for [Music] hello I'm Steve mcus from the mayor's office of Economic Development here in the township of Oldbridge we're here today at the Oldbridge Township business showcase featuring businesses throughout Oldbridge brick and mortar homebased and other types of businesses from the surrounding areas so we have a wide variety of businesses here today welcome and enjoy the show [Music] he [Music] [Music] hello Oldbridge this is Mayor Debbie Walker I'm here at the Oldbridge showcase at the Grand Marquee It's a Wonderful event with many vendors from Oldbridge I have with me here council president Mary soor and this is an annual event and I think it's so wonderful that all the businesses get together and are showcased here in Oldbridge this is a great great event if you weren't able to make it this year look for it next year because we have all businesses from Oldbridge here and the public is welcome to go around they have a little free giveaway so if you can't make it this year please come next year [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] now [Music] hi I'm Kevin Kuro office director of The Office of Workforce and career development for Middle sex County and joining me today is Carlos saalo also from the Department of Economic Development and uh you're from the office of business engagement so we're here uh in Oldbridge to reach out to the businesses and also to the residents of Oldbridge to tell them about our services so uh carag I guess I'll start with my office first I know I'm supposed to go ladies first but I'll I'll try first I I'll go first so the office of career opportunity basically our job is very simple we want to skill res skill and upskill County residents if you're looking for a job if you're looking to uh enhance your current skills we can help you with that if you're a business we can also help your business um educate and train your existing Workforce through some of the funding that we have through uh New Jersey Department of Labor and the US Department of Labor so uh the best thing to do is to reach out to me my telephone number is 7327453500 training program for you and put you back to work um now Carla tell me a little bit about the office of business engagement and what you do um for the residents and businesses of middle sex County so the office of business engagement is broken up into segments we have a division of life science and food Innovation we have a division of real estate and we have a division of small business which is where my office is and I serve as the small business manager with my colleague sen quz and we help businesses whether they're looking to start grow expand relocate we connect them to all the resources available everything they need to know about permitting whatever the need is we're there to assist we're handson boots on the ground and you can reach us by emailing bizco Middlesex nj. us and Carl let me ask you a question what would constitute a small business in New Jersey in other words how many employees is it 500 or less 50 or less because I know there's a lot of difference of opinion with that yes that is true we do get a lot of startups that are very small under 10 employees but yes they consider under 500 for a small business in New Jersey New Jersey has 96 % of small their business Community is small businesses in New Jersey excellent well Carl I think that we should close by letting everybody know also just in general terms what the off or what the Department of Economic Development does and so in addition to our two offices we also have the arts institute of middlex County uh in our department which many people are like well why does that exist in Economic Development well because when you think about it Economic Development right is all about businesses it's about big business small business it's also about Recreation giving people somewhere to go something to do so our Arts Institute also plays a key role in our Economic Development strategies and then we're also aligned with our uh educational Partners in the county both the uh County College middle sex College located in Edison and also the County magnet schools which are located throughout MX County the first vot schs in the nation as a matter of fact they were the first ones to become a votch right here in midd sex County so uh a lot is happening in The Economic Development Department and we believe that economic development is the Catalyst of everything that happens both at the county level but also at the local level so events like this are important to promote small businesses and businesses so that people can uh live work and play in their respective communities and take advantage of all that these businesses have to offer so I don't know if you want to add anything to that uh you can visit our website we have a phenomenal event coming up in June celebrate middle sex it's open for All County residents and businesses and you can find out what all of the Departments do in Middle sex County by visiting our website at www.m middlesexcc count nj.gov well Carla thank you and I always love coming to Oldbridge I don't live far from Oldbridge so it's always great being here and I thank everybody for uh inviting us today so thank you very [Music] much for [Music] [Music]