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The New York City Department of Small Business Services (SBS) is the agency of the City of New York responsible for providing financial, legal, and other support to NYC businesses; pairing jobs with jobseekers; and maintaining the business viability of NYC neighborhoods. New York City has more than 200,000 small businesses.

Oftentimes, it works closely with the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) as well as the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT).

History
The New York City Department of Small Business Services was created in 2002 by Mayor Bloomberg to increase business opportunities in NYC. With more than 200,000 small businesses, small enterprise makes up a significant portion of the NYC economy. SBS can connect businesses with other City services and programs.

SBS was formerly the Department of Business services until it changed its name when merged with another large NYC program. In July 2003, Mayor Michael Bloomberg merged SBS with the City’s workforce development programs, a step that gave SBS a greater hand in offering employment services such as skills training and job placement.

Leadership
Commissioner Robert Walsh is the current head of SBS, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in January 2002. He worked previously as President of the Union Square Partnership for eight years before moving on to be President of Charlotte Center City Partners, which dealt with Charlotte's central business district.

Programs & Initiatives
Since more agencies and initiatives have joined SBS, it is now an umbrella that covers at least five distinct programs:

1. NYC Business Solutions is the most business-facing component of SBS, providing direct support to small businesses in various forms. These services are distributed by NYC Business Solutions Centers all over the city, which offer:
 * Business Planning
 * Business Courses
 * Legal review of contracts and leases
 * Financing assistance
 * Incentives
 * Navigating the Government
 * Hiring
 * Training Funds
 * Minority/Women-owned Business Enterprise Certification

2. NYC Business Express is a Mayoral Priority Initiative that is housed within SBS. Launched in 2006, it is an online site that compiles information on the city, county, state, and federal levels for New York City businesses. Compiling official government information from agencies such as the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, NYC Department of Buildings, and the Department of Environmental Protection, the site offers information on: After one fills out a series of questions to set up a business scenario, the "Wizard" provides a custom-tailored list of necessary licenses and regulations for that business. The same can be done for qualifying government incentives for that business in the "Incentives Estimator." The site can be found at http://www.nyc.gov/BusinessExpress. It also has applications for more than 30 permits and certificates.
 * permits
 * licenses
 * regulations
 * taxes
 * incentives

3. WorkForce1 joined SBS in 2003 and works with jobseekers. It offers job search counseling and career advisement, but they are best known for their skills training and job placement aspects. The NY State Department of Labor works with SBS and the City University of New York to provide the WorkForce1 services.

4. SBS is also responsible for overseeing the 64 Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) in NYC. BIDs are formal organizations comprised of their neighborhoods’ property owners and commercial tenants, formed to promote the sanitation, maintenance, visitor services, marketing, and general beautification of the area. They are funded by the private owners of the district. During their twenty-some years of existence, they have spent over $930 million on their neighborhoods.

5. The Mayor’s Office of Industrial and Manufacturing Businesses (IMB) also resides within SBS. It oversees the city’s 16 Industrial Business Zones (IBZs) and 11 Empire Zones. IBZs were zoned around the Industrial Parks that were already in place and provide additional service to industrial firms, as well as prohibit new residential development and the real estate inflation that comes with it. Empire Zones provide additional incentives to attract businesses and jobs to NY.

In the News
SBS has given grants to businesses that were destroyed in fires. On March 22 2009, Westchester Square businesses were nearly burned to the ground and a neighborhood in the Bronx was hit with two fires during the 2009 holidays. The Department of Small Business Services gave five emergency grants to businesses in conjunction with the Association of the Merchants & Business Professionals of Westchester Square. For the Bronx victims, an article in Crain's New York Business states that "The agency is working with nearly 20 businesses, expediting insurance claims, connecting merchants with legal aid and restoring utilities. The office also offers relocation assistance."

It has also involved itself in the domain of training and hiring workers. In April of 2008, SBS gave $800,000+ to seven businesses for them to train their workers in English, computer skills, and sales. Many workers at discounters like AJ Wright and Century 21 have also been placed by SBS. Amid the financial crisis, those who used to have jobs on Wall Street have also started their own businesses with SBS's FastTrac NewVenture courses, "a business training program to help emerging entrepreneurs, including those displaced from the financial services sector."