Today NYC Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Kevin D. Kim celebrated the conclusion of Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24).
Fiscal year 2024 saw historic milestones in neighborhood investment, small business formation, New Yorkers employed, and businesses served. These record achievements took place as New York City regained all of the private sector jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and saw the largest number of small businesses in its history, with one in three created since 2022.
“New York City is grateful for Commissioner Kim’s dynamic and effective leadership and his dedicated service to our city and the people of New York,” said NYC Mayor Eric Adams. “Commissioner Kim launched an era of unprecedented growth at SBS that facilitated more than $265 million in funding to small businesses, connected 45,000 New Yorkers to jobs through SBS Workforce1 Career Centers, generated $3.1 billion in contracts to M/WBEs, and supported an astounding level of community engagement. Every day, our administration strives to make our city safer, more prosperous, and more livable, and we thank Commissioner Kim for his contributions to that shared mission for the last two and a half years.”
“Since Day One of this administration, Commissioner Kim has been an integral part of the team and a tireless advocate for the needs of the city’s nearly 200,000 small businesses,” said NYC Deputy Mayor for Housing, Workforce, and Economic Development Maria Torres-Springer. “Under his leadership, SBS has been on the front lines of our efforts to build an equitable economic recovery, strengthen our small business community, and expand economic opportunity for all New Yorkers. My sincere thanks to him for the tremendous impact that he has stewarded, including in shaping an agency that is more ready and energized to serve New Yorkers than ever before.”
“As the son of NYC immigrants, I never imagined I’d have the honor to give back to the city that has given me so much,” said NYC Small Business Services (SBS) Commissioner Kevin D. Kim. “As a former small business owner, I know how vital small businesses are to families, communities, and our city. Ensuring every neighborhood’s voice is heard has been my mission: we toured all 51 City Council Districts and met with New Yorkers everywhere to bring SBS resources to those most in need. We invested $27 million into our neighborhoods, created the largest public-private loan fund for small businesses in NYC history, and saw NYC achieve new records in employment and small business openings. When I joined this agency, our city was reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic, and our future was uncertain. I want to thank Mayor Adams and Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer – it has been a privilege to serve as SBS Commissioner, and today, I can confidently say: New York City is not coming back; it is back!”
Commissioner Kim was appointed by Mayor Adams in January 2022 and is leaving the agency at the end of the fiscal year with major accomplishments spanning first-of-its-kind programming, historic levels of engagement with New Yorkers, and a successful focus on strengthening agency operations, such as:
- Engaging 25,000 New Yorkers at nearly 700 events across all five boroughs through a newly formed outreach team, with SBS Commissioner Kevin D. Kim having personally toured commercial corridors in all 51 New York City Council districts;
- Saving businesses more than $45M by cutting fines and fees, educating businesses on business compliance, and implementing a one-time liquor license fee;
- Investing an unprecedented $27M in neighborhood revitalization including new programming to improve quality of life and activate public spaces;
- Facilitating more than $265 million in funding to businesses;
- Connecting 45,000 New Yorkers to jobs through SBS Workforce1;
- Facilitating $265 million in funding to small businesses, including $85 million in the historic NYC Small Business Opportunity fund;
- Supporting a record number of M/WBEs to get certified and win more than $3B in city contracts under Local Law 1;
- Hiring more than 170 new agency staff, drastically reducing the agency’s vacancy rate from a high of 30% to a low of 2%; and,
- Growing SBS social media’s impact with an increase of total followers by 175%, video views by 372%, and engagement rate by 398%.
Highlights of FY24 include:
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Bringing All of Government Under One Roof: During the city’s second NYC Small Business Month, SBS convened the first-ever NYC Small Business Month Expo at Pier 36 in Manhattan. More than 10,000 New Yorkers signed up for the event, with nearly 3,000 participating in person. More than 150 free government resources and over 40 city agencies congregated under one roof. Mayor Adams also announced the investment of $10M to seed a new, major small business loan fund to be developed by SBS.
Landmark Opportunity Loan Fund: In FY24 SBS concluded its historic NYC Small Business Opportunity Fund — the largest public-private loan fund directed at small businesses in the city’s history, with flexible terms to eliminate minimum credit score requirements and application fees. The Opportunity Fund distributed $85M to 1,046 businesses, including 80% to BIPOC communities.
Navigating Government with MyCity: SBS launched the Business site on the MyCity portal, sharing actionable and trusted information from more than 2,000 NYC Business web pages and articles. Since its launch, MyCity Business has received more than 1.3M unique visitors to the portal.
Reaching New Yorkers Where They Are: SBS engaged 40% more New Yorkers than FY23 at 100 events through the SBS outreach team and the innovative SBS Mobile Unit, “Mobie,” which brings SBS resources directly into neighborhoods across all five boroughs.
Expanding SBS’s Digital Footprint: In FY24, SBS recorded 138.2k fans & followers on social media, with 114k video views, and a 5.33% engagement rate.
Supporting Minority and Women-owned Businesses: SBS hosted the 2023 Citywide M/WBE Procurement Fair, which saw a record of 1,254 M/WBEs in attendance. In FY24, more than 1,100 firms received new M/WBE certifications, culminating in a citywide total of over 11,000 certified M/WBEs. Over $930M in city contracts via Local Law 1 were awarded to 1,650 certified M/WBEs.
Empowering Climate Resilience: SBS launched a new Business Preparedness and Resiliency Program (BPREP) risk assessment and grant program designed to support small businesses and commercial properties in New York City floodplains. More than 140 small businesses and commercial properties applied for the new program which identifies business vulnerabilities and provides grants of up to $5,000 to shore up their infrastructure with items like generators, fire and flood-proof storage, and flood barriers.
Making Business Funding More Accessible: SBS launched NYC Funds Finder, a first-of-its-kind online marketplace designed in partnership with Next Street to help business owners and entrepreneurs access small business loans, grants, and financing.
Bringing Free Legal Services to More New Yorkers: SBS expanded free legal services available to NYC’s entrepreneurs with a new partnership between SBS’s Black Entrepreneurs NYC (BE NYC) initiative and Volunteers of Legal Services (VOLS). The partnership connects New York City business owners to one-on-one free transactional legal education, advice, and representation on business formation, contracts, taxes, intellectual property, human resources, and other emergent issues. The partnership adds to SBS’s robust suite of legal services, such as its Commercial Lease Assistance (CLA) program and legal clinics for M/WBEs, which have served over 5,600 entrepreneurs with free legal help since the beginning of the Adams administration.
Connecting New Yorkers to Jobs: Across the 18 Workforce1 Career Centers, and in partnership with the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) and the Mayor’s Office of People with Disabilities (MOPD), SBS provided jobseekers with free financial counseling and established a Center for Workplace Accessibility and Inclusion.
Making New York City the Global Capital for Legal Cannabis: In FY24, 59 licensed cannabis businesses have opened across the five boroughs, as SBS’s Cannabis NYC initiative sprung into action to assist hundreds of New Yorkers to apply to launch a cannabis business, including the first-ever series of FastTrac® for Cannabis Entrepreneurs sessions which connects cannabis business owners and entrepreneurs with free, high-quality training and advice proctored by leading players in the legal cannabis industry. The Cannabis NYC Loan Fund, a partnership with the NYC Economic Development Corporation, also advanced towards implementation with $2M in capital set to serve Conditional Adult-Use Retail Dispensary (CAURD) licenses this summer.
Investing in New York City’s Neighborhoods: SBS awarded over $9.7 million in grants to Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) and Community-Based Development Organizations (CBDOs) to facilitate innovative and community-focused solutions to improve New York’s commercial corridors. These grants included funding for the city’s first-ever Commercial District Lighting projects to design, produce, and install customized and creative lighting projects in neighborhoods across the city.
Promoting Nightlife: The Office of Nightlife (ONL) officially transitioned from the Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment (MOME) to SBS, blending expertise in government navigation and both business and workforce development, with the deep community and industry ties of ONL. The transfer of ONL to SBS connects the city’s nightlife and hospitality industries to additional resources to take NYC’s world-renowned nightlife to the next level. Already, ONL is making an historic impact by working with the NYPD and other agencies to rollback heavy-handed approaches to enforcement by instituting a new policy to “Coordinate a United Resolution with Establishments,” or “CURE.”
Making the American Dream Work: SBS launched a new initiative, the American Dream Works program, to connect hiring businesses with work-authorized asylum seekers through SBS’s Workforce1 Career Centers. Since October 2023, SBS has served more than 5,400 new New Yorkers.
The NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS)
SBS helps unlock economic potential and create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating stronger businesses, and building vibrant neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
For more information on all SBS services, go to nyc.gov/sbs, call 888-SBS-4NYC
Photo credit: Kevin D. Kim.
