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Chamber President and CEO Carlo Scissura opened the program by speaking about the economic climate in Brooklyn, and the need to make sure that the gains that have been made over the past few years extend into the neighborhoods in East, Central and Southern Brooklyn, where communities are still thirsty for an opportunity. To that end, the Chamber, will be hosting its next Chamber Visits networking event at Shiny’s Car Wash, a brand new 30,000 square foot facility recently opened in East New York.

Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna echoed the need to work to create economic prosperity in communities across Brooklyn before Commissioner Torres-Springer took to the stage.

In her speech, Commissioner Torres-Springer explained that her goal is to “engage in a proactive and aggressive program to protect and create economic security for all New Yorkers.”

To deepen the connection with neighborhoods across all five boroughs she plans to strengthen outreach to immigrant owned businesses and ingrain that philosophy within the agency as a core business model. She plans on doing more than just comply with the law when it comes to providing courses and materials in different languages; she wants the agency to stretch the amount of reach they have in different communities by vastly increasing the number of languages they offer their services in.

Commissioner Torres Springer also said she would work with City agencies to streamline the “opaque, burdensome, and costly regulatory process.” SBS has a role to play, according to Torres-Springer, to make sure all the agencies are looking at whether the rules make sense, whether they’ve educated business owners about the rules, and whether the enforcement process is fair.

Commissioner Torres-Springer also plans to connect the workforce to economic development in a way that ensures we are getting people to jobs with family sustaining wages and real career paths. This effort is a benefit not just for the residents of the city, but also the employers who will need a strong pool of candidates to hire from who have the skills they need.

Lastly, Commissioner Torres-Springer said she would like to strengthen the MWBE contracting program, so that New York City’s vendors reflect the diversity of its business owners. In order to do this, she wants to focus beyond just by increasing the number of certifications, but work with businesses to help give them an understanding what It means to build capacity to win government contracts.

Torres speech was followed by Q&A with the business group representatives in attendance, some of which related to ongoing issues connected to Sandy recovery. Citing issues with the structure, the length of the process and the level of outreach Commissioner Torres-Springer said more needed to be done to help businesses recover and qualify for grants and loans.

At the end of the program, Chamber President and CEO Scissura thanked the Commissioner with a signature By Brooklyn gift box, full of products manufactured in Brooklyn.