MWBE - GOT IT, and a new client!

Dear Colleen Ryan – Congratulations on your certification with the NYS MWBE Program.  Your firm is now certified and published to the Directory of certified firms.

I got this email on May 14 and I’m pretty sure the whole neighborhood heard me w00t! With certification in hand, I was able to bring on a new client, right in the middle of a global pandemic.

The NYS Kinship Navigator is an information, referral and education program for kinship caregivers in New York State. A kinship caregiver is an individual that is caring for a child that is not biologically their own. In New York State, there are an estimated 131,000 caregivers caring for approximately 195,000 children.

The Navigator assists caregivers by providing information on financial assistance, legal matters and referrals, and other types of issues that caregivers face when raising children in order to provide stability and permanency in the home.

Because Smalbany, this client came to me by way of a referral from a friend, David McNally. David is the New York Director of Government Affairs and Advocacy for AARP and has worked for several years with Kinship Navigator staff.

I met David in 1990, when I went to work as a writer for the New York State Assembly, in what was then called House Operations. He was the Coordinator of the Southern Tier team that did communications work for Assemblyman Marty Luster, who served from 1988 – 2002. He sponsored a number of bills on children’s issues, including, if I’m not mistaken, an early effort to help grandparents who were caring for their grandchildren.

I’ll be working with the folks from Kinship Navigator on outreach, to help get the word out about their program and enhance participation. Of course, I’ll be reaching out to members of the NYS Assembly and Senate, so they have the tools they need to help their constituents.

It all comes full circle, doesn’t it?

What’s your latest Smalbany moment? Drop me a line – let’s make #SmallTalk!