Last month, a Queens lawmaker introduced a bill that would make it easier for small businesses that primarily cater to non-English speakers to access helpful city resources.
The bill, known as Int. 2393, was proposed by Councilman Paul Vallone at the Aug. 26 City Council Stated Meeting. Under the new legislation, the Department of Small Business Services would maintain direct contact with community-based organizations in “covered languages” and also provide materials for time-sensitive applications so that the organizations have equal access to funds that would help them to recover after COVID-19.
According to the bill, the term “covered languages” includes Hindi, Nepali, Punjabi, Tibetan, Gujarathi and designated citywide languages determined by the Department of City Planning: Spanish, Chinese — including Mandarin, Cantonese and Taiwanese — Russian, Bengali, Haitian Creole, Korean, Arabic, Urdu, French and Polish.
