Project Description

Asian American Business Development Center

CHALLENGE

  • New York City’s Chinatown was severely affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The cultural hub’s Asian American Business Development Center suffered damage to both its physical plant and its development prospects.
  • The center, created to help develop Asian and Asian American businesses, had only just established tourism initiatives and partnerships with the wider business community when the attacks occurred.
  • BPR was retained to help revitalize and publicize the center.

SOLUTION

  • Leveraging Chinatown’s cultural capital, Barfield Public Relations conceptualized and curated a series of events to highlight Chinatown in general, and the Asian American Business Development Center in particular.

RESULTS

  • Created a signature celebration marking the Lunar New Year, and convinced the Asian American Business Development Center to host a reception for then-U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao.
  • BPR invited the key journalists, members of the public and private sectors and the community who were essential to the revitalization of the organization.
  • BPR also arranged for the lights atop the Empire State Building to glow red and gold in honor of the beginning of the Lunar New Year.
Asian American Business Development Center