Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation

See schedule oas we have since 1978, sbidc has worked tirelessly to ensure that the Industrial core of Southwest Brooklyn remains strong and that it remains a center of opportunity for workers throughout the area. Our unique combination of direct business services, workforce Development and training, entrepreneurship training, community planning and revitalization, and advocacy helped businesses throughout Southwest Brooklyn thrive in a market and a city that can be challenging for manufacturers and other Industrial businesses. Challenges include a competitive real estate market that prioritizes residential and commercial tenants over Industrial ones; supply chain challenges that still linger from the pandemic; and a competitive labor market.since july 2022, sbidc supported over 300 Industrial employers seeking help with complex financing programs, new business Development opportunities, recruiting employees, navigating government regulations, and large-scale rezoning proposals in Brooklyn. Sbidc shifted our business education programming to focus on business Development strategies to help businesses that saw an opportunity in 2021 and 2022 to pivot their operations. Many of our businesses, for example, shifted from a retail model to a wholesale model, and sbidc was there to help them through that change. We offered two semesters of our plan for growth business education course, an 8-week program that helps mwbes and dbes create a plan for growth. The program included courses on marketing, financing, chart of accounts, customer discovery, and more. We also hosted four webinars on credit counseling and accessing financing throughout the year. Finally, we hosted three large networking events for small businesses. We graduated 30 businesses from these plan for growth cohorts. To date, the program has graduated over 150 business owners. Sbidc's workforce 1 center maintained in-person services, and helped place 173 people in full-time, permanent Industrial and manufacturing jobs in fiscal year 2023. The sbidc team provided career services to over 1,600 new yorkers. Additionally, in the spring of 2023, sbidc partnered with two other organizations to offer a customized training program for the construction industry. Our two-week program, core five, trained 20 people in introductory construction skills. Participants received five credentials crucial for the construction industry job market, including osha 30. Sbidc will offer a second cohort of this program in the fall of 2024.sbidc continued to advocate for the Industrial working waterfront. We signed a community benefits agreement with 300 huntington llc (monadnock construction), to ensure 10,000 sq ft of brand-new Industrial space in a new building in gowanus. As the gowanus neighborhood continues to change due to an area-wide rezoning, sbidc helped protect part of this historic Industrial waterfront with this deal. We were able to place a woman-owned manufacturing business into the new space. Our advocacy efforts also included work with the nyc department of transportation to assess how businesses use the Industrial corridor of 3rd avenue in Brooklyn. This work will continue into fy24.