Boston Mayor Showcases Immigrant Entrepreneurs at Gardner Pilot Academy English Program

Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6214 · Meeting of July 22, 2026

Boston Mayor Walmsley joined immigrant small-business owners at the Gardner Pilot Academy in Allston-Brighton Tuesday for a showcase hosted by English for New Bostonians, a city-founded organization that supports roughly 1,100 adult English learners annually across 20 programs. Six business owners from the English for Immigrant Entrepreneurs program — covering construction, residential cleaning, painting, and fitness — presented their businesses to Walmsley and City Councilor Liz Reardon. The mayor disclosed that less than 5 percent of the city's roughly $620 million in annual contracted services has reached businesses of color, despite half of Boston's 700,000 residents being people of color and an estimated one-third of the city's 40,000 small businesses being immigrant-owned.

Natalia Ertzvay, director of small business in the Office of Economic Development, outlined four city programs — free technical assistance, storefront improvement grants, the 20-district Boston Main Streets program, and a new Economic Development Center workshop series — and announced a commercial-space fair for March 23 to connect entrepreneurs with landlords.

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Source: the Uncategorized 2026-07-22 clip6214 meeting of July 22, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.