Q&A
Council member Feliz inquires about state funding for small businesses
1:09:14
·
6 min
Council Member Oswald Feliz inquires about state funding for small businesses, particularly focusing on the governor's budget proposals and how SBS can help businesses access these resources. SBS representatives explain their approach to accessing and distributing state funds, as well as their efforts to inform businesses about available funding opportunities.
- SBS is still determining how much funding they could receive from the governor's proposals
- The agency accesses various funding sources with different requirements, adapting their processes as needed
- SBS uses multiple channels to spread information about available funding, including the NYC Funds Finder website
Oswald Feliz
1:09:14
Few questions about funding.
1:09:17
So today, our governors and Albany talking about many different topics, including small business funding.
1:09:23
Our governor and her executive budget.
1:09:25
She included several proposals geared towards economic development and small businesses around the state.
1:09:31
Has SBS determine how much funding the city and SBS could receive from the many proposals that we've
Kevin Kim
1:09:39
Not yet.
1:09:39
I think too.
1:09:40
So we'll look into it and get back to you on that.
Oswald Feliz
1:09:44
Okay.
1:09:48
When the governor provides funding for SBS related matters, how does that generally work?
1:09:56
Is it easy to access the funding?
1:09:58
Does it take time?
1:10:00
A lot of different processes?
1:10:01
That could possibly
Kevin Kim
1:10:03
to our executive deputy mission and Michael Forte.
Michael Forte
1:10:06
K.
1:10:06
Thank you.
1:10:07
Hi.
1:10:08
So, you know, we access a bunch of different funding sources, and they all have different requirements, but, you know, we navigate them as necessary, and our real objective is just to try to draw down as much funding as possible to bring it into New York City.
1:10:25
And basically, whatever the requirements are we'll kind of alter our processes to do that, and we haven't encountered any particular obstacles with the funding that you're referring to.
Oswald Feliz
1:10:37
And how long does it generally take to get access to the state funding based on the many process Yeah.
Michael Forte
1:10:44
It just varies when it's allocated.
1:10:46
A lot of times, you know, different funding sources sometimes it'll flow through other agencies.
1:10:52
Oftentimes, we're allowed to start spending on the programs before we actually have the money in hand as long as we have a commitment.
1:10:59
So it really, you know, across all of our funding streams, programs haven't been hindered because of the administrative work necessary to draw down the funding.
1:11:11
And so if anything, you know, we wanna put the focus on allocate more to us you know, and we'll just navigate whatever the requirements are versus necessarily altering the programs to make the requirements less burdensome.
Oswald Feliz
1:11:27
Okay.
1:11:28
And the governor's budget proposals also included $40,200,000 to adjust property crimes to bring relief small businesses.
1:11:38
How can SBS play a role in making sure that our small businesses have access to any new resources offered by the state.
Kevin Kim
1:11:48
On the budget side, I'll turn it over to Executive Deputy Commissioner Forte.
1:11:53
On the retail theft question, I know that's a big priority for you and for us as well.
1:11:59
Mayor Adams has always said public safety is the prerequisite to prosperity, and he also homes in on the importance of small business owners, having safe environments for customers to continue to come in, and he formed the retail theft summit last year.
1:12:18
And from that, it wasn't a won and done event.
1:12:21
From that, we've come formed number of subcommittees.
1:12:24
And so I personally sit on 2 of the subcommittees.
1:12:27
1 is using technology to prevent retail talk.
1:12:31
And the other one is local retailer theft challenges.
1:12:35
And so we have been active participants at SBS on those subcommittees, and we hope that best practices will be shared amongst the members.
1:12:44
It includes business owners, small and big, and associations that also represent a number of small business owners and as well as many agencies in the city.
1:12:55
So this kind of cooperative task force on retail theft hopefully will come up with more solutions to a a problem that exists now but is is trending downward.
Michael Forte
1:13:11
Yeah.
1:13:11
And on the state funding, again, that's still being kind of finalized and deliberated in Albany.
1:13:17
But, you know, it kind of the money becomes available in 2 different ways.
1:13:21
One way may be through the agency directly where we would draw down the funds and distribute it to businesses and people to store businesses.
1:13:28
Another way is where the state makes that funding available directly to businesses, and then we look at ourselves as kind of a catalyst in a way of kind of spreading that word.
1:13:38
And in both cases, you know, we are very, very hungry for more to try to get the word out anytime anyone's gonna make funding available.
1:13:48
We wanna take a look at it and we find out, you know, through various channels, We have our IGA team watching it.
1:13:55
We have a strategic initiatives unit that also looks for to private funding grant opportunities also part of the partnership with the council.
1:14:04
Anything that anyone becomes aware of, please let us know.
1:14:08
We're willing to put in the work to look at it and to try to get those funds and operationalize it.
Kevin Kim
1:14:14
And and I would say that the one way also when their state, the state makes funding available for small business owners through some kind of a program grant.
1:14:24
What we'll do is we'll make sure that that in information is on our NYC Funds finder.
1:14:30
That is also the 1st in the country where the Biden Harris Administration, they look for a municipal partner to rolled this out and funded the entire project where we came in, partnered with them, and now there's a one stop shop website, NYC Fundsfinder, where any small business can go and not just learn about New York City loan and grant programs, but they can access state loan and great program grant programs as well as federal.
1:14:58
And no other city in the country has city, state, and federal on one website.
1:15:02
And the beauty of all this too is that at the end of this website, you can actually connect to somebody who's a financing expert at one of our business solution centers because we again, we recognize that not everyone can navigate websites and we have populations for for whatever reason, they feel more comfortable with in person.
1:15:23
We make sure that on this website, you can connect directly, make an appointment with a financing adviser and then they'll they can get their needs served that way.
Oswald Feliz
1:15:33
Yep.
1:15:34
And just wanna thank you for that.
1:15:35
You and your team have been extremely helpful with ensuring that our small businesses have access to all the resources they need.
1:15:42
For example, if they're gonna get an inspection, making sure that someone calls in before the inspection to make sure that they know what they're gonna be inspecting and making sure that all the pieces are where they need to be so they could pass the inspection, and they wouldn't have any delays.
Randy Peers
1:15:55
And
Oswald Feliz
1:15:55
opening their business or whatever the matter is.
1:15:58
So I just wanna thank you for for that.
1:16:00
Thank you.
1:16:02
And on the issue of of funding.
