Nonprofit ‘Welcome to Chinatown’ serving neighborhood to help support small businesses, preserve community [Video]

CHINATOWN, Manhattan (WABC) — Chinatown is one of New York City’s most culturally-treasured neighborhoods, and one nonprofit is serving to help small businesses and preserve the community.

“Welcome to Chinatown” is lending its support to small businesses around Chinatown, which has become systematically underfunded and under resourced.

“We purposely designed this to be able to support hospitality training given how food and beverage is so so important in Manhattan Chinatown,” said “Welcome to Chinatown” spokesperson Vic Lee.

Chinatown was hit hard by the pandemic, and from 2019 through 2021, economic decline led to a 26% decrease in jobs, 12% more than the New York City average.

“A lot of businesses in Chinatown still don’t accept credit cards,” added Lee. “They’re still cash only. We have to work with them to create a website, create a social media presence. Have a digital POS system.”

The challenges the Chinatown community are facing are not unique, which …