Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that New Rochelle is going to receive $16 million to advance a historically Black neighborhood. "To reconnect Lincoln Park to downtown New Rochelle. Let's do that. Let's bring it back together," Hochul said. Hochul said the money will support The LINC project after federal funding cuts threatened to derail it. New Rochelle officials said the project is designed to advance Lincoln Park, a historically Black neighborhood that was severed by the construction of Memorial Highway. "Gentrification is everywhere," said resident Joe Richardson. "That highway, the way it is now, it separated Black and brown communities and it put people at odds," said resident Sylvia Hamer. Once underway, city officials said the project will specifically rework Memorial Highway by turning it into a local street and a park.

Hochul said the investment is part of a larger plan to reconnect communities of color that were disenfranchised by infrastructural racism. "They made room for superhighways, but why did they drive it through that neighborhood. Why did it have to be that neighborhood," Hochul said. Mayor Yadira Ramos-Herbert said she hopes the money ultimately helps heal New Rochelle as a whole. "Your funding doesn't just move a project forward, it moves our community forward," Ramos-Herbert said.

For information about The LINC project, click here.