Evergreen: Your North Brooklyn Business Exchange is a membership organization that champions manufacturing, creative production, and industrial service businesses in North Brooklyn and beyond. Their efforts connect businesses with resources and opportunities to help create and maintain high quality jobs at all skill levels. Once a year they take time to celebrate and acknowledge local businesses.
This year over 200 guests gathered at the Brooklyn Winery to salute this year’s businesses achievements with locally produced wines.
Business of the Year: ARGOSY DESIGNS
Argosy Designs, founded by Erik Johnson and Jen Johnson-Kuhn, designs and manufactures custom architectural metalwork. In 2004 they began operations in Williamsburg from a small basement shop and their growth path lead them to their current facility in Greenpoint where they have the space to house machinery and staff that are able to tend to an ever expanding client list with architectural needs that are not limited by size.
In 203, Evergreen introduced Argosy Designs to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program from which Jen Johnson-Kuhn graduated in February 2014 — a real game changer for their business! In 2016, Argosy was able to utilize Evergreen’s assistance in accessing incentive programs for expansion into the current Greenpoint facility. Argosy also worked closely with Evergreen and St. Nicks Alliance Workforce Development Skills Training Program to train and hire recent program graduates.
Investment and Expansion Award: Barry X Ball
Barry X Ball is a contemporary sculptor based in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been widely exhibited internationally over the last 30 years and is in many public and private collections. Among his upcoming museum exhibitions are solo shows at the Nasher Sculpture Center (Dallas), The Panza Collection (Varese, Italy), The Contemporary Austin (Texas), and Ca’ Pesaro (Venice).
Barry X Ball is engaging in a massive facility expansion—from his current studio on Grand Street to his expansive new production facility on Banker Street in the Greenpoint Williamsburg IBZ.
Community Partner Award: Newtown Creek Alliance
The Newtown Creek Alliance is a community-based organization dedicated to restoring and revitalizing Newtown Creek with a focus on community health, water quality, habitat, access, and vibrant commerce. The Newtown Creek Alliance has served as a catalyst for effective community action. To educate the public they conduct tours by foot, bike, bus, and boat. Their constant efforts are hard at work to nurture and expand open spaces along Newtown Creek and increase its public access.
Evergreen recognized them for their commitment to cleaning the Newtown Creek and retaining it as a working waterway and haven for industrial businesses and working class jobs.
Industrial Development Award: Bushwack Capital
Inspired by the term bushwhack, as it is used in mountaineering where it’s understood to mean reaching a destination by creating one’s own path, the real estate developers behind Bushwack Capital LLC set forth to reimagine the industrial landscape in and around the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick and East Williamsburg. The motivating factor behind their work is to attract interesting tenants in order to create spaces and symbiotic relationships within those spaces that will result in an end product that is compelling, beneficial to the community, and ultimately something they can be proud of.
Evergreen recognized Bushwack for their efforts to retain manufacturers in their new mixed commercial industrial buildings.
Special Recognition: JP Morgan Chase Foundation
Evergreen chose to recognize the JPMorgan Chase Foundation for their sizable investment in small business development programming in Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront communities. The Foundation has made a major investment in Evergreen’s Small Food Producers Network (SFPN) programming which focuses on building the capacity of entrepreneurs in the specialty food manufacturing industry, to spur business growth and job creation.
Evergreen and the many businesses they serve are grateful for JP Morgan Chase’s belief in and generous support of their work to help small manufacturers grow.
The Greenline 