Months after President Barack Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – more commonly known as the stimulus package – into law, many local businesses are still trying to find out the different ways the package can benefit them.
In order to help business owners in the borough, the Queens Chamber of Commerce hosted a Small Business Stimulus Made Simple town hall meeting on Tuesday, June 9, with representatives from a number of different agencies giving out free advice.
The panelists included Brenda Stuart-Luke, Senior IRS Stakeholder Liaison; Brian Gurski, Director Small Business Development Center at LaGuardia Community College, Ann Seifried, Deputy Director of NY Industrial Retention Network; Brad Seader, Senior Account Manager for New York City Business Solutions and Man-Li Kuo Lin, Business Development Specialist at the U.S. Small Business Administration. Each of the panelists provided a 10-minute overview of their organization.
“The most important thing I can say is to utilize the resources around you,” said Gurski.
A few months ago, Chamber President Al Pennisi decided that since more than 80 percent of the Chamber membership consisted of small businesses, the organization wanted to increase its efforts during these difficult economic times. The Chamber formed a new committee, which they dubbed the Main Street Committee, which came up with the idea to host the town hall meeting as one of its first orders of business.
During the discussion, panelists spoke about a host of topics, including different loan programs that businesses would be eligible for, write-offs with regard to capital investments and new equipment and free service organizations throughout the city. “This is the time to take advantage of what they have to offer,” said Neil Levin, who co-chairs the Chamber’s Main Street Committee.
After the panelists presented information on how their organization was helping businesses with the stimulus package, audience members had the opportunity to ask questions of the panelists. In addition, they were able to speak with the experts in a one-on-one setting afterward to address specific questions.
“I’m so happy to see such a great response to our efforts,” said Main Street Committee Co-Chair Mary Vavruska.
