Brooklyn's Progress
December 2005/January 2006

BY KHADIJA BATUTA

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce bid farewell to Karen Young, its former Vice President of Communications and Government Affairs. 

After four and a half years at the Brooklyn Chamber, Karen left the organization to accept a position with KeySpan Corporation’s media relations team at their 1 MetroTech location in downtown Brooklyn.  Karen’s last day at the Chamber was Oct. 18, the day after the Brooklyn Eats™ Tasting Event where she was present, as was her custom at Chamber functions and events, to assist elected and government officials and members of the press.

Chamber staffers past and present, Members and friends, gathered at a party at Palmira’s in Brooklyn Heights on Nov. 1 to celebrate Karen’s years of service, excellence and dedication to the Chamber.  With her husband Monte present, Brooklyn Chamber President Kenneth Adams and Chamber Chairman Dan Holt, Courier-Life Publications, toasted Karen for her role in single-handedly creating the communications department at the Chamber.

New Chamber Department
Prior to Karen’s tenure at the Chamber, several different staffers had handled the various communications functions of the organization.  However, after Karen joined the Chamber in 2001 after moving to NYC from her native Virginia Beach, Va., her journalistic and public relations experience – which included a stint with the Metropolitan Richmond Chamber of Commerce and more than a decade of public relations work with one of the country’s largest electric utility companies and a nonprofit hospital – allowed for the communications and government relations functions at the Chamber to be consolidated under her helm.

As many Members, staffers and associates can attest, Karen’s role extended to all areas of the Chamber.  Responsible for the organization’s public, media and government relations activities, she edited and produced the Chamber’s newspaper, Brooklyn's Progress, which is distributed to 26,500 Chamber Members and affiliated businesses.  She was also responsible for managing relations with Brooklyn and citywide media, and assisting Chamber Members with media and government relations issues.  She helped the Chamber manage an aggressive advocacy program by preparing public testimony, arranging forums with elected officials, developing the Chamber’s legislative agenda, managing the Government Affairs Committee and coordinating the Committee’s annual lobbying trips to Albany and Washington, D.C.

Communications Upgrades
In January 2004, Communications Specialist Khadija Batuta joined Karen’s team bringing the management of the Chamber’s online communications vehicles into the fold, including ibrooklyn.com, which underwent a content “face-lift” in February 2005.  As part of ibrooklyn.com’s content restructuring, the “Chamber Advocacy” area was launched to provide Chamber Members and other visitors to the site access to the legislative agenda and major advocacy initiatives of the Chamber, which reflects much of the work in which Karen was involved.

With the June/July 2005 issue of Brooklyn’s Progress, the Chamber debuted Karen’s vision for Brooklyn’s only boroughwide business newspaper.  Karen led the Progress redesign team that included graphic designer Peter Levinson, LevinsonBlock, Cliff Luster, Publisher and Dan Holt, Co-Publisher of Courier-Life Publications, to present the newspaper in a format that allows for increased opportunities to showcase Chamber Members, and to more effectively communicate Chamber activities and Brooklyn news and information. 

“Karen has been a force at the Chamber,” said Brooklyn Chamber PresidentKenneth Adams.  "In her own quiet, steadfast manner, she has worked to increase our organization's exposure at all levels through the contacts and relationships she has built with Brooklyn and NYC media and our Government Affairs Committee, to name two.  She has been my right hand with respect to the Chamber's advocacy work at the individual Member level all the way up to our lobbying trips to Albany and Washington each year.  From helping to secure speakers for our legislative and economic forums to her terrific work on the redesign of the Progress, Karen has certainly left her mark and will be greatly missed.  We wish her all the best and fully expect that she will remain active at the Chamber through her new KeySpan relationship – especially since she's right in the neighborhood!"

Other Staff News
The Chamber also congratulates Fredderick Graves, the Business Solutions Center’s former Director of Financial Services, who left the organization (on Sept. 23) to join Citigroup’s Regional Metro Business Development Team handling Brooklyn and Staten Island.

Fred, who also is originally from Virginia and had previously worked for the chamber of commerce in Petersburg, will be based at Citigroup’s downtown location at 181 Montague Street.

Fred came to the Brooklyn Chamber in September 2003, joining the newly launched NYC Business Solutions Center.  Over the past two years, Fred firmly established financing as a new Brooklyn Chamber service.  Fred’s outstanding service to Brooklyn Chamber Members and Business Solutions Center clients through business counseling, loan packaging and technical assistance translated to an astounding $2.1 million in loans to 38 different businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Brooklyn, as was reported in the October/November issue. 

“It is with both sadness and pride that I congratulate Fred on his move,” stated Rick.  “Sadness because Fred has been my colleague at the Business Solutions Center since we first opened our doors to the public two years ago, and pride at having watched Fred grow and develop professionally in such a short period of time, especially for someone completely new to the challenges of our city and its business community.”

And, apparently, Fred is not only competent at delivering small business loans, but he also excels at delivering babies, namely his son Jayden Lex Graves who was delivered on the corner of Flatbush Ave. and Fulton St. in a Lexus automobile (hence, the name) on Sept. 2, at 9:54 a.m.  Both Fred’s wife Shashawna and baby Jayden, who weighed in at 6 pounds 8 ounces and was 19 inches long, are doing well.

We are sure Brooklyn Chamber Members and friends join the Chamber in wishing Fred and Karen well in their new endeavors, and also in congratulating Fred and his wife on the new addition to their family.