Dominican Cultural Center Opens In Washington Heights

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — A new Dominican cultural and community center opened in Washington Heights as the city celebrated its large community from the Caribbean nation, state officials announced.

The Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation Community Space opened its doors Sunday in the renovated George Washington Bridge bus terminal near West 179th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. A pre-Dominican Day Parade breakfast was the first even held in the center.

The center will be used as a space for community and educational programs and as a meeting space for local groups and organizations focused on the arts, culture and history of the Dominican Republic, state officials said. The space will be run by the Juan Pablo Duarte Foundation and its Executive Director Laura Acosta.

"I am grateful and honored that the Foundation will manage this marvelous community space that will support a community that has struggled for years to get its own space to develop educational and cultural programs," Acosta said in a statement.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo allocated $1.8 million to the center and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey allocated an addition $800,000, state officials said. Cuomo announced plans for the center in August 2018.

"The Dominican community is an integral part of our cultural fabric and this community space will amplify the Dominican story in New York while providing important services to the neighborhood," Cuomo said in a statement. "The center's mission is community-focused as well as symbolic, reflecting how as New Yorkers we celebrate our diversity across our state."