Boston Mayor Showcases Immigrant Entrepreneurs at Gardner Pilot Academy English Program

Uncategorized 2020-02-04 clip6214 · Meeting of February 4, 2020

Boston Mayor Walmsley joined immigrant small-business owners at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston-Brighton Tuesday for a showcase hosted by English for New Bostonians, a city-founded organization that supports roughly 1,100 adult English learners annually across 20 programs. Six business owners from the English for Immigrant Entrepreneurs program, covering construction, residential cleaning, painting, and fitness, presented their businesses to Walmsley and City Councilor Liz Reardon. The mayor disclosed that less than 5 percent of the city's roughly $620 million in annual contracted services has reached businesses of color, despite half of Boston's 700,000 residents being people of color and an estimated one-third of the city's 40,000 small businesses being immigrant-owned.

Natalia Ertzvay, director of small business in the Office of Economic Development, outlined four city programs, free technical assistance, storefront improvement grants, the 20-district Boston Main Streets program, and a new Economic Development Center workshop series, and announced a commercial-space fair for March 23 to connect entrepreneurs with landlords.

In the full story:

• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report, 2,414 words

Source: the Uncategorized 2020-02-04 clip6214 meeting of February 4, 2020, reported from the official video recording and transcript.