SBS Chief of Staff Haris Khan outlines agency accomplishments under Commissioner Minaya
Haris Khan introduces himself and describes SBS's mission and recent initiatives including the NYC Future Fund, the Office of Street Vendor Services, the Cannabis NYC Loan Fund, the Coney Island BID, $8.4 million in neighborhood development grants, and the Open for Small Business regulatory reform package.
Thank you so much.
Good afternoon.
Chair Thomas Henry, Councilmember Brewer, Councilmember Murano, Councilmember Maloney, Councilmember Santoso, Councilmember Hanif, and members of the Small Business Committee of the New York City Council.
My name is Haris Khan.
I serve as Chief of Staff at the City's Department for Small Business Services, or SBS for short.
SBS's mission is to unlock economic potential and create economic security for all New Yorkers by connecting New Yorkers to good jobs, creating stronger businesses, and building thriving neighborhoods across the five boroughs.
Over the past six months, under Commissioner Minaya's leadership, SBS has moved aggressively to deliver a new era for small businesses by advancing efforts to cut red tape, expand support, and reach more New Yorkers across the five boroughs.
SBS revamped the $80 million NYC Future Fund to reduce barriers in lending, established the first-ever Office of Street Vendor Services four months ahead of schedule, and expanded the Cannabis NYC Loan Fund
to all New York City licensees.
SBS also helped create the city's newest business improvement district in Coney Island and released a
a total of $8.4 million in grants, one of the largest single releases of neighborhood development grants in our agency's history,
to fund public arts, street cleaning, lighting, wayfinding infrastructure, commercial district marketing campaigns, and other neighborhood improvements.
The administration has paired our expanded programming with a historic regulatory relief agenda, including Executive Order 11 in January to inventory all fines and fees, and Executive Order 18
in July, the Open for Small Business package of more than 50 reforms.
None of this work would have been possible without the direct feedback of small business operators through surveys, our direct service work, and roundtables led by Deputy Mayor Julisu with bodega owners, restaurant operators, and child care providers.
Commissioner Mania also held community partner convenings with a cross-section of local borough chambers, industry associations, merchant organizations, and hosted the agency's first ever
borough-wide bid convenings in all of the five boroughs alongside partner agencies and the first ever mom-and-pop czar, Delia Awusi.
To ensure our work and the administration's commitment to transform the culture of city government reaches small businesses, Commissioner and I also joined Chair Thomas Henry, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Salam, Councilmember Avila's, all in one day.
And we joined Councilmember Zhuang's team, along with more than 70 volunteers and local partners to promote the update.
business owner bill of rights as part of the Open for Small Business initiative.
This year we've already reached 15,000 New Yorkers and small businesses through our work and we will soon unveil a new mobile outreach unit that will reach even more neighborhoods, bring more direct services to the doorsteps of mom and pop store.
Storefront operators and street vendors.
We're grateful for the partnership of New York City Council as a critical partner in all of this work.
This work would not be possible without your tireless advocacy on behalf of our small business community.