New York, N.Y. – U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced $150,000 in federal funding for Harlem Biospace, Veteran Incubator and Coalition for Queens. The federal investment was allocated through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Growth Accelerator Fund. Through the Growth Accelerator Fund, each recipient receives $50,000 used to assist entrepreneurs in growing their businesses. These investments will help launch successful companies by providing entrepreneurs with support from committed and experienced mentors with backgrounds in entrepreneurship, sales, technology, and marketing.
“The Growth Accelerator Funds provides startup companies with the resources they need to focus more of their energy on innovation and creating jobs,” said Schumer. “This is a smart investment that will help support our local businesses, grow our economy and create jobs in our region and I am pleased that the Small Business Administration has provided these New York City’s entrepreneurs with these funds.”
“If we want our economy to grow and create more jobs, we need to give our entrepreneurs the tools they need to turn their innovative ideas into successful business opportunities and expand their manufacturing operations,” said Senator Gillibrand. “These federal funds through the Growth Accelerator Fund program would provide additional guidance and technical assistance for potential opportunities to entrepreneurs and small business owners to launch and scale-up their businesses.”
“C4Q is proud to once again partner with the United States Small Business Administration (SBA) to provide support to New York City’s burgeoning entrepreneurship community,” said Jukay Hsu, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Coalition for Queens (C4Q). “We are thrilled to be a winner of the Growth Accelerator Award Competition, and are grateful to SBA for their confidence in C4Q. We are also grateful to Senators Schumer and Gillibrand for their leadership and continued support of our work as we strive to strengthen New York City’s tech ecosystem by providing a pathway for more women and people of color into technology.
The purpose of the SBA Growth Accelerator competition is to draw attention and funding to parts of the country where there are gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Each recipient of funds will be required to report metrics including jobs created, funds raised, startups launched and corporate sponsors obtained among other pieces of information.