“Welcome to Chinatown is incredibly grateful for Amplify Her Foundation’s partnership in supporting API, immigrant, and minority business owners who make up the diverse fabric of Manhattan Chinatown. Chinatown is integral to the cultural fabric of New York City and has served as a significant ethnic enclave for Asian Americans. This grant will allow us to ensure Chinatown will remain open for generations to come by expanding our reach and delivering programming specifically developed for women owned businesses and entrepreneurs, furthering gender equality and empowering those within our community.”
— Vic Lee, Founder & CEO, Welcome to Chinatown
MISSION
Welcome to Chinatown was founded in 2020 by two Chinese American women after witnessing the compounded disinvestment of Chinatown, and by extension the Asian/Pacific Islander (“API”) community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their mission is to amplify and address the critical needs of the Chinatown community and its Asian/Pacific Islander (“API”) entrepreneurs through a robust offering of community and capacity building initiatives, grants, and resources. They seek to engage API, immigrant, and minority business owners who make up the diverse fabric of the Manhattan Chinatown community, which has historically been underserved through historical disasters, socioeconomic and language barriers, and an overall lack of government investment. At the forefront, Welcome to Chinatown is a collective voice for API entrepreneurs to reclaim their own narrative through empathy, authentic storytelling, and data driven insights. Collectively, their efforts are aimed at keeping Chinatown open for generations to come.
GRANT PURPOSE & IMPACT
Funding from the Amplify Her Foundation will support, empower, and uplift women entrepreneurs in Chinatown with tailored programming through Welcome to Chinatown’s Small Business Innovation Hub and its core modules: Coach, Connect, Invest, Innovate.
Welcome to Chinatown will design, launch, and sustain a cohort of up to 190 women small business owners and entrepreneurs in Manhattan’s Chinatown community. Programming will include a 12-week incubator aimed at developing a business plan, culminating in a Pitch Day opportunity to connect the entrepreneurs with potential investors, partners, and marketing opportunities. It will also include a 12-week accelerator aimed at supporting existing women-owned businesses in Chinatown with a focus on older business owners that are struggling with marketing and digitalization. Quarterly seminars will also be offered, and will address key issues such as funding & financing, pitching to an audience, and how to navigate Imposter Syndrome. Through the seminars, Welcome to Chinatown will foster and nurture relationships between women in the cohort, and develop their soft skills to ensure women understand the importance of taking up space and using their voice to promote themselves, their businesses, and their ideas.
With support from the Amplify Her Foundation, Welcome to Chinatown anticipates that at least 180 women entrepreneurs will participate in workshops, with 14 new business plans and marketing campaigns deployed, and 10 new pitches refined.
