Friday, 25 January 2013

Small business Can seek NYC Contracts


Caribbean American business owners encourage to seek New York City Contracts
By William Doyle-Marshall
   Small Caribbean American entrepreneurs can now apply for City of New York contracts as a result of a new law passed and signed by the Mayor late last year. Edna Wells Handy Commissioner of the Department of Citywide Administrative Services made the announcement during her keynote address at the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (CACCI) Small Business Power Breakfast in observance of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
  Commissioner Handy said signing by the Mayor of that law will eliminates the million dollar cap to contracts that were awarded to minority businesses. At one time the city didn’t count Minority Businesses for contracts over $1 million. Now the new law affords them the opportunity to maximize so the commissioner encourage Caribbean American business owners to look at what is done with respect to the new legislation and see where it fits for them in the department of city wide administrative services. “I want to get to know you personally,” Handy said.  Since becoming Commissioner of DCAS she has been looking at the city’s numbers with respect to contracts awarded. “We are looking to increase the pool of those who can bid on our contracts,” the commissioner assured the gathering of small business operators.
   Commissioner Handy, former professor of law at many law schools, served on Kings County Staff as the legal adviser and president of her neighbourhood block association. “With the support of every small business owner moving further in this country and going global, this is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for me to thank you to thank CACCI, the board, the master of ceremony, the wonderful personage assembled here, past, present and future,” she emphasized.

Participants at CACCI's annual Small business Power Breakfast in Brooklyn, New York

 As you engage in this wonderful, wonderful opportunity Commissioner Handy appealed for CACCI to become involved with her collection of business leaders, business owners and organizations in the volume of work that must be done in a way that gives honour to the ancestors and to those who are working in the vineyards now.
The Honorable Public Advocate Bill De Blazio, a candidate for Mayor of the City of New York is critical of the small budget allocated to small businesses out of the City’s Budget. He told the gathering of small entrepreneurs the City of New York is spending an astounding $17 billion a year on every kind of goods and service you can imagine, yet so little – three percent -- of that is falling in the hands of the small business community.
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  Throughout the years, CACCI has engaged an array of distinguished speakers and resource persons from the public and private sectors, and in partnership with Service Corps of Retired Business Executive (SCORE), CACCI provides weekly free small business counseling services to its members and the small business community.  The Chamber’s international contributions include: trade and investment missions to Caribbean states, hosting numerous Caribbean Heads of State visiting New York, and mobilizing numerous emergency disaster relief efforts. The organization has been recognized and applauded for its record of service, and CACCI’s president Dr. Roy Hastick Sr. has received countless awards and citations for his unwavering commitment and service to small businesses, and for his efforts to address intractable economic disparity issues while promoting unity among diverse ethnic and cultural groups in New York and in the Caribbean Diaspora.
   As Commissioner Handy praised the efforts and dedication of Roy Hastick and his wife Eda,  she admitted that  one of the wonderful things about them CACCI and Eda and Roy, they are the bridge builders between African Caribbeans and Americans, Christians and Jews, Blacks and Whites, Haitians-Dominicans and now Ebo and Yoruba. It is up to the community to maintain the Hasticks’ strength and commitment.
January 25, 2013

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