MOCA Awarded $2.3 Million Capital Grant Towards Building Acquisition

The Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, New York City Council Member Margaret S. Chin, and Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer held a joint press conference on Saturday, April 13, 2019 to announce that MOCA has been allocated $2.3 million in capital funding in the city's fiscal year 2019 budget to help the Museum acquire its current premises at 215 Centre Street.

MOCA is seeking to secure a permanent home to cement its position as a national cultural institution headquartered in New York City. MOCA is dedicated to telling the untold stories in the making of America through the lens of the Chinese immigrant experience. The capital funding in fiscal year 2019 comprises $2.25 million allocated from the New York City Council and $50,000.00 from the office of the Manhattan Borough President.

The capital funding was announced during the official kick-off of MOCA Spike 150: Running Forward With Our Stories, an historic initiative and cross-country relay by the Museum of Chinese in America to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. More information is available at www.mocaspike150.org.

To honor the contributions, resilience, and grit of the Chinese and Irish laborers who helped to build the railroad and build America, the Museum also organized on Saturday, April 13, a 7-Mile Run through NYC Chinatown and Brooklyn that finished at MOCA and drew 60 volunteer runners from across the Tri-State area. Speaker Johnson, Council Member Chin and Borough President Brewer later joined the MOCA community to observe a moment of silence for the railroad laborers who toiled in anonymity 150 years ago.