port Authority Deputy Chief, Intergovernmental Affairs. “Since launching our $8 billion investment in a Whole New LaGuardia Airport, the Port Authority has worked with its private partners, LGP and Delta Air Lines, to sponsor STEM programs for hundreds of local children. We thank LaGuardia Gateway Partners for continuing to make that investment in their home community of Queens.”

"For over a decade, NYC FIRST has proudly invested in STEM-based programs across Queens, bringing engaging, rigorous, and joyful robotics experiences to thousands of students in schools throughout the borough,” said Michael Zigman, CEO of NYC FIRST. “We are honored and thrilled to receive this recognition from LaGuardia Gateway Partners and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. This generous support will significantly expand our resources and allow us to broaden opportunities in this incredibly diverse borough, serving as a vital pathway for students to pursue STEM majors in college and access rewarding, high-growth careers in STEM fields."

The B-INSPIRED STEM Grant program underscores LGP’s and the Port Authority’s ongoing commitment to the Queens community and STEM education. By supporting local organizations, LGP and the Port Authority aim to create lasting positive impacts on the borough's educational landscape and future workforce. Over the past six years, the Port Authority and its private partners have worked with the Queens Public Library and the Cradle of Aviation Museum to provide summer STEM programs for more than 300 students in the East Elmhurst and Corona neighborhoods adjacent to LaGuardia Airport.

For more information about the B-INSPIRED STEM Grant program or to earmark next year’s application process, please visit https://laguardiab.com/binspired