
Assemblyman Ron Kim (Photo: Luisa Rollenhagen)
“The larger the business, the easier it is to gain capital. This is counterintuitive,” he said. Immigrants who work hard but have no credit history and no credit scores, on the other hand, often find themselves unable to get the capital they need to grow their business.
“My own parents ran a grocery store when I was growing up, and I will never forget the struggles and experiences they went through,” Kim continued. “My parents couldn’t go to a regular bank to apply for a loan.”
This new bill is meant to assist those mom and pop stores struggling to gain a footing. “This bill ensures critical state support for the small businesses that are a path toward opportunity for owners, and the lifeblood of our communities,” Senator Squadron said.
Today’s meeting took place at the Chinatown offices of Asian Americans for Equality, a non-profit that is particularly active in that neighborhood and Lower Manhattan. Among other things, the group provides loans and support to small businesses in the area. As such, Christopher Kui, the group’s executive director, praised the effect the bill would have on the small vendors and family-run businesses of the area. “Prioritizing and expanding access to seed funding will give AAFE and other community development organizations the ability to help entrepreneurs leverage their capital, encourage them to build start-ups, and create new jobs in their neighborhoods,” he said.
At the meeting, two small Chinatown business owners, Yim Chin Mui and Bill Zhen, explained the struggles they’ve faced with their livelihoods. Mui, who owns a small vegetable stand on Canal Street, suffered economic hardship both after 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, two catastrophes that put Chinatown on lockdown and damaged her stand. She explained that she received assistance from the AAFE-affiliated Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, another micro-loan agency that will benefit from the bill, Kim explained.

Bill Zhen, with Yim Chin Mui (in green) standing by (Photo: Luisa Rollenhagen)