LaGuardia Gateway Partners and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Name the STEM Education Non-Profit as the First Annual Recipient of its New $15,000 Grant to Support STEM Programming in Queens

Photos from the B-INSPIRED Award Ceremony at Terminal B Available Here (courtesy of LaGuardia Gateway Partners) *Captions below

Queens, NY – March 27, 2025 – LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP), the private manager and developer of LaGuardia Terminal B, is proud to announce 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. On Monday, 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

About LaGuardia Gateway Partners

LaGuardia Gateway Partners (LGP) is the private manager and developer of the new award-winning, state-of-the-art LaGuardia Terminal B. LGP is composed of Vantage Group and Meridiam for development and equity investment with Vantage Group leading the terminal management.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is undertaking a historic redevelopment of LaGuardia Airport, of which Terminal B is one part. LGP won the bid issued by the Port Authority to deliver the extensive capital redevelopment project of Terminal B and provide world-class terminal facilities and operations for passengers and airlines. In 2022, the $5.1B Terminal B project – a public-private partnership – finished on time and budget. In 2023, LaGuardia Terminal B became the first airport terminal in North America to be awarded a perfect 5-star rating for customer experience by Skytrax.

LaGuardia Terminal B is home to Air Canada, American Airlines, Frontier Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines. For more information, visit www.laguardiaB.com or follow on X at @terminalBLGA

About NYC FIRST

NYC FIRST is building out a new STEM-based civic infrastructure that broadens resources, delivers opportunity and sets young people on pathways to success academically and professionally through engaging and quality STEM education and robotics programming.  This vision is centered on a network of STEM Centers, which “level the playing field” by centralizing valuable resources – including computing, software, fabrication equipment and expert NYC FIRST staff and mentors – and nurturing a powerful, close, socio-economically integrated community, in a highly cost-effective, scalable structure.

Supported by its STEM Centers, NYC FIRST programs impact the lives of over 10,000 students and educators each year, through after-school robotics leagues, school-day district-wide programs, credit-bearing courses, professional development, curriculum design, workshops, and open design and fabrication hours.  These serve as the talent pipeline on-ramp for workforce development and a springboard for economic mobility developing the next generation of workers, problem solvers and critical thinkers, while helping to bolster New York City’s future economic and civic base.