Senator Sanders Hosts Community Development Day

State Senator James Sanders Jr. (D-Rochdale Village) hosted a free Community Development Day event on June 24 & June 25. The first day of classes was divided into two categories that ran simultaneously - small business and grant writing. The second day was devoted entirely to grant writing, but was specifically geared towards clergy and the faith-based community. 

The mission of Community Development Day was to take seemingly difficult topics and make them simpler to understand and easy to access. Usually grant writing courses are very expensive, but here, Senator Sanders made the resource available to the public for free, provided guests with an opportunity to network with other community members, enjoy a complimentary meal and meet foundation funders who could potentially help them grow their business.
 
“Economic development is one of the most important ways we can help a community thrive and grow,” Senator Sanders said. “The best way to start that process is through education, and it needs to begin from the ground up. That’s why events like Community Development Day are so important.”

Several guest speakers were on hand to share their expertise. Lynn Lobell, grant and resource manager with the Queens Council on the Arts, taught a full day's worth of grant writing classes - beginner, intermediate and advanced, on June 24th at the Catherine and Count Basis Middle School 72. The topics included: project planning, fiscal sponsorship, the components of a proposal and the grant process.

Clyde Vanel, a prominent local attorney, small business owner and entrepreneur, taught an introduction to small business workshop where he examined the differences between copyrights, patents, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as the importance of branding, scaling a business and using social media to advertise one's products and services. It all starts with an idea, he explained, the difficult part is learning how to turn that idea into profit. 

NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer stopped by during the clergy portion of Community Development Day held on June 24 at the Calvary Baptist Church Houses and discussed the vendor road map, a guide to doing business with the city, which is available on his website. The map outlines the steps for enrolling as a City vendor, understanding the procurement process, and growing a business. Stringer’s Chief Diversity Officer,  Carra Wallace, had been a participating lecturer during the small business portion a day earlier, where she discussed  the available funding resources and city contacts available to assist Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs).

Susan Shiroma, the senior librarian at the Foundation Center’s national headquarters in New York City taught the clergy grant writing portion, offering a condensed version of a class that would normally cost about $300. Established in 1956, Foundation Center is the leading source of information on philanthropy worldwide. Shiroma even provided attendees with a sample of a real proposal that received a grant award to assist them with their writing.
 
About 200 people attended the two-day event and Senator Sanders’ office received such positive feedback from attendees that we may host a similar event in the fall. We would like to thank all of our sponsors – Starbucks, Magic Soul Food and State Farm, as well as our community partners, for helping to make Community Development Day such a success.