Uptown Grand Central got its start back in 2013 as the New Harlem East Merchants Association (NHEMA), when mom-and-pop shops along East 125th Street were struggling to keep their doors open and repeatedly hearing that East 125th Street was not a place to bring children, family or friends. With brooms in hand, merchants on the block between Fifth and Madison were joined by 40 volunteers from the neighborhood to hold their first-ever street clean-up.

As more merchants and community members learned of the efforts, we grew and were able to take on more ambitious projects. This included hiring formerly homeless and addicted individuals to clean the streets each weekday, beautifying the area with plantings and great street art, sponsoring holiday lights along the East 125th Street corridor, organizing street festivals, starting a farm-fresh produce market, promoting our local small businesses, and in 2015, launching our Uptown Grand Central plaza program underneath the Metro-North viaduct at 125th Street & Park Avenue. This past year, we hosted the first-ever Party On Park, two Uptown Restaurant Weeks, two Ted Smooth Old School Jams, and a street-long winter music party called the Solstice Soul Train.

In 2016, we expanded to create Uptown Grand Central, a 501c3 nonprofit that works to support, strengthen and showcase all that is "grand" about our neighborhood, from small businesses to culture to healthy living to art. Our goal is to transform the East 125th Street corridor by putting advocacy into action.