Schumer, Crowley Get $250,000 For Small Biz Development
BY JOHN TOSCANO

Senator Schumer and Congressmember Crowley have secured $250,000 in funding for the local area.

Appearing with Congressmember Joseph Crowley at an economic forum in Corona-East Elmhurst, United States Senator Charles Schumer announced they had teamed up to get a $250,000 "shot in the arm" for the business community in that area.

The grant would help fledgling businesses mature into vibrant enterprises, Schumer (D-New York), the keynote speaker at the third annual Legislative and Economic Forum at the Corona/Elmhurst Center for Economic Development (C-ECED), said.

Crowley (D-Queens/The Bronx), during his turn at the microphone, said the grant that he and Schumer brought represented "a strong partnership between private business and public good will that will keep growing the economy of Queens through the 21st century."

Describing the C-ECED as a crucial part of Queens, Crowley said, "The center provides essential business training and employment service to local residents and serves as a job bank for Northwestern Queens employers looking to hire."

The $250,000 grant, which Schumer and Crowley secured from the federal government, they said, would support efforts by the center to stimulate the local economy and encourage the business community in Corona/East Elmhurst.

Specifically, the lawmakers explained, the $250,000 grant will allow the Corona/East Elmhurst Center to provide technical assistance and business training to small and start-up merchants in the local district. The funding will also support the center's efforts to provide local businesses with financial assistance in the form of small business loans through ACCION NY, the micro-lending program and other local banks. The loans range from $5,000 to $50,000.

Schumer and Crowley said the center had been successful in establishing partnership agreements between local merchants and ACCION NY, which they described as a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing business and family incomes, creating jobs and revitalizing economically disenfranchised neighborhoods in New York City and Long Island.

ACCION NY, they explained, provides microloans and business advisory services to individuals and small businesses that do not have access to traditional sources of credit.

The funding will also help the Corona/East Elmhurst Center to coordinate community services with major local organizations, including Shea Stadium, the National Tennis Stadium, La Guardia Airport, the Flushing Marina and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

In June 2004, C-ECED received $125,000 from Assemblymember Jose Peralta (D-Corona) to support the same initiatives for the Corona/Elmhurst and Jackson Heights areas.

The Appropriations Committee included the $250,000 for the C-ECED in the conference report of the Science, State Justice and Commerce and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2006. President George W. Bush signed it into law on Nov. 22, 2005.