Q&A
NYC Business Express Services (BEST) team structure and services
1:53:36
ยท
4 min
Council Member Feliz inquires about the NYC Business Express Services team, its structure, and the services it provides. Assistant Commissioner Natasha Joseph provides detailed information about the team's operations and impact.
- NYC BEST focuses on helping business owners navigate government agencies and regulations
- The team consists of 13 members, including 6 compliance advisors and 5 small business advocates
- In the last fiscal year, they serviced almost 3,000 businesses
- Top services include permits and licenses support, inspection support, and government regulation guidance
- The team also provides some support for street vendors, including a module on outdoor vending in their NYC BEST Boot Camp
Dynishal Gross
1:53:36
Okay.
1:53:37
For this, this is this is fun because Natasha's been sitting here this whole time.
Oswald Feliz
1:53:41
Yes.
1:53:42
It's
Dynishal Gross
1:53:42
how I talk about it.
1:53:43
The assistant commissioner who leads this work.
1:53:45
And so she's pointing me to the place in my binder, but I'd almost rather her talk a bit about the the work of the NYC Best team because she does an excellent job of leading that work for
Jessica Walker
1:53:56
SBS.
1:53:58
Alright.
Natasha Joseph
1:54:03
Good afternoon.
1:54:04
So NYC Best, is focused on helping business owners navigate government.
1:54:11
And what that means is helping them understand all the city agencies they'll have to interact with along the course of opening and operating their business.
1:54:18
We do that through 1 service, with 1 team, 2 services.
1:54:22
That's the small business advocates and the compliance advisors.
1:54:26
The small business advocates are dedicated to helping business owners understand their licensing permits, you know, how much that'll cost, renewing what's the sequence of renewing your permits and licenses.
1:54:37
And then compliance advisors are kind of a sub service to steal from business owners who are looking to, get somebody into their space and understand what exactly it is that they would be, you know, get a violation for in the event that they do get a violation or that they could get a violation.
1:54:54
And after into that service, they're able to get, a checklist of common violations that, you know, they may receive a violation for.
1:55:01
So they can understand how to correct it, and they provided that education.
1:55:04
So we do have 13 members of the team, that includes an executive director and a director.
1:55:11
There are 6 compliance advisors and 5 small business advocates.
Oswald Feliz
1:55:16
Okay.
1:55:17
Yeah.
1:55:17
Thank you for the very specific information.
1:55:20
How many businesses were how many of the businesses assisted were street vendors?
1:55:29
Let's say in the last year or 2.
Jessica Walker
1:55:32
We They were running.
Natasha Joseph
1:55:33
We do not track, street vendors.
1:55:35
The service is mainly for storefronts.
1:55:38
But if we do, see street vendors who need some kind of advice or ask a question, we do assist along the way.
Oswald Feliz
1:55:45
How many general total businesses that you assisted regardless of the type of business they are?
Natasha Joseph
1:55:51
Total businesses, on fiscal year, 24.
1:55:54
Last fiscal year, we serviced almost 3,000.
Oswald Feliz
1:55:57
3,000 businesses.
1:55:59
And what are what are the general topics that you assisted them on?
Natasha Joseph
1:56:04
The topics range from understanding where to place your fire extinguisher to, utility support.
1:56:12
So if there's a issue with utilities, we assist with that as well.
1:56:16
We help them understand, if they receive the violation, how to manage that process through oath.
1:56:22
So there's a variety of services.
1:56:24
We connect them to services to our BSCs, the business solution centers.
1:56:28
But mainly, the top 3, I would say, are permits and licenses and inspection support, as well as government, regulation guidance.
1:56:36
Just understanding, you know, what a regulation is and why they need to comply with it.
1:56:40
And then the compliance actual compliance consultations are the top 3.
Oswald Feliz
1:56:45
Any specific support for street vendors that you provided that you could, that stand out?
Natasha Joseph
1:56:50
Through NYC Best in your community, we do provide some support where we see the need.
1:56:56
I will say we've partnered with DEP in the past.
1:56:59
For example, they did some outreach just to get some vendors information about, things like, you know, where to dispose of their grease and their oil and the chemicals, things like that.
1:57:09
So we do partner with other agencies where there is, education necessary for street vendors.
Jessica Walker
1:57:15
Okay.
1:57:16
Oh,
Natasha Joseph
1:57:16
I'm sorry.
1:57:16
We also have one more thing.
1:57:18
I would like to talk about or mention that we have a boot camp.
1:57:22
The Small Business Advisory Commission had a recommendation a couple 2 years ago, and we launched the NYC Best Boot Camp.
1:57:28
It has 9 modules.
1:57:29
1 of those modules is directly, targeted to outdoor vending.
1:57:33
And we actually had our last module for that this today.
Oswald Feliz
1:57:37
Got it.
1:57:38
Okay.
1:57:39
Any other questions?
1:57:41
Alright.
1:57:41
No more questions.
1:57:42
Thank you so much for all the information.
1:57:44
Thank you for joining us today.
1:57:45
And also, thank you for all the good work you do supporting our small businesses.
1:57:48
Look forward to continuing working together.
Dynishal Gross
1:57:51
Thank you.
1:57:51
This was fun.
Oswald Feliz
1:57:52
It was.
Dynishal Gross
1:57:53
I like talking with you.
1:57:54
I wish I could stay to hear our advocates.
1:57:57
I'll I'll keep a member of my team here.
1:57:59
Some of the flurry of notes were things I'm missing to be part of your important conversation.
1:58:04
So my apologies for leaving now, but I'll keep a member of my team here.
UNKNOWN
1:58:08
Okay.
Oswald Feliz
1:58:08
That's fine.
1:58:09
Thank you so much for joining.
Dynishal Gross
1:58:10
Thank you.
Oswald Feliz
1:58:11
And that, bit the hearing related to technology stuff, that's a, that's a promise.