The New York City Department of Small Business Services announced that Brooklyn will receive nearly $2.8 million of $8.4 million total in grants across the city — one of the largest releases of small business grants in SBS history.
The grant comes after 2025 marked the first year of net loss in small businesses across the city since COVID, President and CEO of Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce Randy Peers told BK Reader. That year, the number of closed businesses exceeded the number opened by about 4,000.
There are several reasons for 2025's net loss, including immigrant businesses dealing with tariffs and fears of ICE enforcement, Peers said.
One major priority of the funds is building solidarity amongst concentrated areas of businesses known as commercial corridors.
"What we learned during COVID is that if a commercial corridor had a BID (business improvement district) or had an active merchant association, it was in a much better position to survive the crisis," Peers said.
Recipients of the grant money in Brooklyn include the Brooklyn Alliance, the Coney Island BID, Third Avenue Merchants Association in Bay Ridge and the Atlantic Avenue BID.
Brooklyn, home to the most businesses out of the five boroughs at 72,000, received the largest allocation in the grants totaling $2,774,135. The 32 grants given to organizations in the borough serve more than 20,000 small businesses.
In addition to support for small businesses, funds will be directed toward public art, street cleaning, lighting and way-finding infrastructure.
The grants come after Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced "OPEN for Small Business," a package of more than 50 reforms to support small businesses across the city.
“From colorful murals in Port Richmond to brighter street lamps in Harlem, these investments will bring new energy to neighborhoods across our city and new customers to the tens of thousands of small businesses that call them home. This $8.4 million investment will keep our sidewalks clean, our public spaces bright and give more small business owners the resources they need to grow,” Mamdani said.
The investment could have broad impacts in Brooklyn, not only on how businesses organize and thrive, but also on how they sustain themselves long-term.
