INNOVATION LAB AT INDUSTRY CITY!

This morning I joined with my colleagues in government, Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, State Senator Martin Golden, Assemblyman Felix Ortiz, and NYC Councilman Carlos Menchaca to open the Innovation Lab at Industry City. We were also joined by leaders in industry and education including City Tech President Dr. Russell Hotzler, along with a wealth of Brooklyn's industrial development and not-for-profit community, including Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow, Brooklyn Workforce Innovations and collaborative programmers Center for Family Life in Sunset Park, Turning Point Brooklyn, Consortium for Worker Education, Mixteca, Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Red Hook Initiative, New York City Economic Development Corporation, and New York City Department of Small Business Services.

The Innovation Lab will be an integrated employment and entrepreneur development center providing access to good-paying jobs and economic opportunities in the city’s technology, creative and manufacturing sectors. The 7,700 square-foot space at Industry City will provide the local community with a wide range of services, including job training and job placement, and technical support for new entrepreneurs.

Starting Monday, April 11, 2016, the Innovation Lab, located at 87 35th Street, 2nd Floor, will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and offer a wide range of training and job placement services geared toward jobs in the city’s rapidly emerging innovation economy. The innovation economy captures the full arc of the product-making process, from initial research and development, to engineering and design, and to manufacturing and production, and includes physical, digital and engineered products.

Industry City, under the leadership of Andrew Kimball and his chief of staff, Crystal Rivera, has done a tremendous job in generating new jobs for Sunset Park so far!  Since they started in 2013, Industry City has added 2,100 jobs! And they expect that with the addition of the Innovation Lab they will be adding at least another 9,000 jobs in the next 9 years!

Additionally, they expect there will be 5,800 supportive jobs developed in Sunset Park as a result of the growth of Industry City! This will return Industry City to the economic hub it has been for decades, and provide the residents of Sunset Park, Red Hook, Gowanus, and greater Brooklyn with a reliable source of steady, good-paying jobs.

Today was a great step forward for jobs for Sunset Park and all of Brooklyn!