| Photo via NYC Small Business Services
NEW YORK—The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) has made it easier for entrepreneurs and business owners to find information on how to grow or launch their businesses. SBS will bring the 2024 NYC Business Solutions Center (BSc) Crawl directly to them in neighborhoods across all five boroughs.
SBS’s innovative Mobile Unit, or “Mobie,” is a mobile command center with free Wi-Fi, printing, and other services. SBS encourages entrepreneurs and small business owners to attend the following BSC Crawl locations. Business owners interested in free, in-depth, one-on-one consultations may sign up using the form.
Resources available through each BSC and at each BSC Crawl stop include:
- Government navigation assistance through the NYC Business Express Service Team (NYC BEST)
- Help securing, renewing, or negotiating an existing commercial lease through the Commercial Lease Assistance Program
- Emergency planning and risk assessment from disasters through the Business Preparedness and Resiliency Program
- Financing assistance and capital access, including the NYC Funds Finder online marketplace
- Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) Certification application support
- Workshops and webinars on topics ranging from how to open, operate, and grow a small business to marketing, financial management, and more
- Pro bono legal services and consultations related to business incorporation, employment, and intellectual property
- Hiring assistance through SBS’s NYC Workforce1 Career Centers
“SBS has so many free resources and services that can benefit the city’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, and too many small businesses in the city do not know about these tools,” said Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer. “Kudos to the SBS team for continuing to identify novel ways to reach these businesses and spread awareness about how the city can help them grow.”
The first stop on the 2024 BSC Crawl will be on September 17. Events will run through October 8. The full calendar is:
- Tuesday, September 17, 2024: Queens BSC, 90-27 Sutphin Boulevard, Queens
- Thursday, September 19, 2024: Brooklyn BSC, 9 Bond Street, Brooklyn
- Tuesday, September 24, 2024: Upper Manhattan BSC, 361 West 125th Street, Manhattan
- Thursday, September 26, 2024: Lower Manhattan BSC, 14 Wall Street, Manhattan
- Tuesday, October 1, 2024: Washington Heights BSC, 560 West 181st Street, Manhattan
- Thursday, October 3, 2024: Bronx BSC, 400 East Fordham Road, Bronx
- Tuesday, October 8, 2024: Staten Island BSC, 120 Stuyvesant Place, Staten Island
According to the Adams administration, the BSC Crawl builds on their record of achievements that took place as New York City regained all of the private sector jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the largest number of small businesses in its history, with one in three created since 2022. Since the start of the administration, SBS has facilitated more than $265 million in funding to businesses, saved businesses more than $45 million by cutting fines and fees, educating businesses on business compliance, and implementing a one-time liquor license fee; and connected more than 45,000 New Yorkers to jobs through SBS Workforce1.
“At SBS, we believe in reaching New Yorkers where they are,” said SBS Acting Commissioner Dynishal Gross. “We are throwing the doors of our NYC Business Solutions Centers open wide to bring the resources SBS provides daily right into our city’s neighborhoods. With our innovative Mobile Unit, we are meeting New Yorkers face-to-face in their communities, and ensuring that economic opportunity finds everyone, no matter where they are.”
In the last year, the SBS Outreach team participated in more than 100 events across the city, bringing SBS resources directly to the people and neighborhoods that need them most. This led to more than 10,000 personal engagements since the start of 2022.
SBS helps unlock economic potential and create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating stronger businesses, and building vibrant neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
–With Ricky Rillera/PDM
