By SILE MOLONEY
Photo by David Greene
The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) will be celebrating National Small Business Week in each of the city’s five boroughs, with a planned stop in the Bronx in Little Yemen. Each weekday, Monday, May 2 through Friday, May 6, will feature events to raise awareness of the many resources and services the agency offers for small businesses, to encourage New Yorkers to shop local, and to celebrate the reopening of small businesses. businesses in the city as economic recovery efforts intensify.
According to SBS officials, the week-long celebration will also recognize the city’s ethnically diverse neighborhoods and immigrant-owned businesses as part of the five-day, five-borough tour during which world cuisines will also be featured. sampled. The celebration in each borough will feature neighborhood-specific themes and entertainment, starting with a speaker program, giveaways and a resource fair where small businesses can learn more about SBS services, including business mentoring and financial and legal assistance. Business owners can also meet with representatives from various City agencies and community partners.
Photo by David Greene
Taking into account the specific neighborhood, the program and support materials will be available in a variety of languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Korean, Haitian Creole, Bengali, Sinhalese and Tamil. An SBS mobile unit will also be on site at each location, with SBS staff providing one-on-one access to services for small businesses and for any residents who may be looking for work.
Throughout the week, SBS will also be promoting its “Shop Your City” campaign, encouraging New Yorkers to support their local small businesses. the Buy your city The website will include a calendar of upcoming events, as well as maps and listings of small businesses, grouped by location and homeowner demographic group, to help residents and visitors discover small businesses to support in their neighborhood and beyond. Business owners can add their businesses at the following link: Submit an Event – Buy Your City (cityofnewyork.us).
Photo courtesy of the New York City Department of Small Business
Schedule and location of events
Monday May 2, Surprise performative kickoff at Marcy Plaza in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. – speaking program and partners:
- Bridge Street Development Corporation
- Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
- Bed-Stuy BID Gateway
2 to 4 p.m. – resource fair
Tuesday, May 3, Celebration with the Staten Island FerryHawks and the Sri Lankan Dance Academy of NY at Staten Island Borough Hall in St. George
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. – speaking program and partners:
- Staten Island Chamber of Commerce
2 to 4 p.m. – resource fair
Wednesday, May 4, celebration of Small Business Week and Month (AAPI) with partners, with cultural performances by Chinese ribbon dancers and a puppet theater at Chatham Square in Chinatown in Lower Manhattan
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. – speaking program and partners:
- Chinatown offer
- Welcome to Chinatown
2 to 4 p.m. – resource fair
Thursday, May 5, Cinco de Mayo Celebration with a Mariachi Band, El Mariachi Tapatio by Alvaro Paulino at the Manuel de Dios Unanue Triangle in Jackson Heights
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. – speaking program and partners:
- 82n/a Street partnership
- Queens Chamber of Commerce
2 to 4 p.m. – resource fair
Friday, May 6, Celebrating Bronx Week with Music and Eid Festivities at the Triangle on Rhinelander and White Plains Road in Little Yemen, Bronx
1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. – speaking program and partners:
- Yemeni American Merchants Association
- Morris Park Offer
- Bronx BP
- Bronx Comprehensive Economic Development Corporation
- Bronx Chamber of Commerce
2 to 4 p.m. – resource fair
Photo by José A. Giralt
The municipal agencies that will be present are:
New York Commission on Human Rights
New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
New York City Department of Buildings
New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
New York City Department of Sanitation
New York Fire Department
Human Resources Administration
Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs
New York Police Department
Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings
New York City Department of Transportation
