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
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.
:
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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