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Q&A
Council Member Feliz questions agencies on small business accessibility programs
1:20:02
·
6 min
Council Member Oswald Feliz questions representatives from the Department of Small Business Services (SBS) and the NYC Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) about various programs and initiatives related to small business accessibility and ADA compliance. The discussion covers topics such as the Commercial Leases Assistance Program, CCHR's team dealing with ADA-related issues, and SBS's efforts in providing training and education on workplace accessibility.
- The Commercial Leases Assistance Program provides free legal assistance to businesses at various stages, from startup to established businesses facing landlord issues.
- CCHR's law enforcement bureau has 50 people, including 25 attorneys, handling discrimination cases across all protected categories.
- SBS provides training and education on business accessibility through webinars, outreach events, and their MyCity business accessibility website.
Oswald Feliz
1:20:02
what point do commercial tenants seek help from the Commercial Leases Assistance Program?
1:20:08
Do they come when, for example, they're renovating a space or when they're much more earlier than that, when they're starting a new business?
1:20:14
And also, at what point do you think it will be most beneficial for legal advice to be made to these small business owners?
1:21:26
All right.
1:21:27
Quick question for CCHR.
1:21:29
So the Human Rights Commission obviously does a lot of work on the issue of many type different issues related to discrimination, including housing discrimination, discrimination based on conviction or arrest record, and much more.
1:21:41
Talk to us about the unit or team that deals with ADA related issues.
1:21:45
How large is the team?
1:21:46
How many cases per year do you usually get?
1:21:50
And anything else about that team or unit?
1:23:20
Okay.
1:23:20
Are there any plans to expand the team or need to expand the team based
1:24:07
Alright.
1:24:07
Thank you for the information.
1:24:08
I would like to acknowledge council member Rita Joseph who has joined us.
1:24:12
A few more questions.
1:24:14
The next question is about Intro six thirty nine by Williams, which relates to SBS education on inclusion of workers with disabilities.
1:24:23
How does the Department of Small Business provide training and education for business operation operations and market marketing currently?
1:24:32
And also, how would information about increasing workplace accessibility be integrated into these efforts the efforts we already have or are taking?
1:25:45
All right.
1:25:45
Final question.
1:25:46
Many laws and rules, including the ADA and the workplace accessibility rules, apply to more than just small businesses.
1:25:54
How does the Department of Small Business tailor existing trainings to fit the needs of small businesses?
1:26:33
Alright thank you for the information.
1:26:35
I'll pass it back to Chair Williams for more questions.
Haris Khan
1:20:20
It really that program is an incredible resource where it could be helpful for entrepreneur who has yet to open up their business, is in the process of ideating what their business should be, where they should locate.
1:20:31
We've helped several New Yorkers who were in that process of ideation.
1:20:34
We're about to finalize those plans.
1:20:36
We're starting to look for commercial space, and we're able to get connected with our commercial lease assistance program, which provided them with free legal assistance reviewing the lease and then executing that lease agreement with a commercial landlord.
1:20:49
And so being like the first step on their business journey, helping them make that work and save themselves from thousands of dollars that a private attorney could have charged them.
1:20:57
But it can certainly be helpful for a business that already has a lease, but it maybe is experiencing some difficulty with their landlord.
1:21:04
And that program can provide pre litigation assistance to that tenant with legal representation.
1:21:11
And so we're proud of the work.
1:21:12
It's helpful for businesses in various stages of their business journey.
1:21:17
And we certainly would love to have more businesses take advantage of it.
1:21:20
So if you have any constituents in your neighborhood that are interested or could benefit, please do send them our way.
1:24:42
Thank you, council member, for the question.
1:24:46
We're proud of the webinars and the outreach events that we organize that promotes business accessibility.
1:24:53
We include that on our MyCity business accessibility website.
1:24:56
We're proud of the deep outreach that we do.
1:24:58
So we've reached, I want to share here in FY24, over 18,000 New Yorkers.
1:25:02
And we've doubled the number of our mobile outreach unit events, which also further deepens the impact of that work, promoting existing resources that we currently have on-site.
1:25:13
As it relates to workplace accessibility or employment, rather, we know that the New York City the Mayor's Office of Talent and Workforce Development has a center for workplace accessibility and inclusion that takes a leadership role in engaging employers on the topic of hiring people with disability, as well as the Mayor's Office of People with Disability has an NYC at Work program, which has long been held in their office and is a great resource as well for employers looking to hire from that target population.
1:26:01
So certainly, Cheerful Eze, because the ADA extends not just to businesses but also to places of worship, to nonprofits, to government offices, we don't have the subject matter expertise on it.
1:26:13
And and that's precisely why our understanding is there's agencies in the administration that do.
1:26:19
And that's why we refer folks that have particular questions about the ADA to those agencies.
1:26:26
That includes CCHR on the local human rights law and disability laws and MOPD on the federal ADA.
JoAnn Kamuf Ward
1:21:55
So that is our law enforcement bureau.
1:21:58
So as we talked about previously, this is a team that Commissioner Palma has been expanding.
1:22:06
And thanks to funds from City of Yes, we'll continue to expand to be able to undertake commission initiated claims.
1:22:15
So the law enforcement bureau has both attorneys and interventionists and human rights specialists.
1:22:23
So Chair Williams mentioned our hotline, which is live.
1:22:28
So you call and you talk to a person.
1:22:29
That's our law enforcement bureau.
1:22:32
There's somewhere between twenty and forty people in the law enforcement bureau.
1:22:38
I'll see if I can get an exact number while we're here today.
1:22:42
But almost everyone in the law enforcement bureau is able to deal with the pre complaint interventions that we mentioned.
1:22:50
And we have the Project Equal Access team that Michael spoke about.
1:22:55
That's two people.
1:22:56
And they are focused on housing.
1:22:58
So that is a part of our law enforcement work.
1:23:03
But as we've talked about in past hearings, the law enforcement bureau covers all of the protected categories.
1:23:09
So really people are generalists.
1:23:13
And to correct myself, there are 50 people in law enforcement bureau and 25 of them are attorneys.
1:23:25
are always looking to think about agency resources and identify where our agency can have the most impact.
1:23:36
As you identified, the New York City Human Rights Law has a lot of protections.
1:23:41
And so thinking about how we leverage existing city resources and other people so that everyone is talking about the human rights law provisions.
1:23:51
And I think it's important to note as well that with the human rights law, individuals can come to CCHR, but they have a number of venues they can go to.
1:23:58
So we not the only entity that is addressing discrimination claims, which is great for New York.
Jessica Walker
1:23:25
on the number of We