CCNY and NYSBDC leadership, along with local officials and and other dignitaries, opened the Upper Manhattan Small Business Development Center at CCNY officially with a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Shepard Hall.
The Upper Manhattan Small Business Development Center at The City College of New York, a partnership between CCNY and the New York Small Business Development Centers, launched with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting in Shepard Hall before an audience of more than 50 attendees that included local community and business leaders, elected officials, CCNY Cabinet members, faculty and staff, and special guests.
The Center, to be located in Wille 209, is dedicated to expanding entrepreneurship, small business development, and economic opportunity for the CCNY and Upper Manhattan communities. Managed by the Office of Institutional Advancement, Communications, & External Relations (OIACER), the Center provides no-cost one-on-one business advisement, training and research for aspiring entrepreneurs and business owners.
Dee Dee Mozeleski, senior vice president of OIACER, executive director of the Foundation for City College, and senior advisor to President Vincent Boudreau, serves as the Center’s executive director.
“The College’s leadership team was thrilled and honored to have been approached by NYSBDC to provide expertise and support for an area of New York with a significant small business presence,” said Mozeleski. “Given the College’s 180-year history, we recognize how important it is to open our doors to as many people as possible, and the launch of this center allows us to do just that.”
“Our new Small Business Development Center fills a gap in the Northern Manhattan landscape and also provides strong support for CCNY-based efforts in entrepreneurship,” said Boudreau. “Colleges should be engines of creativity and innovation, both for students, staff and faculty on campus and neighbors who should see the college as their resource as well. An SBDC in Harlem represents material support to that entire network, but also a symbolic welcome-mat to our neighbors, expressing the fact that the resources of the college and the resources that the College can attract, are designed to make life better for our entire community.”
“The opening of the Upper Manhattan Small Business Development Center at The City College of New York represents an important investment in the entrepreneurs, small businesses, and communities that make Harlem and Upper Manhattan such a dynamic part of New York,” said Sonya Smith, state director of the New York Small Business Development Centers. “By combining the statewide resources and expertise of the NYSBDC, with the talent and community connections of CCNY and CUNY. We are expanding access to opportunity, and we are sending a message to the entrepreneurs of Harlem and the surrounding communities: You have ideas, you have talent, you have ambition, and now, you have another partner ready to help you build."
Also in attendance were: Matthew Coleman, Atlantic regional administrator at the U.S. Small Business Administration; Sherri Lane, assistant commissioner of capital access and business programs at the New York City Department of Small Business Services; CCNY alumna Santa Soriano-Vasquez, director of the New York City Council’s Intergovernmental Affairs Division; Luca Zubieta, New York City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu’s constituent services liaison; Jahmila Edwards, director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs; Ethan Norville, chair of Community Board 9; Michele Scott, interim executive director of Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce; Jennifer Beisser, director of commercial revitalization for Harlem One Stop; Trandi Lang, senior business support specialist at the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce; Rod Dauphin, regional director of the Queens-LaGuardia SBDC; Harry Wells, regional director of the Queens-York SBDC; and Michael Anderson, regional director of the Staten Island SBDC.
About the New York Small Business Development Centers
The New York Small Business Development Centers are the most expansive small business network in New York State. The NYSBDC provide free and confidential one-on-one business advisement, training, and research to small business owners and entrepreneurs.
It is a joint federal and state economic development organization, administered by the State University of New York (SUNY), that operates regional small business centers in all of New York’s ten economic development regions. These centers, hosted at SUNY, CUNY, Pace University and St. Thomas Aquinas College, link higher education to small businesses.
Additionally, the SBDC has dozens of satellite locations with community partners such as chambers of commerce, economic development corporations, industrial development agencies, and incubators.
About The City College of New York
Since 1847, The City College of New York has provided a high-quality and affordable education to generations of New Yorkers in a wide variety of disciplines. CCNY embraces its position at the forefront of social change. It is ranked #1 by the Harvard-based Opportunity Insights out of 369 selective public colleges in the United States on the overall mobility index. This measure reflects both access and outcomes, representing the likelihood that a student at CCNY can move up two or more income quintiles. Education research organization Degree Choices ranks CCNY #1 nationally among universities for economic return on investment. In addition, the Center for World University Rankings places CCNY in the top 2.2% of universities worldwide in terms of academic excellence. Labor analytics firm Lightcast puts at $3.7 billion CCNY’s annual economic impact on the regional economy (5 boroughs and 5 adjacent counties) and quantifies the “for dollar” return on investment to students, taxpayers, and society. At City College, more than 16,500 students pursue undergraduate and graduate degrees in eight schools and divisions, driven by significant funded research, creativity, and scholarship. In 2023, CCNY launched its most expansive fundraising campaign ever. The campaign, titled “Doing Remarkable Things Together,” seeks to bring the College’s Foundation to more than $1 billion in total assets in support of the College's mission. By May 2026, more than $500 million had been raised. CCNY is as diverse, dynamic, and visionary as New York City itself. View CCNY Media Kit.
Syd Steinhardt
212-650-7875
ssteinhardt@ccny.cuny.edu