Manhattanville

Local Leaders Visit New Columbia-Harlem Small Business Development Center on Manhattanville Campus

On April 1, local elected and community leaders joined representatives from Columbia to tour and learn more about the Columbia-Harlem SBDC.

By
Kelly Moffitt
April 05, 2022
Rows of local elected leaders sit in the Geffen Hall Lobby for a class day-style picture.

It's no secret that some of the most exciting aspects of the Columbia Business School's new home on the Manhattanville campus are the working and learning spaces in David Geffen Hall and Henry Kravis Hall. To christen the new spaces, which routinely welcome community entrepreneurs onto campus, local elected and community leaders were invited to take part in a tour on April 1, and to learn more about the Columbia-Harlem Small Business Development Center, which now calls Geffen Hall its home.

Kaaryn Nailor Simmons, Assistant Dean, Community Partnerships and Managing Director at the Columbia-Harlem SBDC, Pat Lilly, Senior Program Manager at the Columbia Business School, Gwen Shufro, Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, and Ken Hochhauser, Executive Vice President of the Winick Realty Group, were among the representatives from Columbia who gave the tour, which included Geffen Hall, the Innovation Lab (I-Lab), the SBDC offices, the Café in Geffen Hall, which features local products from the Harlem Local Vendor Program (open to the public), and Kravis Hall's 10th Floor Dining Room and commercial space.

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Joining the tour were elected and community leaders:

  • Senator Robert Jackson  
  • Assembly Member Al Taylor
  • City Council Member Shaun Abreu
  • Curtis Archer, President, Harlem Community Development Corp.
  • Blair Duncan, President and CEO, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone
  • E. Hamil Douglas, President and CEO, Harlem Commonwealth Council
  • Irene Dominguez, Director of Business Services, NY Women Chamber of Commerce
  • Esteban Escalona, Senior Business and Finance Specialist
  • Radhy Miranda, VP Government and Community Relations at NYC Economic Development Corporation

Below, find snapshots from the visit and explanations of the different ways the Columbia University community is helping local entrepreneurship flourish in Upper Manhattan. 

Managing Director at the Columbia-Harlem SBDC Kaaryn Nailor Simmons chats with Council Member Shaun Abreu and Blair Duncan, President and CEO, Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, in the lobby of David Geffen Hall at the start of the tour.
The lobby staircase in David Geffen Hall with elected and community leaders on it.
Leaders gather in Columbia's Innovation Lab.
Kaaryn Nailor Simmons and Blair
Products on display in the SBDC offices from the Harlem Local Vendors Program.
City Council Member Shaun Abreu and Assembly Member Al Taylor display a sweatshirt from a Harlem Local Vendor Program participant.
Council Member Shaun Abreu and Assembly Member Al Taylor inspect the local vendors on display in the Cafe on the ground floor of David Geffen Hall.
Assembly Member Al Taylor and Nathan Robb, Assistant Vice President for Government Relations in Columbia's Office of Government and Community Affairs, inspect Virginia Higginbotham's Mama's One Sauce, one of the local vendors on sale in Geffen Hall's ground floor cafe, open to the community. Photo by Diane Bondareff.
A group gathers outside of Geffen Hall.
Tour leaders walk to Kravis Hall, past the Circle.
Gwen Shufro, Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, gives a chat in the Dining Room in Kravis Hall.
Assembly Member Al Taylor and Curtis Archer, President, Harlem Community Development Corp., relax in some of the new chairs in Kravis Hall. Photo by Diane Bondareff.
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Columbia-Harlem Small Business Development Center Manhattanville