Meet Flatbush Junction BID’s Michelle McClymont
The Flatbush Nostrand Junction Business Improvement District has hired a new Executive Director Michelle McClymont. She’s been on the job for two weeks.
Michelle comes from NYC Business Solutions where she was a Senior Account Manager working as part of the Department of Small Business Services. NYCBS offers a fairly wide variety of services to help individuals start and maintain small businesses. Michelle has worked on helping businesses with financing, recruit, training and more, filling over 1,700 job opportunities, according to to FJBID.
As part of her previous job, she directed outreach to various communities.
“The Junction was under my watch,” she says. “We’d come out to do presentations to all of the past three Executive Directors. We’d talk with business owners, help with services, MWBE certification, pro bono legal services and more.”
Michelle grew up on Avenue H and East 18th for about 20 years. She attended Lafayette High School. Today, she lives in Mill Basin, a 10-minute drive from the Junction.
“I felt that with my experience, I wanted an opportunity to work with just one neighborhood, and see how I can make a difference,” says Michelle. “When you work with so many neighborhoods like I did, it’s hard to see exactly what you can do. The Junction is close to my heart, and so here I am.”
The Junction has had a spotty safety reputation at times, and one of Michelle’s goals is to fix that.
“There are really nice businesses in the area,” she says. She pointed out beautification projects, street cleaning, streetscaping and offering the area a face lift as ways to help change and improve the Junction. Echoing the old broken-window theory, she believes that giving the Junction a different look and feel will result in a better day-to-day reality. She also plans on working closely with the police to make sure shop owners and pedestrians are safe.
One of Michelle’s major priorities as ED is to incorporate Brooklyn College into the Junction community.
“I feel like its two separate worlds,” she says, “and I’d like it to have a connection. I want to work with Brooklyn College to let people know what’s in the Junction. A lot of people just think of Target, but there are so many stores, you can get so much done in the area.”
Finally, she wants to make sure that potential customers understand the full scope of the Junction. She feels that the northern end of the strip from Glenwood to Farragut are relatively neglected. She plans to bring businesses there closer to whatever spotlight she can provide.
Welcome, Michelle!