About BOC

Business Outreach Center Network’s mission is to improve the economic prospects of local businesses and their communities.

At the heart of our mission is the belief that people in all communities share a common goal of achieving economic stability and growth.

Piloted in 1989, and expanded citywide in 1992, the Business Outreach Center (BOC) Network is dedicated to community small business development with local centers in community neighborhoods across New York City and Newark, New Jersey.

These enterprises are handicapped by their limited access to credit and technical assistance services. The problem is especially severe for BOC Network’s target client base: community-based entrepreneurs, who often operate in isolation from mainstream markets. These businesses are often key sources of jobs for the residents of the neighborhoods they are in or they serve. The BOC Network initiative was conceived as a way to break through small business isolation and to provide technical assistance to help bridge the gap limiting their prosperity and growth, in turn helping to stabilize local economies.

Individual Business Outreach Centers, or BOCs, have proven to be ideally suited to reach and extend a guiding hand to local entrepreneurs whose challenges are many and resources few. Individually and in concert, the BOC Network’s growing alliance of BOCs, connect local entrepreneurs to the full complement of business assistance services, as well as to financial, legal, and other resources.

BOC business counselors provide one-on-one needs assessment, business planning, marketing, and management guidance, as well as access to resources and markets through BOC Network’s extensive linkages. They successfully guide them through the process of starting and developing their enterprises, connect them with financing, market access, and the full spectrum of public and private assistance sources. Then, we follow up with our small business clients as they progress and their needs evolve.