The “other mayor,” Mike Bloomberg, spoke strongly about his support of initiatives to help laid-off workers get on their feet as entrepreneurs. This is very closely aligned with what we at New Work City are about, and what we intend to pursue in the coming weeks:
Our Small Business Services agency and our Economic Development Corporation will work together to help laid-off workers connect to start-ups and small firms in other industries by launching new job-training programs.
“They’ll also partner with private foundations to create ‘entrepreneur boot camps’ for all those interested in starting their own companies. And when the aspiring entrepreneurs are ready to take the next step, we’ll help them find office space. Right now, many landlords face rising levels of vacancies. But a number of academic institutions see value in those vacancies, and are interested in creating incubator space for new start-ups. By connecting these two groups, we can fill vacant commercial space and help launch start-ups that may have come up with the next big thing.
“We’ll stimulate entrepreneurship in other ways, too. For instance, we’ll provide additional seed funding to high-tech start-ups. Right now, across the whole city, only $40 million in private money is being spent on this kind of ‘angel’ investing and yet there is a huge demand for it. So our Economic Development Corporation will find $3 million in its budget to attract new private angel investors. That will allow us to increase the pool of available financing by $10 million net – a 25 percent increase.”
New Work City stands ready to help in any way it can to help. We are already working on our own recession-busting program, and will be calling for you to help us. Let us know if you want to participate early on!
I believe strongly that, even in difficult economic times, if you find a way to provide something of value that people will pay for, you will propser. The more we can help each other find ways to value, the more we will all benefit– as a community, as a city, and as a nation.
