By Tangerine Clarke
Gregg Bishop, commissioner
of NYC Department of
Small Business Services (SBS),
told the Jamaican American
Youth Alliance (JAYA) virtual
panel recently, that his agency
is focusing on immigrant
communities to help small
business, during the COVID-
19 pandemic.
Bishop, who is charged
with running the City agency,
focused on equity of opportunity
that leads to economic
self-sufficiency and mobility for
New York City’s diverse communities,
assured, that programs
will be created to reach
out to various communities.
Reiterating that everywhere
is facing unprecedented times
due to Covid-19, he at the
beginning of the pandemic,
SBS created a local program
where grants and loan programs
were available for businesses
that were looking to
hold on to their employees.
However, a week later the
entire world has changed, and
online
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“we had to work rapidly to
retool our programs to work
closely with federal response.”
Small businesses now have
an enormous need, and technical
assistance, has to be provided
for younger people.
“What we are seeing is, some
entrepreneurs may not have
understood the particulars of
running a business, they commingled
accounts,” said Bishop
adding that they didn’t have
a business account. All of their
money was going into their
personal account.
“We are working to
address, what we know will be
gaps where individuals, who
maybe had, a personal account,
and may not have been able
to participate in the federal
paycheck protection program,
and, or the economic disaster
loan program.”
“We are looking at our immigrant
communities, to understand
where there are gaps,
and will continue to build our
programs to help those people.
We are also planning to figure
out different ways to reach out
to other communities.”
All of this information he
said, would be available online.
The agency will also, very soon,
introduce webinars on how to
apply for federal programs, and
how to get main capital.
“We are working, to figure
out what our restart looks
like. It’s not going to be, everyone
just returning back to
normal, there is going to be a
new normal.”
“We have to make sure if you
don’t have an online presence,
and don’t know how to attract
customers online, you should,
be thinking about that, now,”
adding that these resources
are available on the SBS website.
“We are the local version
of the federal small business
administration, so if you are
looking for resources in New
York City, or specifically for
any help, as you are trying to
run your business during this
pandemic, go to www.nyc.gov/
covid19biz
Gregg Bishop, commissioner of NYC Department of Small
Business Services.
For general business help
that SBS provides, go to www.
nyc.gov/sbs. This website has
links to the Federal Small
Business Administration’s
four programs, as well as how
to apply through a lender, or
through SBS.
NYC small business services
working to help immigrants
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