Transcript: Mayor Adams Delivers Remarks At SBS’ “NYC Small Business Month Expo” And Makes Small Business-Related Announcement

May 29, 2024

Commissioner Kevin Kim, Department of Small Business Services: Good morning everyone. Yes, that's the way I like it. Welcome to the first ever New York City Small Business Month Expo. My name is Kevin D. Kim and I am the proud commissioner of the New York City Department of Small Business Services, or SBS. 

As a former entrepreneur and the son of immigrant small business owners, I do know firsthand what it means to a family, to a community and sometimes even an entire city when a small business here, right here in New York City actually succeeds. 

My parents raised our family out of a one-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Sunnyside, Queens and they started a business out of the home creating a small artificial flower import-export business. Now their success changed their lives completely and it changed mine too. My parents with very limited English ability had never heard of any government resources available to them. Had they known about these resources, it might have fast-tracked their success. 

This is why under Mayor Adams and this administration, SBS has prioritized outreach in every neighborhood from Little Haiti in Brooklyn to Little Yemen in the Bronx, from Little Columbia and Little Manila in Queens to Little Sri Lanka in Staten Island and legacy neighborhoods like Little Italy and Chinatown in Manhattan. It's why we created the agency's first ever outreach team. 

We doubled down on our mobile outreach. We revamped our social media presence increasing by 50 percent our video views to over 1 million views last year and reached over 10,000 New Yorkers, met them where they are in their local communities in 2023 alone. 

During my first year as commissioner, we celebrated National Small Business Week which is the first week of May and we did a Five Boroughs in Five Days tour all across the commercial corridors in all the five boroughs. Then in my second year as commissioner, my staff decided five days is just not enough for New York City's small business owners. We need to showcase the nearly 200,000 incredible small businesses we have right here in New York City. Mayor Adams proclaimed the entire month of May 23, 2023 as New York City Small Business Month. 

Mayor Adams often says New York City must always lead because so goes New York City, so goes the country. Mayor Adams, you are absolutely right. Just last week, or a couple weeks ago out in California, Governor Newsom announced that it will now be celebrating the entire month of May as Small Business Month. Welcome to the party, California. 

In line with Mayor Adams' leadership vision, this year we decided to go bigger than ever before, bringing all of the city's free resources under one roof. We wanted to make it easier for small business owners. We've been out to them and when Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer, and I hit the commercial corridors, we hear a lot about, “I didn't know about that service;” “Oh, I didn't know about this service;” “Thank you for this service because it really helped me with my business;” “What else do you have to help me with my business?”

That's why we're all here today. This is what today is all about, is giving the opportunity for small businesses to come to one place to learn not just about SBS services, but about government contracting opportunities with over 40 of our sister agencies. The state has representatives here, the federal government has representatives here. This is what today is all about. 

While you're here, I wanted to share that we are close to 10,000 RSVPs for today's event. I think it's 9,856 to be exact and counting. People are still registering. What we want you all to know is that regardless if people actually make it here or not, I know many of you have already come and we thank you for your attendance here. 

What we want people to know is that this expo is just another extension of our outreach where of the 10,000 RSVPs, we already know that 6,000 people have registered for free legal services. 6,000 people have asked for financing capital access funding information. 3,500 have asked for commercial lease assistance. 6,500 people have asked for MWBE certification questions. 

Now with all that data, guess what we do starting tomorrow? Our team, whether you're here or not, we're going to start reaching out to you. We're going to email you, we're going to call you, we're going to text you. Just be ready to respond. 

While I've been in this role for two and a half years and I've been out to a lot of audiences to talk about all our services, I realize sometimes there's just too much information going out at you at once. I've really worked on culling it down to this short little phrase: Need help starting a business? SBS. Need permits or licenses? SBS. Need a job? SBS. Need workers? SBS. Need MWBE certification? 

Audience: SBS! 

Commissioner Kim: Need government contracts?

Audience: SBS! 

Commissioner Kim: Need funding? 

Audience: SBS! 

Commissioner Kim: Need free cannabis? 

Audience: SBS! 

Commissioner Kim: Business services! Need free cannabis business services. If you just want cannabis then you'll have to go somewhere else. That's a quick way to remember everything that SBS does if you don't remember anything else. 

In all seriousness, the bottom line about Small Business Month and our mega Small Business Expo today is that we want every business owner to know how the whole city is here for you. We have our agency heads and senior administration staff. Could you all please stand up? There's so many of you, I can't recognize every single one of you, but please, all of you, stand up please and stay standing. Please stay standing. 

Then we have all of our chambers here and all of our leadership from the chambers. Will you all stand up and please stay standing? Everybody, please stay standing. 

We've got our BID leadership, business improvement district leaders. Could you all stand up and stay standing? 

We've got our community-based organizations. All of the people there, please stand up. 

We've got our industry partners. Andrew Rigie, that's you, and others, please stand up.

If you're a small business owner or an aspiring small business owner, will you all please stand up as well? Please, stand up, all of you. 

Now, please remain standing as we invite you to join us for a quick 30-second music interlude. SBS is here for you. SBS is here for your business. SBS is here for New York City.

[Video plays.]

All right. Please give the SBS team and yourselves a big round of applause. Besides being the catchiest jingle ever produced by any government agency in the world, this jingle promotes our hotline, 888-SBS-4-NYC. 

In all seriousness, during the pandemic, this hotline became a lifeline. Over 116,000 calls came into this hotline in dozens of languages for people who are asking for help just to be able to survive and get through their small business challenges at that time. We are really excited to have really launched our jingle, getting it out there. Please share it. It's on Taxi TV. Apologies if you can't get it out of your head for the rest of the day. 

Today, you won't need to call this number because that's why you're here. You're here in person. You're here to take advantage of all of the resources we have. We really, again, want to thank our sister agencies. We want to thank Pier 36 for hosting us. 

Now, there's no better way to kick off today's Small Business Expo than me introducing to you someone who has said from day one that small businesses would lead our economic recovery, and the numbers don't lie. We have the most jobs ever with small businesses contributing to over 1 million of those jobs. Yes, give a big round of applause. We have a mayor who said we need to cut red tape and directed Small Business Services, SBS, to work on that, and we've helped over 5,000 businesses save over $31 million in the past two years. 

While many people call him the get-stuff-done mayor, in the halls of SBS today and every day, we just call him the small business mayor, Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thanks so much, commissioner, and your amazing, energetic team. Growing up, there was this sitcom I used to love to watch called – it was David Carradine and Kung Fu. There was a scene in it when he finished all his training, he would walk across a piece of rice paper without making an imprint to see, did he learn his skill? Dad used to say, that's the opposite to life. 

The real-life mission is that as you move through your journey and your various endeavors, what imprint are you going to make? How are you going to impact people? Are people going to be happy that you walk in the room or happy when you walk out of the room? What is your life goal and mission? No one has personified that more than the amazing commissioner of SBS and Commissioner Kim and what he has done with this organization. 

He has entered a traditionally boring agency. SBS never had a jingle. You go to their events and you see the excitement of his staffers and employees. They no longer see it as they're carrying out the motion of carrying out a job. They are so much engaged. Their creativity really is infectious because when you are around them, you realize that they're there to seek out and accomplish a mission. 

Folks, let's be clear on this because you have been given a lie. You have been given a lie that this city is moving in the wrong direction. You've been fed that lie over and over and over and over again that some of you don't even realize how great we're doing as a city. 

January 1st, 2022, this team inherited a city where there was a 40 percent  increase in crime. Jobs were not coming back. No one wanted to be on our subway system. You had illegal dirt bikes, motorcycles all over the streets of New York. Our children were not educated at the levels that they wanted to. There was this five-letter term called COVID that made us believe that we were in a state of despair. 

NYCHA residents were not receiving the support that they deserved. Tourism was not returning to our cities, our hotels. Occupancy was at a decline. Many of our chambers would talk about how do we turn this around? Our job numbers were low. Independent financial experts did not want to look at our ratings and see if this was a place that we should invest in. We saw encampments all over the city, and many of us just didn't believe. 

Two years later, two years later, more jobs in the city's history, in the City of New York. More private sector jobs in the city's history. Funded more affordable housing in the city's history in one year. Put more people from shelters into permanent housing in the city's history in one year. Gave free broadband to NYCHA residents so that they could have access to high-speed broadband for free. 

Fourth largest tourism in the history of the city. Our children are outpacing the state in reading and math. We've changed the reading curriculum that's now being adopted by the state and eventually is going to be adopted by the entire country. Tourism is back. Independent financial experts have lifted our bond ratings because of the way we managed the crisis. 

Even with 190,000 migrants and asylum seekers, unlike other cities, you don't see encampments on our streets. People are no longer living in our subway system. They're back riding our subway system with 4.1 million daily riders in our subway system. Jobs are back to New York. 

Major projects that were stalled, we turned it around. Developed Willets Point, 2,500 units of affordable housing. New soccer stadium, new park, new schools. We are getting ready to develop Brooklyn Marine Army Terminal. We're going to use our waterfront and we're going to have housing in our community as well. SPARC Kips Bay. 

We are fueling an entire energy around life sciences so jobs can come here. Young graduates, this is the number one destination for young graduates because not only can you get a job, you can also find your boo here because there's so many attractive people in our city. This is the place to be, folks. 

This is New York. Only two types of Americans, those who live in New York and those who wish they could. We're the lucky ones. We live in the greatest city on the globe. We got to start acting like it. We got to walk like it. We got to talk like it. We got to say we are in the greatest city on the globe. We got to make sure that prosperity passes out to the entire city. 

What did we do under Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer? We said we’ve got to lean into employment. When we took office, Black unemployment and brown unemployment was 4 times the rate of white unemployment. We cut it in half for the first time since 2019 we’re below 8 percent. We started going into the communities and building entry ramps into employment and we witnessed by doing our job fairs in communities that traditionally had no access to employment. 

Now you are seeing people come in and seeking jobs because of what Dawn Pinnock did over at DCAS, leaving her imprint on what needs to be done correctly. We started partnering with our Chamber of Commerce and building out internships, having Commissioner Kim and his team leaving their imprint on how we can turn around employment. 

We started making our city safe. Commissioner Sewell and Commissioner Caban leaving their imprint on public safety, driving down homicides, driving down shooters, driving down crime on our subway system, leaving our imprint. This administration has one focus. We want to leave our imprint on your life so that this city can provide the services and every dream to come true. 

You may have lost what Commissioner Kim stated, folks. Small businesses, it's an indicator. Not only is it an indicator for those of us who came from the deep South to find their way here in the streets of New York, but hidden in small businesses, that's the precursor to sleep that allows you to experience the American dream. 

You come here from South America as a dishwasher and then move to own your own restaurants. You come here leaving and fleeing some form of persecution or war-torn area, and you say, I'm going to come here and open my own tech shop. When you look at our small businesses, it's a united nation of small businesses. It's made up of all the diverse groups that make this city what it is and who it is. 

Look around this room. Overwhelmingly, our small businesses are made up of those who are foreign born or those who came from other parts of the country to be part of this. It's a reflection on how, if you make it here, you can make it anywhere. Only city you can go from working in the mail room and become the mayor of the largest city on the globe. Only in New York. 

That's what this Small Business Expo is about. There was a disconnect between the resources that the city had available and getting it into the hands of our small businesses because feeding our employment is tied to the small businesses that we operate and open. 

Commissioner Kim and his team went in and said, we have to tear down that wall and we have to make sure our small businesses know we're there for you. You should not have stress when a city agency walks into your small business. You should know that they're there to keep people in your seats, to keep people in your business, to have your business thrive and grow. 

What did Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer do? She went to the agencies and said, look at all these outdated fines and citations and how you have hurt small businesses. Let's remove them off the book. The goal is not to have you pay a fine. The goal is for you to find that next customer, that next clientele to expand and grow your business. That's why we've saved millions of dollars in fines for our small businesses. Instead of paying into it, you're reinvesting in your business. 

Then we went out for the Small Business Opportunity Fund, partnering with our leaders and business and corporations and stated that we want you to come up with access to capital because Black, brown and women business were not having the same level of access to capital. It was unfair and we knew that and we wanted to meet it head on to address that issue in a real way. 

Then to those women and minority-owned business, what did we do? We recruited one of the best in the game with Michael Garner, who's here, who's invested in women and minority-owned business. Billions of dollars are being invested in women and minority-owned business because of what Michael Garner has done. 

Then we knew what was happening to you who were in the food service business. You were being harassed. You were afraid to open up your night lives. Multi-billion dollar industry was being harassed. Let's say we need to find someone that understood it. We went and got Director Garcia to come on and focus on nightlife so we can stop having the march madness that was closing down these institutions. 

You do an analysis of this administration and you will listen to their stories. You listen to the story of Commissioner Kim and his mom and dad having a small business going up and down Manhattan selling plastic flowers and watching that business grow. 

You listen to Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer being the first Filipino to be a deputy mayor in this city and what her family went through. Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi, the first Indian to be a deputy mayor. Deputy Mayor Williams-Isom to be the first Trinidadian to be a deputy mayor dealing with the humanitarian crisis we're facing. Or Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix being the first Caribbean to be the head of Corp Counsel. 

You see people who are part of this administration who have a story to tell to help you as you shape your story. That's what this was about, folks. You're seeing for the first time, you are seeing you run government. You're seeing a reflection of your story that is leading this city. That's why we're so excited about the future of New York. 

Don't let anyone write our story. We're going to write our own story. We may be here talking about small business services, but it's bigger than that. There is a love affair that is now being rekindled in our city. Let's love our city again. Let's feel inspired again about being in this city. No one is lining up to leave New York. People are lining up to come to New York. Sometimes you can be in this marriage for so long that you look over and didn't even realize how much you love this city called New York. 

Fall in love again. Fall in love as you open your business. Fall in love as you walk into your agencies and see them give you the care that you deserve. Fall in love as you watch that new employee that comes in because you gave them an opportunity. Fall in love with the new housing that we are building. Fall in love with New York. We love New York. That love affair must be shown in everything that we do. 

I thank you for coming out today, for being a part of this important endeavor. When you look at Small Business Expo that has brought 100 free programs and the full weight of services of 40 city agencies and federal agencies to our city, 200,000 small businesses, you realize how important this moment is. 

When you understand that today we're proud to announce that the city now has a record 183,000 small businesses, the highest ever in history. One in three, one in three! One in three small businesses started in the past two years alone. One in three started in the past two years alone. Today, the New York City Future Fund, a $10 million city investment that will accelerate the growth of hundreds of new small businesses in our city by addressing the gap in access to affordable capital. 

We heard this so often, the lack of access to affordable capital. I heard this from you when I was in East New York. I heard it from you when I was speaking with the chambers. We've heard it over and over again. We wanted to target and get it done. This fund would meet the capital needs of small business owners, particularly in early stage businesses and the women entrepreneurs and black and minority businesses. 

Before we launch the fund in 25, we will engage in private sector partners. We want our private sector partners to be engaged in this as they deal with their purchases of goods and procurement services. We all must be engaged. We also want to focus on the New York City Future Fund. It will help us put small businesses on a path to success because it was create the condition for small businesses to succeed. This was a brainchild of Commissioner Kim, well thought out and a good way to do it. 

This is the second annual Small Business Month, it’s just wrapping up but we've just got started. There's so much more to do. We have connected small businesses to more than $265 million in grant and loan funding through SBS, $265 million, including the $85 million New York City Small Business Opportunity Fund. With 80 percent of the loans going to women and minority owned businesses, that's what we are laser focused, precision focused and making sure it's done the right way. 

It's not only about the money we put in, as I mentioned, it's the money that didn't come out. We saved over $45 million by cutting red tape, $45 million back into our small businesses by cutting red tape and making sure we stay local focused. We also recently celebrated the 40th anniversary of New York City Business Improvement District. Where are my BIDs? My BIDs are here. I just love my BIDs. 

We don't appreciate enough what the BIDs are doing, how they generate traffic, how they are our early warning signs of what we can correct. I just thank all of you, Barbara, all of you for what you're doing in our BIDs in this city. 75 BIDs, bolstering prosperity, continuing to do so. Last week we were proud to hit another milestone, a new private sector jobs high in New York City. We also have the lowest unemployment since August ‘22. As I indicated, the lowest among Black New Yorkers. 

This is all that we have to do. I'm excited about what the future holds and what we're going to do together. I am excited about you. Your dreams are tied to these small businesses. These small businesses are your baby. You carry them for months. You deliver them. You want to invest in them and see them grow up. I inspire you and encourage you, go talk to other small business owners that have evolved to larger businesses. Hear their stories. Hear about the moments that they were afraid they couldn't make payroll. Hear about everyone told them to abandon their dreams and they held on to them. Seek the dreams of others to see that your dream is on the right pathway. 

You're going to hit bumps in the road, but a bend in the road is not the end of the road. All you have to do is make the turn. Hold on to that dream. Don't surrender your dream. No one knows that dream better than you. With you, you will accomplish that. In this room is the next great idea and the next business. I know what it is to dream, folks. 

35 years ago, I had that dream of becoming the mayor of this great city. Many people told me it was not possible. You didn't have what it takes. You're dyslexic. You didn't come from an Ivy League school. You don't know what it is to run a major city. Abandon that. Run for something lower. I said no to that. I said, I know my dream. I know my heart. I know my capability. 

Because I did not abandon my dream, whenever someone say 110, they have to remember Eric Adams, the mayor of the greatest city on the globe. Keep your dream alive.

Commissioner Kim: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think his energy is spreading out through the city because now we're at 9,900 registrants. People are still signing up. Before I turn it over to Jessica Walker, President of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, I just wanted to acknowledge Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. She is the deputy mayor for Housing, Economic Development and Workforce Development. 

Everything that the mayor said about the economic turnaround, really it was the mayor's vision and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer working together to create this blueprint for economic recovery. In that blueprint, it had so many incredible initiatives. You should go really take a look at it and just see how many of those things in the two years we've accomplished. We couldn't have done any of this without Deputy Mayor Maria Torres' leadership of SBS and all the other agencies that she oversees. 

It is AAPI Heritage Month. As Mayor Adams said, he appointed the first two ever AAPI deputy mayors in New York City history, and Deputy Mayor Meera Joshi and Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer. Can we just give them another big round of applause? 

I also did quickly want to thank President Andrew Kimball from EDC because they really allowed us to use this space right after their Smart City Expo. What we were able to do, and also Commissioner Kaufman from MOME, Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, they're the ones who created our jingle all for free. I just wanted to point that out because it's a prime example of what Mayor Adams has said from day one that we needed to work across agencies to find efficiencies. 

Because EDC was already doing their Smart City Expo here, we were able to leverage the infrastructure and do it at a minimal cost to hold this event just a few days later. The same thing with MOME. If it were not for Commissioner Kaufman just jumping on board and saying, we will produce so professionally our jingle video that you see on Taxi TV, we couldn't have done all of this without them. Could we please give them a round of applause? 

Now, Small Business Month, of course, would not be possible without all of the partners that I cited before. The Chambers of Commerce, all of them, there's so many Chambers of Commerce. We have our Borough Chamber of Commerces and then we have many others. They work day in and day out to represent the interests of small business owners. They've been our true partners on the ground. Also, President Walker testified in front of City Council on behalf of small business owners. With that, please welcome President Jessica Walker from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce.

Jessica Walker, President, Manhattan Chamber of Commerce: Good morning! Good morning, good morning. As the mayor said, it is a very magical time in New York City. We have more businesses, small businesses starting in New York City than we had before COVID. Not by just a little bit, by a lot. It really is a magical time. Not by just a little bit, by a lot. It really is an amazing turn of events. 

I'm just going to say three things. One, first, I want to say thank you to Mayor Adams and the administration. They have been fantastic in really trying to support small businesses. They got it from day one and we are just so thankful. 

Two, I want to say to the entrepreneurs out there, you are not alone. That's really what this day is all about. You're going to see that there is so much help out there from the chambers, from SBS. That's what the day is about. Get all the information that you need. We want to help you succeed. Seek out all of the resources that are available to you. 

Then finally, I just want to say, we are proud of you. You don't hear that enough. It is very hard to be an entrepreneur. It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of courage and you're putting a lot on the line. We want to make sure that you understand how thankful we are that you have taken that leap of faith, that you have been gutsy and you are doing something for yourself, but also for your community, providing a service and just doing something that is so needed. 

Thank you to all of the business owners out there today. We support you and we hope that you have a great day today and get all the information that you need. Thank you. 

Commissioner Kim: Thank you, President Walker. Now we cannot kick off this expo without hearing from a success story, a business owner who actually has taken advantage of many of SBS's services. Ana Diaz is the owner of Diaz Electric of New York City, of New York, a city certified MWBE specializing in professional electrical services. 

In the past 10 years, since she's discovered SBS, she's completed a total of 90 contracts with city agencies, from installing lamp posts in city parks to implementing video surveillance systems in schools. Diaz Electric has really figured out and understood and has been a mentor to other upcoming MWBEs. With that, I'd like to introduce Ana Diaz. Thank you.

Ana Diaz, Owner, Diaz Electric: Good morning, everyone. Thank you for all coming out. Thank you, Mayor Adams. Thank you, the panel. Thank you for all the chambers and councilmen of the city. This New York City is the greatest city in the world. 

The country rides on small businesses. We are the backbone of the United States. We work hard. We work 24/7. I'd like to thank all of you, small business owners, for your blood, sweat, tears, your grind every day to get up and read that proposal, that RFP, follow up on the networking that you've done that whole day with, it was great to meet you, but don't leave it at that. Keep following up every week. 

When there comes a bump in the road and you've utilized the city services like SBS, like we have, you will find that they will pick up the phone 9:00 at night, 10:00 at night, because they are dedicated to us. They will give you that support, build that relationship with the people you are working with at the SBS programs. 

Diaz Electric is going to come up on their 12th year in business. I thank God the most because he's held us through. Why do I say that? We started during Hurricane Sandy. When there was a disaster, it was our blessing. We walked the streets in Canarsie and Rockaway. We didn't even know what to charge. Where most people were gouging, we were just charging $75 to get your lights turned on from a post set up by Con Ed in every other corner in those neighborhoods to get them temporary light and heat. 

Ladies and gentlemen, utilize their services. They have services for estimating. They have services for project management. They have services for anything you can think of in construction or running a business. The key of business is like anything else. It's the people. Businesses are made up of people and you deal with people and guess what? People are everywhere. You can't get away from them. Learn how to communicate. Hit that soft spot, that human factor in these agencies. They look for your business because you make this city alive. We make this city alive. 

I cannot tell you, one of the things I'm most proud of. I was supposed to go off this, but I didn't. One of the things I'm most proud of as I stand here, listening to Mayor Adams, listening to the panelists, how hungry they are, feeling the energy, your energy in the room, that your businesses are about to grow and they will because of all of the opportunities coming from the government agencies, that the communication level is key. Giving back to your community is key. 

When you hire people, and I'm getting to the point now, I have seen at least eight employees, former employees, have come through Diaz Electric purchasing homes, first-time home buyers. I cannot be more proud than that. They are sending their kids to private school. I cannot be more proud than that. That's what your businesses stand for the future, your children's future, your legacy. 

I thank you all for your time today because time is money. Right here is where you're going to meet your next partner, your next business partner, your next deal, your next opportunity. Guess what, you might meet your next mentor, your next colleague, just to bounce off business ideas. I always tell people I meet, you could call me with any electrical question, that's free. I'm about building a relationship.

Ladies and gentlemen, keep that in mind as you go through this big crowd. You'll try to meet everyone. They used to make us do an exercise in SBS. Know the person to the left of you, to the right of you, and then tell us something a little bit about them. Go above and beyond. Know the person behind you, know the person in front of you, know the person, the entire row behind you, the next section over. Get to know as many people, but personally, organically. Hit that mark with people. They'll want to do business with you. 

The agencies we were involved in, MTA, SCA, New York City Parks, Office of General Services, we use their programs, utilizing their programs for you. Obviously, we're in construction, their school construction authority, the trains, their mentorship programs. They help you build the back office. They help you build the method of how to execute your projects. 

You are the expert already. You just need to be molded by these programs on how the city likes it, how the city wants it done, the timelines we have to meet, the criterias we have to have to meet, to stand above and beyond everyone else. 

Remember, everyone looks at us, we're working so hard, it's so easy, she's doing it. You have to put in the work to meet their criterias. You have to develop that relationship to say, hey, what are we missing? Are we missing staff that doesn't bring you positive energy? We'll have to get away from that staff, one bad apple, right? You have to surround yourself with positivity. 

Through the years of Diaz Electric, we did go through COVID, obviously, and we went through hard times. I don't call a problem a problem, I call it a situation because it's situations that we all have to work through as a team when you own your own business. Through that time, we utilize the services to keep our business alive, but more importantly, I use that service to keep my entire team. 

If you can keep the people that are doing well for you, giving them stability, giving them hope during that time, you're going to make it a long way like we did. Along the way, we utilize the construction loan programs. They teach you how to work with those loans during your project, how to keep the project moving when the requisition is late or very late. Some people can't hold out for 60 days, but these loan programs help you weather the storm. 

Please look into these programs. Utilize these programs for your business. Today, I wish you all the best of luck, and luck is really what you don't need. Continue, I wish you the best of health so you can continue your hard work, your perseverance, and your strength through making your businesses grow, and I thank you, everyone.

Commissioner Kim: Thank you, Ana. Now you've heard from us, and it's time for us to hear from you, and the way we organized this layout, I give all the credit to my unbelievable staff. 

I want to give a shout-out to Assistant Commissioner Meredith Weber, Head of Outreach, who outreached to a lot of people, Facilities Executive Director Al Miller, who coordinated all of the physical setup, David Coreas, our comms team, our entire SBS Small Business Month planning team. We had over 150 staffers come here starting at 7 a.m. to set this all up, so can we just give them a big round of applause. 

To close, to close, I want to also acknowledge John Wang from the Queens Night Market. They've provided vendors here for some free food tasting. If you go, start from your left side, you can go on a journey of what an entrepreneur would go through, starting a business, registering your business, understanding financing options, MWBE contracting, and when you circle all the way around, hopefully you end up where all entrepreneurs want to end up with some really good food, with some food trucks out there and some free samples from the Queens Night Market. 

Again, happy Small Business Month and happy connecting. Thank you all for being here.