FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE

ACCION USA is a private, nonprofit organization that provides microloans and other financial services to low and moderate-income entrepreneurs who are unable to access bank credit for their small businesses. With economic opportunity, these entrepreneurs–often minorities and women–can build assets, better provide for their families, and strengthen their communities.

Project Enterprise is a non-profit organization that provides business loans, business training and networking opportunities to New York City entrepreneurs who lack adequate access to business financing. You can get a first loan of up to $1,500. Subsequent loan sizes get larger as you progress through the program.

GENERAL

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce is a private, non-profit business membership association dedicated to helping Brooklyn businesses grow and to promoting the economic development of the borough. The Brooklyn Chamber assists by creating connections between its Members and markets in and outside the borough. Their programs are specifically designed to drive new customers to mmbers’ doorsteps.

The Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library’s Business Library are fantastic resources for aspiring entrepreneurs, small business owners, and individuals looking for career information or simply something good to read.

Center for an Urban Future is a New York City-based think tank that fuses journalistic reporting techniques with traditional policy analysis to produce in-depth reports and workable policy solutions on the critical issues facing our cities.

Lawyers Alliance for New York is the leading provider of business and transactional legal services for nonprofit organizations that are improving the quality of life in New York City neighborhoods. By connecting lawyers, nonprofits, and communities, we help nonprofits to develop affordable housing, stimulate economic development, and operate vital programs for children and young people, the elderly, recent immigrants, and other low-income New Yorkers.

GOVERNMENT

The Department of Small Business Services (SBS) makes it easier for businesses in New York City to form, do business, and grow by providing direct assistance to business owners, fostering neighborhood development in commercial districts, and linking employers to a skilled and qualified workforce.

The New York City Economic Development Corporation is a general, one stop shopping for a variety of business assistance resources from financing programs to real estate opportunities and more. If you do business in NYC, or want to set up a New York City office, nycedc.com is a useful resource for your business. The site provides a list of nearly 60 business incentives that can help your business grow, including financing options, tax benefits and cost-saving energy programs.

The Empire State Development Corporation is New York State’s economic development agency. It aims to encourage economic investment and prosperity in New York State by helping to start companies in the state, relocate them from elsewhere, expand already existing operations, and to compete more effectively and profitably in the domestic and global marketplace.

The Census Bureau serves as the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy. We honor privacy, protect confidentiality, share our expertise globally, and conduct our work openly. We are guided on this mission by our strong and capable workforce, our readiness to innovate, and our abiding commitment to our customers.

The U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) provides grants for infrastructure development, local capacity building, and business development to help communities alleviate conditions of substantial and persistent unemployment and underemployment in economically distressed areas and regions.

The U.S. Small Business Administration, provides financial, technical and management assistance to help Americans start, run, and grow their businesses. With a portfolio of business loans, loan guarantees and disaster loans worth more than $45 billion, in addition to a large venture capital portfolio, SBA is the nation’s largest single financial backer of small businesses.