Chair Thomas-Henry and Council Members question first public panel on social media and legacy business outreach

Oh, round of applause.

A couple of questions for this panel.

And while we're here, Bronx native.

Yes.

What social media do you currently use and do you do your own content?

Yes, yes.

So I am on all social media platforms, TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn.

All of them are Facebook.

And yes, I create my own content.

We have a small core team, too, that helps us, a team of videographers, photographers, designers.

And we do our own content.

And we also support and empower other mom and pop shops in the BX and NYC.

So because your experience in the space, would you mind me asking what level of services?

Because as SBS mentioned, they would kind of have to figure things out, like what this looks like.

So at a bare minimum, what would you recommend if this bill were to pass needs to happen for them to be prepared?

Yeah, I think connecting to local talent, local creators that are already doing the job, just because they already have the experience, the know-how to, and been working on that field already.

We can identify a couple of influencers from all over the city that are already doing that work.

But bare minimum, we got to get them on social media.

You know, we got to make videos, mentorship and also helps connecting with people that are experts in this field and making it happen.

So, yeah.

And you mentioned proactive support.

Have you given thought to what that looks like?

So interestingly, the partnership of the two bids, Grand Street bid and Graham Avenue bid, we are already pursuing a pilot program for a legacy business registry to better deliver and communicate resources that SBS may already have.

They already have a toolkit and also helps connecting with people that are experts in this field and making it happen.

on succession planning, but none of our businesses know about it.

They don't have the time or the know-how to go online, search for that.

So, yeah.

So we are hoping that we, with this grant program, this limited grant program, that we can at least use this registry as a target list for

And you mentioned proactive support.

Have you given thought to what that looks like?

So interestingly, the partnership of the two bids, Grand Street bid and Graham Avenue bid, we are already pursuing a pilot program for a legacy business registry to better deliver and communicate resources that SBS may already have.

going out into the community, making sure that they at least know about it, even if we ourselves don't have the capacity to help them through the process, which is why we think that

The legacy program is so powerful in that it can systematize that.

They already have a toolkit.

It can operationalize that delivery of resources.

In addition to legacy business registries, we've also identified, as my colleague has mentioned, most of our businesses are operated and owned by immigrants or women, even if that's not reflected in the data.

Only three of our businesses are certified MWBE.

So they don't get any formal recognition or resource delivery despite their identity in the community.

And so maybe redirecting some of those resources, making sure that the resources that SBS and the city council and other agencies are putting into businesses are actually delivered and reaching the businesses that we talk about.

I apologize.

I don't know if that fully answered your question.

But going out into the community is a big thing because a lot of these businesses, as I mentioned, they operate with an average of two full-time employees.

Have you guys been able to connect with SBS to get some of their, and I forget what they're called.

So they do have.

People, individuals in the community, I forget what they call, at least one in each borough from my understanding.

Have you guys worked alongside of them too?

We haven't had a lot of success with outreach in SBS.

I think this is why SBS tends to prefer things like expos and webinars, because it expands their reach, but it doesn't necessarily deepen it to the level that is required to help connect businesses with services.

And indeed, I think, you know, one of the reasons that are such a small number of our businesses are recognized as MWBE and are fully certified is because they don't necessarily see the benefits of the time investment to do so.

And so I think the beauty of the, for example, Legacy Business Registry and these other programs is they're fundamentally connecting businesses, not just with advice or education, but meaningful hands-on support

in a way that they can't necessarily access if they have to leave the premises.

So our hope would be, you know, if you had asked, for example, about marketing support connection there, incentivizing these, let's say, influencers or marketers to secure and follow through and persevere on these contracts.

We piloted a program last year with a very well-known,

one of the founders of Restaurant 311, which is a program that does work through the chambers and through SBS, to come personally to three of our businesses and directly support them with grant funding to execute a tricky project.

whether it be compliance or marketing support, we were able to successfully pursue one of those projects to completion, even with them coming multiple times, hand-holding, following through, et cetera.

And so this is a much bigger challenge than merely providing businesses with information.

If I may, I might also emphasize that that was only possible because we are formalized in a bid on our corridor.

And the program that I'm on right now focuses on a neighborhood scale that reaches far beyond the bid's jurisdiction, which means I interface a lot.

With businesses who do not have access to additional funding, additional support, additional hand-holding that bids provide in the city.

And most of the city isn't covered by bids.

So they need to reach into their own coffers.

They need to find their own people.

And so kind of formal programs like this really help bridge that gap in resources.

All right.

Thank you.

This panel is excused.

Oh, I'm sorry.