A Ribbon Cutting in our New Queens Office
A Ribbon Cutting in our New Queens Office
On March 6th, we were delighted to host an open house at our newly-expanded offices in Jackson Heights, during which BCNA Board Members, strategic partners, clients, and staff joined elected officials and friends from the Queens community for breakfast and a ribbon cutting ceremony.
Attorney and former BCNA Board Member Bryan Pu-Folkes was the Master of Ceremonies, welcoming everyone and introducing special guests, including State Assembly Member Michael DenDekker; Vincent Maniscalco, Chief of Staff to NYC Council Member Daniel Dromm; and Mirna Velasquez, Director of Immigration Affairs for Congressman Joseph Crowley. State Assembly Member Michael DenDekker spoke about family members who were micro -entrepreneurs and how much he therefore identified with immigrant entrepreneurs who want the opportunity to work hard, establish successful businesses and create jobs. We also appreciated the warm welcome and words of support from Vincent Maniscalco and Mirna Velasquez and look forward to working closely with their offices.
We were especially delighted that Eileen Auld, Citi Community Development’s Regional Director for the Tri-State Area, a strategic funding partner, was able to join us and celebrate a now five-year partnership that has made our expansion to Queens possible. Citi’s financial support and strategic guidance, combined with our staff’s commendable outreach has helped to double the number of clients we serve in the borough of Queens since 2011. Last year, for instance, nearly 25% of BCNA’s over 600 clients hailed from Queens, and 35% of loan dollars were awarded to small business owners in Queens (totaling $582,085). Those small business owners’ companies employ approximately 80 people, 20 of whose jobs were created as a direct result of this critical capital. BCNA also conducted small business workshops, in partnership with the Queens Public Library at seven different branch libraries in English and Spanish, which were attended by over 100 small business entrepreneurs.
A special thank you, too, to our partners who attended: Street Vendors Project, Chhaya CDC, Adhikaar, Queens Library, QEDC, and of course the NYC Business Solutions staff who support our efforts to provide access to credit. We were also pleased to welcome new friends – and hopefully new collaborators – Larisa Ortiz, Owner and President of Commercial District Advisors; Leslie Ramos of 82nd Street Partnership; and Elizabeth Saxe and Peter J. Kim of the Museum of Food and Drink (MOFAD).
While BCNA will, of course, continue to provide much needed access to credit and workshops on business management, we look forward to creatively collaborating with both current partners and new ones, to generate more business for the small business owners, stores, restaurants, car service drivers, and street vendors in the dynamic and ever-expanding borough of Queens.
