NewRochelle.com
(Left to right): Hand Crafted Catering’s Justin Christopher, founder and creative director, and Lisselly Brito, co-founder and executive chef, with Seema Jaggi, TAP consultant.
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High-rise rental apartments aren’t the only things sprouting up in New Rochelle these days. Local businesses are growing too, thanks in part to a new collaboration between the city and a former 914INC. Small Business Award winner.
Since 2012, The Acceleration Project (TAP) has been helping businesses grow and thrive on a local scale. The Scarsdale-based and woman-led nonprofit offers analysis and advice to ensure that small businesses can successfully tackle any obstacles in their way and optimize their potential.
Most recently, TAP has focused their efforts on a group of five New Rochelle businesses. These businesses include Patrias, Encore Esports, Hand Crafted Catering and Events, CrossFit POP, and The Curtain Shop. This four-to-five-month project is being funded by the City of New Rochelle Corporation for Local Development, because they believe improvements to these business will enhance the “city’s quality of life.”
“Having a variety of successful businesses is key to a thriving city,” explains New Rochelle Commissioner of Development Luiz Aragon. “This unique initiative illustrates our commitment to actively supporting the development of a vibrant and diverse New Rochelle.”
After seven years of success, the women of TAP have developed a strategic and effective method of assisting their clients. A team of consultants analyzes the business’s primary needs, then they create individualized sessions to inform their clients about how to act on these needs, and finally they compile an action plan to advise the business-owners on some short-term and long-term goals.
CEO and Co-Founder of The Acceleration Project Jane Veron says, “TAP is committed to supporting the vitality of local economies by keeping small business thriving, and we are thrilled to assist the New Rochelle Department of Development in its efforts.” She adds, “Our consultants will work with these business owners to identify and prioritize their goals, and will use customized TAP tools to address immediate business needs. They also will create a structured, results-oriented, tactical and time-bound action plan to help guide each business for up to three years post-project.”
The City of New Rochelle has placed quite a bit of faith in this organization, and the results are promising. With five new businesses stimulating New Rochelle’s economy, upscale residential space might not be the only thing the town is known for much longer.