Bronx Jewish Community Council - Volunteer Survey

The BJCC Volunteer Department has been invited to participate in a national Volunteer Survey, conducted by the research group at Brandeis University Cohen Center for Modern Jewish Thought, on behalf of the UJA/Federation of NYC.

Participation in this study is completely anonymous and completely voluntary.

 No further solicitation or information will be forwarded to you unless we receive a response with your email at Info@bjcconline.org, requesting the code to participate.  We are following this particular protocol in order to protect the privacy of our volunteer team.

 All requests for participation must be received by November 20, 2017.  This invitation to participate will only go out this one time and will not be followed up in any other way.

What Do You and the BJCC have to gain by your participation? 

Research done by this study will help us understand the best practices to match volunteers with services needed in order to secure the highest satisfaction both to our agency and to our volunteer s, thus increasing the productivity of your service and making it as meaningful as possible for you.

In the interest of full disclosure:

The code you will be given when you sign up will be anonymous to everyone but the BJCC Volunteer Department.  However, the Brandeis Team has offered a $10 gift certificate to the first 50 individual in our agency who volunteer for the project.  If you are one of the first 50, we will contact you for permission to forward your address to receive your gift card.

Thanks so very much-looking forward to hearing from you!!!

Learn more about Bronx Jewish Community Council's volunteer opportunities and how to get involved at www.bjcconline.org 

Former Director Of Fixed Income And Head Of Portfolio Strategy At The New York State Common Retirement Fund Pleads Guilty In “Pay-For-Play” Bribery Scheme

   Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that NAVNOOR KANG, the former Director of Fixed Income and Head of Portfolio Strategy at the New York State Common Retirement Fund (“NYSCRF”), pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken for participating in a massive “pay-for-play” bribery scheme involving the NYSCRF, the nation’s third largest public pension fund. 

Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said:  “As an investment professional with New York State Common Retirement Fund, Navnoor Kang owed a duty to the public employees whose pension money he oversaw.  But in this case of public corruption meets securities fraud, Kang sold himself and his duty to safeguard public retirement money for luxury vacations, jewelry, cash and even drugs.  He has now admitted to his crimes and is a convicted felon. ”

According to allegations contained in the Indictment charging KANG and statements made during his plea proceeding:

The NYSCRF

The NYSCRF is a pension fund administered for the benefit of public employees of the State of New York.  From January 2014 through February 2016, KANG served as Director of Fixed Income and Head of Portfolio Strategy for the NYSCRF.  In that capacity, KANG was responsible for investing more than $53 billion in fixed-income securities and was entrusted with discretion to manage those investments on behalf of the NYSCRF.  KANG owed a fiduciary duty to the NYSCRF and its members and beneficiaries, and was required to make investment decisions in their best interests and free of any conflict of interest.  New York State law and NYSCRF policies prohibited KANG and other NYSCRF employees from receiving any bribes, gifts, benefits, or consideration of any kind.

The Scheme to Steer NYSCRF Fixed-Income Business in Exchange for Secret Bribes

From 2014 through 2016, KANG and others participated in a scheme to defraud the NYSCRF and its members and beneficiaries, and to deprive the NYSCRF of its intangible right to KANG’s honest services.  The scheme involved, among other things, an agreement among KANG, Deborah Kelley, a managing director of institutional fixed income sales at New York-based broker-dealer (“Broker-Dealer-1”), Gregg Shonhorn, a vice president of fixed income sales at a New York-based broker-dealer (“Broker-Dealer-2”), and others to pay KANG bribes – in the form of entertainment, travel, lavish meals, prostitutes, nightclub bottle service, narcotics, tickets to sports games and other events, luxury gifts, and cash payments for strippers and KANG’s personal expenses – in exchange for fixed-income business from the NYSCRF.  Such bribes – which totaled more than $100,000 – were strictly forbidden by the NYSCRF, and were paid secretly and without any disclosure to the NYSCRF and its members and beneficiaries concerning the conflicts of interest inherent therein. 

In exchange for the bribes paid by Kelley, Schonhorn, and others, KANG used his position as Director of Fixed Income and Head of Portfolio Strategy at the NYSCRF to promote the interests of Kelley, Schonhorn, and their respective brokerage firms.  KANG, in exchange for the bribes he received, agreed to steer fixed-income business to Broker-Dealer-1 and Broker-Dealer-2.  In fact, KANG steered more than $3 billion in fixed-income business to Broker-Dealer-1 and Broker-Dealer-2, from which Kelley, Schonhorn, and their respective employers earned millions of dollars in commissions from the NYSCRF.  In so doing, KANG, with the knowledge and approval of Kelley and Schonhorn, breached his fiduciary duty to make investment decisions in the best interest of the NYSCRF and its members and beneficiaries, and free of conflict, and deprived the NYSCRF of its intangible right to KANG’s honest services.

As the bribes paid by Schonhorn to KANG increased, so too did Broker-Dealer-2’s fixed-income business with the NYSCRF.  The value of the NYSCRF’s domestic bond transactions with Broker-Dealer-2 skyrocketed from zero in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013, to approximately $1.5 million in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, to approximately $858 million in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2015, and to approximately $2.378 billion in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016.  Broker-Dealer-2 became the third largest broker-dealer with which the NYSRCF executed domestic bond transactions for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, having not even been on the approved list in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.  As the NYSCRF’s third largest broker-dealer in this asset class, Broker-Dealer-2 brokered approximately eight percent of the total value of the NYSCRF’s domestic bond transactions – a figure greater than that of all but two of the major international banks and brokerage houses on the list.  Similarly, the value of NYSCRF’s domestic bond transactions with Broker-Dealer-1 increased from zero in the fiscal year ending March 1, 2014, to approximately $156 million in the fiscal year ending March 1, 2015, and to approximately $179 million in the fiscal year ending March 1, 2016. 

KANG’s trades resulted in the payment of millions of dollars in commissions to Broker-Dealer-1 and Broker-Dealer-2, of which Kelley and Schonhorn personally earned approximately 35 to 40 percent.

The Obstruction of Justice

In late 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) opened an investigation into the entertainment and benefits that Kelley had provided KANG, and the SEC subpoenaed both KANG and Kelley for their testimony.  In advance of their testimony, KANG and Kelley agreed to align their stories and testify falsely before the SEC in order to conceal their scheme.  In late 2015 and early 2016, KANG and Kelley each falsely testified under oath before the SEC about expenses Kelley had paid for KANG.  Moreover, after a federal grand jury investigation was opened, KANG instructed Schonhorn to testify falsely before the grand jury, and KANG admitted that he had hidden relevant evidence. 

KANG, 37, of Glendale, California, pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.  KANG is scheduled to be sentenced on February 23, 2018, by Judge Oetken.

Kelley and Schonhorn have each pled guilty for participating in the scheme.  Kelley was sentenced by Judge Oetken to three years of probation. 

Mr. Kim praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and noted that the investigation is continuing.   He also thanked the SEC, which filed civil charges against Kang, Kelley, and Schonhorn in a separate civil action, and the Office of Inspector General for the Office of the New York State Comptroller.

Former Chief Financial Officer Of American Realty Capital Partners Sentenced For Accounting Fraud

  Joon H. Kim, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that BRIAN BLOCK, the former chief financial officer of the publicly traded real estate investment trust (“REIT”) formerly known as American Realty Capital Partners (“ARCP”), was sentenced to 18 months in prison for inflating a key metric used to evaluate the financial performance of publicly traded REITS in ARCP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).  BLOCK was convicted by a jury in June, following a three-week trial before U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken, who imposed today’s sentence.[1]          

Acting Manhattan U.S. Joon H. Kim said:  “Block, the CFO of a major REIT, deliberately cooked the books to mislead investors and the SEC.  Investors in our securities markets must be able to trust that corporate officers will not lie about the financial health of a publicly traded company.  And corporate officers who do lie face time in a federal prison, as Brian Block has learned.”

According to allegations contained in the Indictment, and evidence presented during the trial in Manhattan federal court:

In 2014, ARCP was a publicly traded REIT headquartered in Manhattan, New York.  ARCP’s securities traded under the symbol “ARCP” on the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (“NASDAQ”) exchange.

ARCP, like many REITs, measured its financial performance through metrics besides, or in addition to, traditional measurements of company performance calculated using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”).  ARCP calculated and reported to the investing public a non-GAAP measure called adjusted funds from operations, or AFFO, which was designed to more accurately reflect ARCP’s cash flow and financial performance by presenting ARCP’s income before consideration of non-cash depreciation and amortization expense and by excluding certain one-time charges and expenses.  REITs such as ARCP commonly reported their AFFO figures, including AFFO per share, to the investing public and in filings with the SEC.  ARCP also provided forward-looking guidance to the investing public regarding their anticipated AFFO performance in upcoming time periods.      

Prior to the filing of ARCP’s Form 10-Q setting forth ARCP’s financial statements for the second quarter of 2014 (the “Second Quarter 10-Q”), BRIAN BLOCK, along with Lisa McAlister and others, came to understand that the method used by ARCP to calculate AFFO in the first quarter of 2014 and in certain previous quarters was erroneously inflated.  Another employee of ARCP (“CC-1”) had brought this methodological error to the attention of BLOCK, McAlister, and others shortly before the filing of ARCP’s first quarter 2014 10-Q (the “First Quarter 10-Q”), but no corrective change was made to the First Quarter 10-Q while the issue was under review.  Following the filing of the First Quarter 10-Q, CC-1 concluded, and advised BLOCK, McAlister, and others, that the reported AFFO per share calculation for the first quarter of 2014 was overstated by approximately $0.03 per share.  Instead of $0.26 per share, which was publicly reported by ARCP to its shareholders and the investing public, and which placed ARCP on track to meet its full-year AFFO per-share guidance, the correct AFFO for the first quarter of 2014 was $0.23 per share.  

Despite his knowledge of a material error in ARCP’s previous filings with the SEC, BLOCK took no steps to advise the Audit Committee of ARCP’s Board of Directors, or ARCP’s outside auditors, of the error in the First Quarter 10-Q.  Moreover, BLOCK, McAlister, and CC-1 then knowingly facilitated the use of the same materially misleading calculations in ARCP’s Second Quarter 10-Q.  For example, on July 24, 2014, a draft of ARCP’s Second Quarter 10-Q was circulated to members of ARCP’s Audit Committee.  The draft included an AFFO calculation for the six-month period ending June 30, 2014, that incorporated AFFO figures from the first quarter of 2014 that BLOCK, McAlister, and CC-1 knew to be erroneously inflated.

On July 28, 2014, BLOCK met with McAlister and CC-1 in his office in Manhattan for the purpose of finalizing the financial figures that were to be included in ARCP’s Second Quarter 10-Q.  Utilization of a proper method to calculate ARCP’s second quarter 2014 AFFO would have exposed that the reported AFFO and AFFO per share figures from the first quarter were inflated.  Accordingly, during the meeting, BLOCK, McAlister, and CC-1 inserted into a spreadsheet BLOCK was using to calculate AFFO and AFFO per share for the first and second quarters of 2014 and for the first six months of 2014 (“YTD 2014”) figures that fraudulently inflated the AFFO and AFFO per share calculations that were to be included in the Second Quarter 10-Q and the related ARCP press release.  The fraudulent numbers BLOCK, McAlister, and CC-1 used to inflate the AFFO and AFFO per share figures had no basis in fact, were without documentary support, and did not tie to ARCP’s general ledger accounting system, as BLOCK knew and understood at the time.  The fraudulent numbers included in the spreadsheet prepared by BLOCK were then incorporated into ARCP’s Second Quarter 10-Q, which was filed with the SEC the following day.  As a result of the manipulative efforts of BLOCK, McAlister, and CC-1, ARCP’s SEC filings included AFFO and AFFO per share figures for the second quarter of 2014 and for the first six months of 2014 that were fraudulently inflated.    

The Second Quarter 10-Q was signed by, among others, BLOCK.  Additionally, on a certification accompanying the 10-Q, BLOCK falsely certified, among other things, that the Second Quarter 10-Q did not contain any materially untrue statements or material omissions.  He further falsely certified that he had disclosed to ARCP’s auditors and the audit committee of its board of directors:  “Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or other employees who have a significant role in the registrant’s internal control over financial reporting.”  In a second certification accompanying the 10-Q, BLOCK falsely certified that: “The quarterly report on Form 10-Q of the Company, which accompanies this Certificate, fully complies with the requirements of Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and all information contained in this quarterly report fairly presents, in all material respects, the financial condition and results of operations of the Company.”

With regard to YTD 2014 specifically, the fraud resulted in an intended overstatement of AFFO by approximately $13 million and an intended overstatement of AFFO per share by approximately $0.03, or approximately 5 percent of total AFFO per share.  By reporting AFFO per share of $0.24 in the second quarter, after having reported AFFO per share of $0.26 in the first quarter, BLOCK and his co-conspirators misled ARCP’s shareholders and the investing public by falsely representing that ARCP’s AFFO per share for the first six months of 2014 was consistent with analysts’ expectations and on track to meet ARCP’s guidance for AFFO per share for calendar year 2014, when in fact, they were not.

           

In addition to the prison term, BLOCK, 45, of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and a $100,000 fine.  Restitution will be determined at a future date.

Mr. Kim praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and also thanked the SEC.

[1] BLOCK’s co-defendant, ARCP’s former chief accounting officer Lisa McAlister, pled guilty to securities fraud and related charges on June 29, 2016, and has yet to be sentenced.   

MANHATTAN MAN INDICTED FOR MURDER FOR SHOOTING HIS CO-PLAINTIFF IN CIVIL LAWSUIT AGAINST NYPD DETECTIVES

Defendant Allegedly Shot Victim in Bronx Public Housing Building

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Manhattan man has been indicted for Murder and related crimes for fatally shooting a 24-year-old Bronx man. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant stands charged with shooting a young man he knew, and then callously leaving the dying man to be found later by residents of the public housing building.” 

 District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Salim Wilson, 25, of 131 West 135th Street, was indicted on second-degree Murder, first-degree Manslaughter and two counts of seconddegree Criminal Possession of a Weapon. He was arraigned today before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett and remanded. He is due back in court on January 5, 2018. If convicted of the top charge, he faces up to life in prison. 

 According to the investigation, on the night of August 29, 2017, Wilson fatally shot Julio Velasquez, 24, after an argument ensued on the eighth floor hallway of a building in the McKinley Houses in Morrisania. Velasquez was found with a gunshot wound to his chest and later died at Lincoln Medical Center. The defendant and the victim had filed a civil lawsuit against two 42nd Precinct detectives alleging they had been falsely arrested in 2014 for a homicide case which was eventually dismissed after a witness recanted.

 District Attorney Clark thanked Detectives Matthew Crosson of the Bronx Homicide Squad and Frank Hernandez of the 42nd Precinct Detective Squad for their assistance.

An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.

BRONX MAN SENTENCED TO EIGHT YEARS IN PRISON IN ATTEMPTED SEX TRAFFICKING CASE INVOLVING TWO GIRLS AGES 12 AND 13 YEARS OLD

  Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to Attempted Sex Trafficking of young girls he pimped on the website Backpage. The girls engaged in prostitution in Bronx hotels and other locations on numerous occasions. 

  District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant preyed on vulnerable young girls, treating them as a commodity and profiting from their degradation. Now he will serve eight years in prison for ruining the lives of these children.” 

  District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Miguel Benitez, 29, of East 230 Street, was sentenced today to eight years in prison followed by five years post-release supervision by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Robert Neary. The defendant will also have to register as a sex offender. He pleaded guilty to Attempted Sex Trafficking on October 11, 2017.

  According to the investigation, in February of 2016, Benitez sexually advertised a 12- year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl on the website Backpage. The defendant induced the girls to engage in sexual conduct on several occasions with various individuals. A female co-defendant, Desheen Evans, 35, of Brooklyn drove the girls to two Bronx hotels and rented the rooms in her name. Evans was sentenced to two consecutive terms of one-and-a-third to four years on May 17, 2017 after pleading guilty to two counts of Conspiracy.

  District Attorney Clark thanked Detective George Munoz of the NYPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, under the supervision of Inspector James Klein of the NYPD Vice Enforcement Division, and Detective Gloria Chavez of the NYPD Major Case Squad, for their assistance in the case, as well as Assistant District Attorney Meagan Powers of the Public Integrity Bureau and Analyst Hubert Olszewski of the Crime Strategies and Case Enhancement Unit.

Independent Democratic Conference proposes Vehicle Ramming Prevention Act in response to Lower Manhattan Attack

New report details the increase in the use of vehicles to carry out attacks

Senators Jeff Klein, Jesse Hamilton, and David Carlucci, following the Halloween terrorist attack in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday announced new legislation to prevent further vehicular style attacks. The new proposal, the Vehicle Ramming Prevention Act, consists of four proposals to limit the potential for future attacks of this style.

“New Yorkers were fearless in the face of terror, but they also know that we must always remain vigilant and find ways to safeguard the public against terrorists. This legislation will help commercial and truck rental companies report suspicious behavior, fortify their safety plans and know what to look out for if a person strays from that plan. We also want to invest in infrastructure protections for New York City, and beyond, to keep our citizens safe,” said Senator Klein.

“Protecting New Yorkers requires the vigilance of our first responders, our communities, and all of us as policy makers. The measures we advance today uphold our responsibility to remain vigilant and ensure those plotting to do us harm fail,” said Senator Hamilton.

“New York must be proactive to safeguard the lives of our residents from terrorist acts,” said Senator Carlucci

Under the Vehicle Ramming Prevention Act, the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services would create a hotline for rental companies to report suspicious rental activity. It would also require the division to create a countermeasure guidance document so that employees of rental companies are aware of questions and activity that could be reason for concern. The guidelines would be required to be posted in an area frequently visited by employees.

The proposal also requires rental companies and commercial truck companies to develop vehicle ramming prevention plans, based off the countermeasures developed by the TSA and file them with the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services.

Finally, the Independent Democratic Conference will advocate for funding in the budget to be made available for cities to develop and build infrastructure around pedestrian areas that may be vulnerable to vehicle-ramming attacks.

The report found a stark increase in the number of attacks using a vehicle as a weapon since 2013. Between 2014 and April 2017 terrorists have carried out 17 known vehicle ramming attacks worldwide,  resulting in 173 fatalities and 667 injuries.

Attacks of this nature have risen since a 2010 publication by al-Qaeda encouraged their use, followed by additional promotion in a 2014 video produced by ISIS.

Following the attack on October 31, the NYPD concluded that the incident was in line with the directions that have been promoted by terrorist organizations.

OFFICE OF THE MAYOR THE CITY OF NEW YORK - FACT SHEET: THE TRUTH BEHIND THE GOP’S TAX PLAN

Last week, Congressional Republicans unveiled the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” – the first, major overhaul of American tax policy in decades. Despite promises to present a plan that would alleviate the financial stress felt by middle class families nationwide, the plan is nothing more than a giveaway to businesses and the wealthiest Americans.

The below details the bill’s effect on New Yorkers. 

The Biggest Losers

In New York City, 3.9 million families file federal income taxes. Of those, under this plan, 760,000 families – the majority of whom are making less than $75,000 annually – would see an increase averaging almost $5,000 next year. That’s an additional $3.7 billion the federal government will claim from these New Yorkers. 

Corporate America Wins, Working Class Families Lose

The biggest reasons why New Yorkers will see an increase in their taxes come next April are the changes to the personal exemption and the limiting of the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction. By eliminating the personal exemption and replacing it with changes to standard deductions and with tax credits that are ultimately less valuable and will be partially repealed in 2023, the federal government is essentially penalizing New Yorkers who have chosen to have a larger family. A married couple, filing jointly, with an income of $100,000 and four dependents (two children, two college-age), and $31,000 in itemized deductions would see taxes increase by $897 (+24%).

Further, the Republican bill eliminates the deduction for state and local income tax – a deduction as old as the federal income tax itself, designed to protect from double taxation – and caps the property tax deduction at $10,000.  That means taxes on some homeowners will increase while the values of their homes decrease. The 617,000 filers who currently take the property tax deduction will see a net tax increase of $2.0 billion.

SALT alone is worth $7.7 billion to New Yorkers. For example, a married couple, filing jointly, with income of $200,000, one non-child dependent, and $37,500 in itemized deductions (of which $30,000 is SALT), would see their taxes increase by $970. 

And while our middle class families struggle to pay taxes on the same income twice, the deduction remains fully intact for businesses.

The benefits in this bill are so unevenly weighted, the only taxpayers guaranteed a massive tax cut are businesses and large estates. Under this plan, business income receives a $1 trillion tax cut over ten years, adding to the Country’s projected $10.1 trillion deficit. For New Yorkers, you can safely assume these corporate handouts will eventually lead the White House and the bill’s authors to slash Medicaid, public safety and the affordable housing programs we desperately need.

Undermining Working Families

The elimination of several deductions will be immediately felt by New Yorkers in every borough. As a result of this plan:

• People with college debt – 250,000 filers in NYC alone – will no longer be able to deduct that interest from their federal income taxes. For example, a single filer with an income of $42,000, itemized deductions of $12,000, and $2,500 in student loan interest deduction, would see her taxes go up by $222 (+7%).
• New Yorkers struggling with exorbitant medical expenses will now pay more for necessary care. For example, a married couple filing jointly with $60,000 in income and $24,500 in itemized deductions (of which $18,000 is medical expenses) would see their taxes increase by $497 (+32%).
• Hardworking teachers using their own money on school supplies will no longer be able to deduct their expenses.

Additionally, beginning in 2023, working parents would no longer be able to exclude any child care expenses from their income. In New York City, at least 30,000 families currently take advantage of the exclusion, helping them plan daycare while they’re at work.

Unaffordable Housing

 

Housing is the number-one expense for New Yorkers. And more than half of households here spend more on rent than they can afford. Under this Administration, we launched the most ambitious affordable housing plan in the city’s history and are building and protecting affordable homes at an unprecedented rate. This tax plan threatens to pull New York City in the opposite direction.

By eliminating private activity bonds – the kind of tax exempt bonds our Housing Development Corporation and other housing finance agencies issue to fund new affordable apartments – we and cities across the country lose one of the principal building blocks of affordable housing. It doesn’t stop there, either. The loss also impacts the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, one of the largest federal affordable housing financing mechanisms. About half of the program would be effectively eliminated by repealing private activity bonds.

Taken together, this bill as written, threatens $2.6 billion annually, which would jeopardize thousands of homes financed each year for working families, veterans and seniors.

This doesn’t even account for the fact that when corporate and business taxes decrease, there will be less demand for tax credits, which means we can anticipate an even greater impact on the cost of building new affordable homes.

Stifling Innovation and Job Creation

Private activity bonds are not only used for affordable apartments, they’re also a tool that many hospitals, schools and other nonprofits use to finance projects and deliver services.  Through the Build NYC program, this Administration has issued more than $3 billion in tax exempt bonds to support more than 20,000 jobs at dozens of New York City nonprofit organizations. The future of this work is at risk without this bond.

The bill also eliminates New Markets Tax Credits and Historic Tax Credits, effective and cost-efficient financing tools, which generate millions in private investment, create thousands of jobs and strengthen traditionally underserved neighborhoods.  At The Brooklyn Navy Yard, four recent projects--the Green Manufacturing Center, Building 77, B Amsterdam and Sands Street-- are using these programs to leverage $348 million in total investment and create more than 5,000 jobs.

MAYOR DE BLASIO AND KIVA ANNOUNCE FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND CROWDFUNDING PROGRAM FOR WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS

City pledges up to $1,000 in zero-interest loans for women launching crowdfunding campaigns to start or grow their businesses; City contribution will facilitate $3 million in loans and 500 new businesses in three years

  Mayor Bill de Blasio and the not-for-profit crowdfunding platform Kiva.org launched WE Fund: Crowd, a first-of-its-kind City-led crowdfunding program to help women entrepreneurs access affordable capital and start businesses in New York City. Through Kiva, women entrepreneurs can apply for crowdfunded loans of up to $10,000 and the City will contribute the first 10% of their loan request. The program is designed to reach at least 500 businesses over three years.  

“Leveling the playing field for women entrepreneurs will help grow and diversify our economy, and strengthen our families and neighborhoods,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said. “With Kiva, we will help launch small businesses that might otherwise never get off the ground.” 

“Connecting women entrepreneurs directly to investors gives them access to seed money they need to open stores, restaurants and fashion companies in neighborhoods across New York City. As we continue to focus on stabilizing communities, growing jobs and supporting women in business, this collaboration with Kiva.org is simple and smart,” Alicia Glen, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development said.

“This joint initiative aims to drive social impact as well as provide crowdfunded capital to women who are traditionally denied loans,” said Jonny Price, Senior Director of Kiva U.S. “At a national level, if women were to receive a proportional amount of traditional small business loans, lending to women would increase almost sevenfold. This partnership is so important it can go a long way in demonstrating a path forward for entrepreneurial women across the country.”

WE Fund: Crowd helps address the gender entrepreneurship gap:

· Seventy percent of women entrepreneurs in New York City cite access to capital as a major challenge as they launch and grow companies. 

·  While approximately half of women entrepreneurs in New York City seek less than $10,000 when launching a business, traditional financial products are often unavailable in small amounts and non-traditional financial products typically come with high interest rates.

Entrepreneurs interested in the program should visit we.nyc.

  

How WE Fund: Crowd works:

·  The City will contribute the first 10% of an entrepreneur’s crowdfunding goal when they launch their campaign.

· This loan from the City will be confirmed when the entrepreneur meets their full fundraising goal.

· The City’s contribution is capped at $1,000 per campaign and includes no-interest repayment terms for up to 42 months.

· In total, the City’s commitment will facilitate more than $3 million in loans.

· Lenders: Visitors to www.Kiva.org can choose the woman entrepreneur they want to help crowdfund with a loan of $25 or more. As the entrepreneur repays, lenders can relend to another person or withdraw their money and put it back in their pocket. Neither lenders nor Kiva make any money from the loans facilitated. The City will provide the first 10% of the loan to help the entrepreneur reach her crowdfunding goal.

· Borrowers: Kiva’s loans are available up to $10,000 and are designed to reach women-owned small businesses locked out of traditional lending. Loans are offered at 0% interest, no fees, no minimum credit score, collateral, or minimum years of operation. Ninety-five percent of loan requests are fully fundraised, which is rare among crowdfunding sites. 

This partnership with New York City is the first time that Kiva has worked on a government-supported crowdfunding initiative to provide seed money specifically for women entrepreneurs.

Founded in 2005, Kiva is an international nonprofit with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty and expand economic opportunity. Kiva has connected 2.5 million entrepreneurs in 83 countries with over $1 billion in loans crowdfunded by 2 million individuals.

WE Fund: Crowd is also partnering with Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and CrowdCrux to create digital tools to increase women’s participation and success in crowdfunding campaigns.

Those interested may also register for the WE NYC: Show Me the Money conference on November 21st at NYU’s Kimmel Center. The program will cover an array of topics related to business finance, including crowdfunding and other accessible financing options.

WE Fund: Crowd is part of WE NYC, a women’s entrepreneurship initiative launched by the City’s Department of Small Business Services in 2015. WE NYC connects women to mentoring, expert advice and customized business and leadership courses to help them start and grow successful businesses. WE NYC has engaged nearly 4,000 women across New York City.

“The City is invested in women entrepreneurs and today we are proving it by launching an innovative program to help more women raise the capital they need to succeed,” said Gregg Bishop, Commissioner of the City’s Department of Small Business Services. “Having the City as their first investor will help women entrepreneurs build momentum in their crowdfunding campaigns and attract additional investors.”

“I believe that WE Fund: Crowd, a first-of-its-kind City-led crowdfunding program to help women entrepreneurs access affordable capital and start businesses in New York City is an excellent program to give women a competitive edge in launching a business,” said Nunzio Del Greco, President and CEO of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce.