The Bronx Chamber of Commerce is on a growth trajectory as it celebrates this month’s double occasion: Bronx Week and NYC Small Business Month.
The chamber has grown from about 150 members pre-pandemic to almost 500, according to Michael Brady, the chamber’s senior vice president for economic development and policy.
Its members include small and medium-sized businesses, as well as larger organizations like the New York Botanical Garden, New York Yankees and the Bronx Zoo.
The chamber just welcomed 50 new members who joined this year at a breakfast on May 2, and the organization has been averaging 40-50 new members per quarter, Brady, who recently stepped down from a separate position as the CEO of the Third Avenue Business Improvement District, told the Bronx Times. The chamber hosts the breakfasts every quarter, with the next one scheduled for July.
The organization is aiming to have 1,000 members by January 2024.
The chamber has upped its support for members with the recent Feb. 15 hiring of Membership Associate Kashawn Wright to ensure members have “unfettered access to member benefits, advocacy and business programs to help them advance their business and also the economic development of the Bronx,” Brady said.
But the organization also assists small businesses that aren’t paying members of the organization through its Small Business Resource Network, a program born out of the pandemic that offers a myriad of free services to businesses in the Bronx ranging from Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprises certification to individualized business planning and navigating government. Almost 3,000 businesses — mostly non-members — have utilized the free services in 2022-2023, according to Brady.
“It’s our mission, regardless of whether you’re a member or not, to make sure that we help every small business that wants our support,” Brady said.
Lisa Sorin, the chamber’s president, told the Bronx Times that the COVID-19 pandemic…
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