Brooklyn's Progress
January 2002

After three years of serving as the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s director of Economic Development, Jacqui Williams-Foy is moving on to join Yoswein New York as a senior account executive. “Obviously, it is sad for us to say good-bye to Jacqui, who has been such a vital member of our Chamber team. Her energy, enthusiasm and commitment to her work and to us – her colleagues and friends – have all been incredible. For me personally, Jacqui has been a joy to work with,” said Chamber President Kenneth Adams. During her tenure, Williams-Foy was instrumental in launching Brooklyn Mills, the Chamber’s garment manufacturing incubator in Sunset Park. Last September Brooklyn Mills began offering free sewing classes for apparel workers. Known as the Quick Sew Training Center at Brooklyn Mills, students receive hands-on training and skills improvement classes. Williams-Foy was instrumental in managing the Chamber’s Fulton F.I.R.S.T. Initiative and the Bedford-Stuyvesant Fulton Street Initiative. Sponsored by Fleet Bank, Fulton F.I.R.S.T. promotes retail development along Fulton Street. Partnering with local organizations, Williams-Foy coordinated business development seminars for local businesses and during the Christmas holidays kicked-off the area’s first holiday shopping extravaganza to entice shoppers to Fulton Street. Under Williams-Foy’s watchful eye, storefronts along Fulton Street in the heart of Bedford-Styuvesant have benefited from the Fulton Street Initiative which includes graffiti removal and supplemental street cleaning to improve the appearance along the shopping strip. Prior to her departure, Williams-Foy conducted an intense selection process to identify a firm to design a streetscape plan, resulting in the hiring of Davis Brody Bond, LLP, among the nation’s leading architectural firms. “She leaves behind many wonderful programmatic accomplishments that the Board of Directors and I are extremely proud of. Indeed she will be missed,” Adams added.