It gives me great pleasure to share with you our 2nd Annual Shop & Dine East Harlem campaign and invite you to attend our exciting happenings! Our goal is to encourage the community to think local when they consider their shopping and dining needs during this holiday season. We are enthusiastically promoting a series of events during the holidays that make it easy and convenient for residents to locate great deals and values with our local merchants.

The Kickoff event will take place at the newly opened Santiago’s Beer Garden Restaurant, (2337 First Avenue – Between 119th and 120th) on Thursday, November 14th at 5:30PM. To help us kick off our holiday proceedings, we will give away promotional items, and a Holiday Guide which will share information on merchant discounts, Holiday Pop-Up Markets, local cultural events, including the annual Pasteles contest and the Annual Tree lighting, on 106th Street.

Our second event will include a breakfast, which will take place at the new Ginjan Café (located at 85 East 125th Street, on Park Avenue) on Saturday, November 30th, at 10AM, on Small Business Saturday. This is our 3rd year as neighborhood champions for this event, an American Express (AMEX) initiative that encourages communities to shop small.

These events are designed to decrease the 804 million dollars – according to SBS – which leaves the East Harlem community annually. It is our intent to slowly and steadily decrease that number and are proud to say that thus far we have secured over a half million dollars for local merchants, since the start of our Buy Local Program! We would very much like your participation at these events, in support of our local merchants.

Union Settlement Association is an on-the-ground resource for East Harlem residents of all ages, and a passionate advocate for the needs of underserved communities. Since opening our doors in 1895, we have brought education, wellness and community-building programs to our neighborhood, empowering New Yorkers with opportunities to better their lives. By helping our neighbors realize their goals, we build the vitality and success of East Harlem. We serve the residents of East Harlem through a wide array of programs, including: Early Childhood Services, Youth Programs, Adult Education, Senior Services, Mental Health and Small Business Development. Our very successful Buy Local Project, an initiative of the Business Development Center, promotes economic development by working with small businesses to enhance their capacity to provide goods and services to our local anchor institutions, as well as community residents.