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With Rob Walsh: NYC Boss Up helps budding business owners turn their ideas into thriving ventures and holds two pitch programs per year. One of them is geared to helping veterans, their spouses and Sold Star Families.

The program has an open call for participants right now. Winners receive twenty thousand dollars in cash grants along with business development classes, one-on-one mentorship, and access to other resources provided by the New York City Department of Small Business Services.

NYC Boss Up was funded by a one million dollar grant from the Ron and Carey Moelis Foundation.

If you are a veteran, military spouse or Gold Star Family member and have a business idea you'd like to start or grow look into applying for this open call now at nycbossup.org, that's nycbossup.org.

I'm Rob Walsh for the Business Spotlight on WCBS 880 News. 

SA: A young woman who was abused, exploited and silenced has reclaimed her voice

MT: My name is Melanie Thompson and I was trafficked when I was twelve years old

SA: She's now twenty-eight; when Thompson was twelve in Queens after leaving the movies one day she encountered friends, older boys from school

MT: They were feeding us a lot of alcohol and I blacked out and when I woke up my two girlfriends were gone and I was raped by one of those boys who later then brought me to an older man who told me that I wasn't going anywhere

SA: He locked Thompson in a closet in an abandoned building and forced her into prostitution for over a month until someone tipped off police

BS: In New York City there's estimated twenty-six thousand people being trafficked every day

SA: Beck Sullivan with the nonprofit group Restore NYC

BS: We have case management, counseling, we help with housing, so that someone can not only just leave the trafficking and live and survive, but they can actually thrive

SA: When Melanie Thompson was rescued she was put into foster care; she says today, things are changing

MT: We have successfully been able to pass laws that protect those who are exploited; I will say however, we still have a long way to go

SA: Her mission now is helping others who are being exploited

MT: If there are any survivors listening to this, know that you are not alone, know that it's a big city people full of a lot of people, but there are resources, there are survivors that are here to help you, there are people that are willing to help you and there is life after exploitation

SA: Sean Adams, WCBS 880 News 

Suzanne Colucci has today's top local stories from the WCBS 880 Newsroom. 

Peter Greenberg discusses some useful apps for travelers headed to sea in this Eye on Travel

CBS News tech consultant Ian Sherr joined Drive Time with Michael Wallace to discuss the Justice Department's lawsuit against TikTok over collecting data from children.

PHOTO: An American flag and TikTok are being displayed in Shanghai, China, on July 27, 2024. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Dr. Andrew Pershing, Climate Central chief program officer, joined Drive Time with Michael Wallace to discuss climate change-driven heat and the formation of Tropical Storm Debby in the Atlantic.

PHOTO: Bebo directs water from a fire hydrant during hot weather on July 16, 2024 in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. (Photo by Adam Gray/Getty Images)

Mark Hamrick, Washington bureau chief for Bankrate, joined Drive Time with Michael Wallace to discuss the new job report that found that the U.S. unemployment rate rose in July. 

PHOTO: People walk through a Manhattan mall on July 05, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Long Island residents Orna and Ronen Neutra, parents of Omer Neutra, one of the hostages currently held by Hamas, joined On the Record with Steve Scott to discuss their son and other Hamas hostages 300 days after the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war.

PHOTO: Orna Neutra whose son is a hostage of Hamas speaks on stage with her husband Ronen Neutra on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Newsday reporter Brianne Ledda joined On the Record with Steve Scott to discuss how West Islip, a coastal Long Island town,  is dealing with the chronic flooding it has been experiencing for the past 10 years. 

PHOTO: A car is abandoned on the Southern State Parkway following heavy rains and flash flooding August 13, 2014 in Islip, New York. (Photo by Andrew Theodorakis/Getty Images)

CBS military analyst Jeff McCausland joined On the Record with Steve Scott to discuss what went into the multi-country prisoner swap led by the U.S. and Russia.

PHOTO: Evan Gershkovich's mother Ella Milman welcomes his son as he has returned to country after Turkiye's National Intelligence Organization (MIT) led a successful prisoner exchange involving seven countries, at the airport in Prince George's County, Maryland on Aug. 1, 2024. (Photo by Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images)