QUEENS, NY — As New York City closes out Small Business Month with today's NYC Small Business Month Expo, Vichal Kumar, public defender and Democratic candidate for New York's 7th Congressional District, released a detailed federal plan for small businesses. The plan, "Small Business in NY-7: The People Who Took the Risk," lays out national policies Kumar would fight for in Congress, framed around what they would mean for the immigrant entrepreneurs of NY-7, the community that shaped him. It is built around three stages in the life of a small business: starting, surviving, and passing it on.

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For Kumar, the issue is personal. He grew up working in his parents' convenience store, the small business that was his family's whole life.

"My parents bought their store with a community loan, the kind of starting capital that does not exist for most working families today," said Kumar. "I stocked the shelves, made the sandwiches, and ran the register. I know what it costs to keep a small business alive, and I know the federal government has not been a real partner to the people who take that risk. These are national fights, and I am bringing the experience of the families in NY-7 to them."

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The challenges are national, and they hit NY-7 hard. Citywide, there are nearly 185,000 small businesses, almost half of them immigrant-owned, generating $250 billion a year in economic impact. But Kumar's plan notes that small businesses across the country face mounting pressure: corporate conglomerates capturing the supply chain, delivery apps taking up to 43 percent of an order, collapsing federal antitrust enforcement, unaffordable commercial rent, and a federal government that has cut the small business programs working families depend on.

 

The plan's highlights include:

• Starting: A no-interest federal startup loan program for first-generation entrepreneurs and immigrant communities, federal banking reform that recognizes ITINs so immigrant founders can access credit, and full funding for worker-cooperative and employee-ownership programs.

• Surviving: Blocking the proposed $29.1 billion Sysco-Restaurant Depot merger that threatens the supply chain 725,000 small foodservice businesses rely on (Kumar's video explaining the stakes of the Restaurant Depot merger for NY-7's restaurants and bodegas has been viewed widely on Instagram, resonating with small business owners across the city), a federal cap on delivery app commission fees, standing with delivery workers, and using federal leverage against predatory commercial landlords in a city where 77 percent of immigrant small business owners are rent-burdened.

• Passing it on: Extending Section 1042 of the tax code so every retiring owner can sell to their workers, federal retirement security for the self-employed, and apprenticeship pipelines with priority pathways for NYCHA residents, the formerly incarcerated, and CUNY students.

 

Kumar's plan situates this work in the legacy of Rep. Nydia Velázquez, who built the federal small business agenda over three decades in Congress and chaired the House Small Business Committee. Kumar is running to continue and deepen that work, and hopes to serve on the committee himself.

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The full plan is available at kumar4ny.com/smallbusinesses.

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About Vichal Kumar

Vichal Kumar is a public defender who has spent twenty years building institutions that keep families together and people in their homes. The son of working-class immigrants, he started at The Bronx Defenders, advocating for community members navigating immigration, housing, employment, public benefits, healthcare, and debt cases. He scaled the models he built in New York nationally, from urban centers to rural communities. Vichal is running for Congress in NY-7 because this moment demands bold vision, creative solutions, and real delivery from systems that are failing working families. The campaign does not accept money from PACs or special interests.