SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Community Health Center (SCHC) — and similar facilities across the region — will get the federal funding they were seeking, which is part of the budget deal that President Trump signed early on the morning of Feb. 9.

The budget includes more than $7 billion for community health centers (CHCs), teaching health centers (THCs), and the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), the office of U.S. Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer announced Feb. 7.

Schumer had helped negotiate the agreement, which will provide the funding for community health centers, like the one in Syracuse and others across the region.

“A lot of relief,” says Leola Rodgers, president and CEO of Syracuse Community Health Center, when asked about her reaction to learning that the funding would be renewed. She spoke with CNYBJ on Feb. 12.

“When they didn’t pass [the budget] the first time at the end of September when it was due, it didn’t make us feel too bad because two years before that, it was [a similar situation with the funding],” she adds.

Community health centers were concerned about the lack of a new federal spending plan because about 70 percent of their federal funding comes from the expired Health Centers Fund, also known as Section 330 grant funding. 

New York community health centers were facing the loss of up to $166 million in federal funding if the Health Centers Fund was not extended. 

Rodgers says someone in her position gets “a little bit nervous” around the end of the year because it’s hard to craft a budget with uncertainty about the federal money coming in.

The Syracuse Community Health Center usually receives about $5.7 million in Section 330 funding, according to Rodgers.

“If they were to cut it 70 percent, that would mean $4 million for us and there’s just no way we could recover,” says Rodgers.

 Without the funding, SCHC would’ve been forced to lay off nearly 75 employees, close three health-care delivery sites, and reduce services by $3.8 million, according to a news release that Schumer’s office issued Jan. 29. That same day, the Democrat visited the Syracuse facility to pledge his support and indicate that he would work to get community health centers the funding that they were seeking.

The Syracuse Community Health Center employs nearly 260 workers and serves as a primary-care provider for more than 30,000 people.

About FQHCs

SCHC and similar facilities across Central New York are known as federally qualified health centers (FQHCs), according to information that the New York City–based Community Health Care Association of New York State (CHCANYS) provided at the news conference.

Federally qualified health centers are community-based health-care providers that receive funds from the HRSA health-center program to provide primary-care services in underserved areas, according to the HRSA website.

HRSA, which is short for Health Resources & Services Administration, is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Without the new budget deal, New York FQHCs could’ve lost up to $166 million in federal funding, which would lead to closures of health-center sites, layoffs of providers and staff, and a loss of access to primary and preventive care for “millions” of New Yorkers.

Federal FQHC funding comes from two sources that include annual discretionary appropriations and the health centers fund, which expired on Sept. 30, 2017, the end of the most recent federal fiscal year, according to the CHCANYS. 

The centers use the funding to sustain health-center operations, including helping to “partially” cover the cost of caring for the uninsured.          

BREWERTON — If you are looking for an explanation for how Schneider Packaging Equipment, a 47-year-old company in a mature industry, managed to grow sales by 90 percent in 2017 over 2016, company President Bob Brotzki offers a one-word answer: focus.

“We didn’t split the atom,” he quips. 

“We narrowed our focus and gained a ton of efficiencies,” adds Michael Brewster, Schneider Packaging’s director of sales and marketing. He says sales jumped from $12 million in 2016 to $22.3 million in 2017.

The 120-employee company, located on Guy Young Road in Brewerton (Town of Cicero), designs and builds packaging equipment, the machines that turn cardboard flats into boxes full of products. Workers in the company’s two buildings weld together metal and integrate components to create the machinery that helps keep products moving through modern factories. Customers include some of the largest names in consumer goods as well as lesser-known companies. “Food, beverages, and pharmaceuticals are our top three,” Brotzki notes.

The average piece of packaging equipment going out of the facility costs about $350,000, he says. 

Walking through one shop, Brotzki points out a nearly finished piece of equipment. Through multiple steps, the machine will fold boxes, glue them, fill them with product and place the freshly made boxes into even larger boxes so they can be sold at warehouse clubs. 

Each machine’s operation depends on complicated controls and complex gripping equipment, designed and made at Schneider Packaging, and one-armed programmable robots made by a Japanese company, Fanuc, Brotzki says.

In the industry, what Schneider Packaging creates are called case packers and palletizers. It has been the company’s work since it was founded in 1970 by Dick Schneider, who built machines based on his own design.

Today, the company is run by Dick Schneider’s son, Rick Schneider. It was Rick Schneider who hired Brotzki in February 2016.

Brotzki readily admits he wasn’t hired for his knowledge of the packaging-equipment business. He played football at Syracuse University and had an NFL career as offensive lineman for the Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys. Other work experience included three years with Yellow Freight. The trucking firm moved him six different places in that time, he recalls. He came to Schneider Packaging from Syracuse University, where he had returned to work in player development.

“If you don’t know a lot, that’s an asset because you have to simplify things,” Brotzki says. He spoke with people in all departments and learned what they thought needed to be done. “The answers have always been in this building,” he says.

“We had to break down some walls,” he adds. For instance, control engineers were moved to be closer to the mechanical department.

He also learned that the company had core products it had designed and could build at a profit and other goods that had to be custom-designed and custom-built. The company tightened its focus on the former.

“We were really hunting with a shotgun, now we hunt with a rifle,” says Brewster. That change allowed the company to boost sales without having to increase the number of workers on the payroll.

However, Brotzki says he has been hiring. His first “big hire” was Brewster, whom he brought on in October 2016. “He came in and simplified things.”

Narrowing the focus on core products has meant not bidding on some jobs that Schneider Packaging would have once pursued. “From a sales standpoint, you really hate to say no,” says Brewster. However the tighter focus allowed the company to meet customer deadlines more consistently. 

In addition to Brewster, Brotzki says the company has been hiring aggressively and plans to do more. Brotzki says his experience recruiting college football players has helped him recruit a specific type of employee: “We wanted young, high-energy people who are interested in something that’s growing.” 

He says the company has great experience on staff. The average engineer or service technician has been with Schneider Packaging 10 years, he adds. The experienced workers can share what they know with newcomers.

“I can teach you what you need about the business if you’re smart, young and high-energy,” Brotzki says.

Brotzki and Brewster see growth moderating in 2018. The goal is an 18 percent revenue increase. Brewster, who has added an inside sales position to the sales and marketing staff, says that increase isn’t going to come from changing the focus. Instead, he sees the company gaining sales by expanding its relationships with customers, for instance getting clients that have bought a Schneider Packaging machine for one plant to add machines to other plants.

He sees a bright future for increasing automation, noting that companies are trying to reduce the physical demands on workers and that the demand for packaging increases when consumers buy more goods for home delivery instead of at brick-and-mortar stores.

Likewise, technology improvements that make equipment and processes more efficient create demand as companies see the benefit to their bottom line. “They gain a lot of efficiencies on the back end,” he says.

Brotzki says workers at Schneider Packaging have been very receptive to the changes made at the company and the rising sales. “They wanted to be successful,” he says. 

Best in Bloom, Inc. of DeWitt, a locally owned wholesaler of flowers, serves 100 florist clients in locations that include Massena and Auburn.

Owner Steve Jocz has seven employees that make the deliveries, but Jocz will “often” drive one of his six delivery trucks to “stay connected to his loyal customers.” 

“I always look for a way to find what my customers need, and the highest quality flowers are what they have grown to rely on from Best in Bloom. To this day, I still check every incoming shipment to make sure the quality is what I expect,” Jocz said in a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Syracuse District news release that tells his story and how his business benefitted from the SBA’s Emerging Leaders program. 

Jocz began selling flowers from a delivery truck in 1993 for a wholesaler, the SBA said. He was promoted to sales manager and later to store manager when his sales numbers kept outperforming other branches. 

Jocz found that he had a knack for selling flowers, and interacting with customers was part of the job that made his work “not a job at all,” the SBA said.

After nearly 20 years in the industry, Jocz decided to strike out on his own as a wholesaler. In 2012, he attended a small-business workshop series that the Onondaga Small Business Development Center (SBDC) offered. The SBDC is a program that the SBA and Onondaga Community College support.

The course helped Jocz develop a startup plan and his networking efforts with bankers, lawyers, and insurance agents familiar with the challenges facing many startup companies. Joan Powers, regional director of the Onondaga SBDC, encouraged Jocz and gave him “confidence to pursue his dream.”

When Powers recommended Jocz get involved with the SBA Emerging Leaders program in the spring of 2017, he figured it was “the right time for his growing company to add strategic planning,” according to the SBA.

Jocz believes he benefitted from working with Emerging Leaders instructor John Liddy and learning from other business owners. As a result of the “intensive” training program, Jocz put new business processes into place, including 24-hour customer service and a new company website. The changes helped produce a 25 percent increase in the company’s revenue, the SBA said.

“Without the SBDC, I wouldn’t have started my business, and without the SBA Emerging Leaders program, I wouldn’t be where I am today,” Jocz said in the release. “My goal for the future is to continue to develop sustained growth and keep my customers happy.”

SYRACUSE — January was a memorable month for local realtor David Manzano, Jr. 

The Greater Syracuse Association of Realtors honored him as the group’s Realtor of the Year during its annual meeting held Jan. 19. 

He then helped launch MyTown Realty, LLC, a firm that focuses on residential real estate. It operates in a 10,000-square-foot space inside the Icon Tower at 344 S. Warren St. in downtown Syracuse. 

Manzano helped start the business after spending nearly seven years working for his father, David Manzano, Sr., at Hunt Real Estate ERA in Camillus.

Manzano, Jr. has equal ownership in MyTown Realty along with Grazi Zazzara, Jr., who also serves as president of the Icon Companies, a commercial real-estate firm also located in the Icon Tower at 

344 S. Warren St. 

“It’s just something I’ve always known I wanted to do, and with Grazi and myself, with the relationship we’ve nurtured over 10 years, it was the perfect fit to make that happen,” says Manzano. He spoke with CNYBJ on Feb. 9.

Both men equally contributed funding to launch the firm, but Manzano declined to disclose the amount of money invested. Besides the owners, the firm doesn’t currently have any employees but is looking to hire an administrator and manager. MyTown Realty also currently has three agents who are classified as independent contractors.

Becoming business partners

Manzano and Zazzara have known each other since their days working together at Pyramid Brokerage Company in Syracuse.

“We started the same day in 2007. We hit it off,” says Manzano.

Zazzara’s current firm, Icon Companies, focuses solely on commercial real estate, but he’s had clients ask about help with residential real estate. He’d tell them he wouldn’t be much help because commercial and residential real estate “are so different.”

“I couldn’t properly advise you. I wouldn’t be able to guide you in the right direction,” Zazzara says, paraphrasing how he would answer inquiring clients. 

He’s also had to turn away agents seeking work in the residential sector. In 2017, Zazzara decided to pursue a separate firm focused on residential real estate. He sought advice from Manzano on the licensing process, and as the conversation continued, the friendship would evolve into a business partnership.

“I said Dave … I know it’s your dream to start your own company. Why don’t we just join forces and do it now,” says Zazzara, recalling his conversations with Manzano.

Manzano gave it some thought and figured it might be the right opportunity to co-own his own business. 

“I made the decision the day after Christmas,” he adds.

MyTown Realty has a three-tiered plan for growth, says Manzano. First, he wants to grow the Syracuse office to have 30 agents. Second, he would like to open two additional locations in Camillus and Manlius. 

“At some point in time, I’m going to have to become more of a regional manager and put a manager in place for this branch so that I can be free for more expansion and more training,” says Manzano.

The plan also has a third phase, but Manzano didn’t want to disclose details on that yet.

When asked if MyTown will be focused solely on Central New York, Manzano says, “We can go anywhere in New York [state] being licensed for New York.”    

SYRACUSE — StartFast Venture Accelerator recently announced that it closed three follow-on investments in 2017, a “record number” for the firm. 

The companies financed include New York City–based Electronic Gaming Federation (EGF), Canadian company Tunedly, and Buffalo–based RepHike, according to a web posting by James Shomar, program director at StartFast Venture Accelerator on the website of Upstate Venture Connect (UVC). 

“Our efforts to find and mentor the best startups in the world are now paying off,” StartFast Managing Director Nasir Ali said in the posting. “We are looking forward to more follow-on financings and exits as our companies mature and grow.”

Applications are open for the 2018 StartFast Cohort. Those interested can apply now at StartFast.net. 

StartFast is a six-year-old venture capital fund and membership-driven program. Each year StartFast invests in a select handful of software, mobile, or IoT (Internet of Things) companies, and hosts a three-month acceleration program at the Madden School of Business at Le Moyne College in Syracuse. Initial investment includes $25,000, with up to $100,000 in potential follow-on funding. During the accelerator, teams are “connected with world-class entrepreneurs, investors, corporate executives and subject matter experts to help their companies advance to the next level,” StartFast says. “Graduates maintain access to the StartFast network for life.”

About the companies receiving follow-on investments

EGF’s mission is to build the next generation of the NCAA for e-sports in college and high school, according to StartFast. EGF oversees a collegiate e-sports league and is the only state-endorsed high school e-sports league in the country. 

Tunedly is a marketplace that connects songwriters with session musicians to record and produce professional quality music. Using the company’s platform, artists from across the globe can collaborate in a virtual studio, per StartFast. 

RepHike is an end-to-end software suite to help consumer brands launch, manage, and track college brand-ambassador programs. The programs have proven to be an “innovative” method for consumer brands to tap into the highly sought after college student market, according to the company.

“We’re incredibly excited about the progress these teams are making. It just goes to show how the right blend of investment and mentorship can be extremely valuable for startups,” Shomar wrote.