BEDC CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF SERVICE TO BROOKLYN

BROOKLYN, NY—June 11, 2004—Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation (BEDC) will be celebrating more than two decades of service to the borough at its 25th Anniversary Celebration, which will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Wednesday, June 23, 2004, in the Boat House in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

At the event, BEDC will honor Richard Dwyer, executive director for the NYC & Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management Cooperation Trust Fund, and Mark O’Luck, chief executive officer of Spectrum Personal Communications Corporation and BEDC board chairman since 1990. Longtime television journalist, Julian Phillips, who currently serves as the anchor for the FOX News Channel show, Fox & Friends Weekend, will serve as the master of ceremonies for the event.

Joan Bartolomeo, BEDC president, praised the honorees for their service to the community and contributions to economic development in the city.

“Richard Dwyer’s union was one of the first unions to recognize the importance of providing employment opportunities to low income and minority residents in New York City,” Ms. Bartolomeo said. “Under his leadership, the Carpenters’ Union has provided the model for apprenticeship and training programs that truly succeed in providing well-paying jobs that help people move up the economic ladder.”

Ms. Bartolomeo continued, “For 14 years, Mark O’Luck has served BEDC as its chairman and has been a board member for even longer. During that time, he has been generous with his time and expertise and has added immeasurably to the growth of BEDC.”

After joining the New York District Council of Carpenters Labor Technical College 11 years ago, Mr. Dwyer received a federal grant to train minority youth from targeted neighborhoods to become successful journey level construction workers. Working closely with community based organizations, these grants have provided 10 years of training, whereby, hundreds of young people from Brooklyn have become union construction workers in a wide variety of trades.

Recently, Mr. Dwyer has urged housing developers, and public agencies and politicians to see neighborhood economic development as more than bricks and mortar but also as an investment in the members in their communities by requiring State Approved Apprenticeship Programs in publicly funded construction projects. Mr. Dwyer has worked successfully with the New York City Housing Authority to provide career path construction jobs for residents in return for NYCHA requiring successful bidders to participate in State Registered Apprentice Programs.

Mr. Dwyer has worked diligently to introduce minority contractors to step up and become signatory contractors with construction unions to help grow their business. He has also spearheaded the Small Contractors Assistance Program, which trains any interested individuals on how to start and develop construction companies. In his current position, Mr. Dwyer uses his knowledge, experience and a wealth of resources to guide the Carpenters Union in its quest to fulfill its vision of increasing the market share for signatory contractors and providing good paying jobs to all carpenters in New York City.

Mr. Dwyer has an Ed.D in Labor Studies from Rutgers, is the author of two books on labor education and numerous articles on a variety of subjects including worker safety, and has worked on numerous committees establishing the standards used by OSHA in lead base paint issues.

Mr. O’Luck founded Spectrum Personal Communications Corporation, a business consulting firm, in 1994. Since then, Mr. O’Luck has been at the forefront of providing major corporations and government agencies with creative approaches in developing multi-million dollar projects in local communities. Spectrum also provides government/public relations, D/M/WBE Business Programs consulting, marketing, strategic planning, business development, workshops/conferences, and content development. Prior to starting Spectrum, Mr. O'Luck in 1987 co-founded and served as president of SBMA, Inc. After earning a B.A., from Norfolk State University and doing graduate work at N.Y.U., Mr. O’Luck served as a senior management consultant and business consultant with several major corporations, including ITT.

In 2003, Mr. O’Luck founded the Minority & Women Business Advocacy PAC, a minority/women business political action committee. In addition to serving as chairman of the BEDC board, he is a director of Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service, and former vice chairman of the board of directors of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce; and regent, Long Island College Hospital, and a director of the Brooklyn Heights Association. Mr. O'Luck is a permanent member of the Kings County Overall Economic Development Planning Committee, and has previously served as a member of the NYS Public Service Commission Consumer Advisory Council, and Con Edison Customer Advisory and Independence Community Bank Business Advisory Boards.

In 2003, the Guy R. Brewer United Democratic Club gave Mr. O’Luck its Community Service Award for his success in involving the community on the Air Train and Air Train Terminal @ Jamaica Station projects. In June 1992, Mr. O'Luck gave the commencement address and received a Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from St. Joseph's College. The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce presented Mr. O'Luck with its Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Award in 1991.

BEDC was incorporated in 1979 to help rebuild the economic infrastructure of Brooklyn following the economic devastation resulting from the economic downturn of the 1970s and the 1977 blackout. Since that time, it has helped revitalize the borough by partnering with community based organizations, the private sector, and government agencies to support economic development throughout Brooklyn.

BEDC has encouraged economic independence by offering more than 700 clients comprehensive entrepreneur training so that they can start and run small businesses, and within the last year, it created the LAUNCH program to provide entrepreneur training and assistance to individuals with a mental health diagnosis. Currently, more than 1,000 clients take advantage of its training, technical assistance, micro lending, and real estate services each year.

To make it easier for companies to do business in Brooklyn, BEDC recently launched Destination Brooklyn, an interactive Web-based map at www.BEDC.org that offers detailed real estate and demographic information for every property and neighborhood in Brooklyn. BEDC is now preparing for Brooklyn’s economic future by collaborating with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) on the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn, a comprehensive, cluster-based economic development plan for Brooklyn that will increase the productivity and competitiveness of the Brooklyn business base so that firms in the borough can offer better, higher paying jobs.

For tickets or for more information about BEDC’s 25th Anniversary Celebration, please call 718-522-4600 ext. 10.

Richard Dwyer, executive director for the NYC & Vicinity Carpenters Labor Management Cooperation Trust Fund.		Mark O’Luck, chief executive officer of Spectrum Personal Communications Corporation and BEDC board chairman since 1990.