This program is trying to make the Brooklyn startup sector more equitable

Brooklyn has been transformed in recent years with tech companies popping up along the waterfront in Dumbo and Williamsburg. With the city’s new Manage Forward program it hopes to extend beyond those tony neighborhoods and make the population of startup owners look more like the population of Brooklyn.
Manage Forward will provide seven months and more than 100 hours of instruction for these small business owners in things like financial analysis, marketing, hiring and expansion. The program is only open to businesses owned by women or minorities with revenue over $250,000.
“The strength of our economy relies upon the diversity of our entrepreneurs, and enhancing the City’s support for M/WBE (women/minority owned business enterprise) firms allows us to grow our economy in an equitable way,” NYCEDC President Maria Torres-Springer said in the program’s opening announcement.
The curriculum for the program is called provided by Interise, a Boston-based company with a female CEO.
“An established small business owner doesn’t need the same introductory information and training that someone launching a start-up might,” the company’s site says. “We understand that you already have a lot of good experience in running a company. Our aim is to build on that.”
The program kicked off a month ago and ends in February.