Encouraging & Supporting Low-Income Entrepreneurship on Staten Island.

With Staten Island experiencing an official unemployment rate of 9.4 percent—up from 3.0 percent a year ago—and relatively few new job openings on the horizon, entrepreneurship and self-employment could become an increasingly important pathway for low-income New Yorkers to earn income and provide for their families during the road to economic recovery. But while the borough has no shortage of highly creative and entrepreneurial residents, many New Yorkers from lower-income communities don’t see business formation or self-employment as a viable path, even in better economic times—and many who do aspire to start a business are stymied by the numerous obstacles along the way.

The fourth in CUF's five-borough forum series on encouraging and supporting low-income entrepreneurship, this event will explore whether low-income entrepreneurship should be among the strategies city policymakers pursue to help those hardest hit by the pandemic boost incomes and generate wealth. It will discuss what’s needed to…