Community Fellows Blog Posts

This post was written as Bay Area communities began shelter in place orders.

My time thus far at the City of San Jose Office of Economic Development (OED) has offered me unparalleled insight into the challenges of working in economic development, the issues that specifically face San Jose and its residents, and the nuances of city government. The experience of working at the OED has helped me to prepare for my professional life and career after college in a multitude of ways. I’ve had innumerable chances to practice and hone my professional communication skills in outreach to businesses and presentations to San Jose City Council members and staff. My work has taught me how to manage my time while working a variety of unrelated projects and how to organize the tasks that face me each day to maximize my efficiency and productivity. However, as I look forward to starting my first job after college at a management consulting firm, I think the most important way my fellowship experience has prepared me for my professional career is teaching me how to balance opposite and often conflicting perspectives––keeping in mind the short and long term, the macro and micro, the overarching and the personal perspectives at the same time. 

Economic development work is characterized by constantly evolving challenges and environments. As a result, it is critical to remain flexible enough to react quickly to new challenges, changes and developments BUT also balance this with work on longer-term projects and a macro-view of the city’s and department’s ultimate goals. A prime example: this past quarter I was tasked with conducting research on potential sites for redevelopment along the “Monterey Corridor”, the historic entrance to the city of San Jose and an important area for economic activity and growth. In the midst of working on this project–– analyzing the location, coding restrictions, and economic landscape for each prospective site to determine realistic and creative redevelopment opportunities––I often found myself making assessments that offered short-term gain, but clearly lacked long-term vision. For example, in my initial analysis I suggested that one site might be redeveloped into a manufacturing site that expands the use of an adjacent business interested in expansion. After discussing my initial research with my supervisor, I quickly realized that my vision was far too short-sighted. While my proposal might work as an immediate solution to redeveloping the site, removing blight and making the property more economically productive, my vision failed to account for the needs of the community, and particularly, the nearby housing development. Instead, my supervisor gently guided me to imagine the possibility for this site to be converted into a gas station or a commercial strip area––something perhaps less attractive or more work to develop, but a use that would be far more functional for the people living in the area over the longer term.   

And now, more than ever, as the city works to respond in an efficient and effective manner to the COVID-19 pandemic––a situation no one could have anticipated, that has and continues to evolve rapidly––I am gaining new appreciation for the commitment of the OED staff. They are acutely aware of the imperative role they are placed in and the incredible power they have as mediators in conflict between local government and business agendas, and the position they are in to provide both short-term relief to small businesses and enact the city’s long-term vision for San Jose’s business landscape. The situation is certainly dire, especially as a blanket shelter-in-place policy covers the Bay Area region, small businesses––restaurants, café’s, bookstores, gyms––are suffering acutely as their usual consumers are confined to their homes, no longer having consistent access to their goods and services. With constrained cash flows, these small businesses are shutting down or limiting their hours and services, in turn impacting their hourly-waged employees who now lack a steady income to cover living costs. Small businesses are not only at the core of the economic engine of San Jose (and the United States as a whole), but they also make up the diverse and unique cultural fabric of the city. Rather than simply throwing money at the problem, the OED and city employees across departments are working to engage in thoughtful and careful deliberations to determine actions and solutions that reflect the complexity of the pandemic’s effect on the SJ small business landscape. In the true spirit of economic development work, they are actively balancing phone calls, emails, and outreach with struggling local businesses owners and large-scale policy research and discussions. 

In these ways and so many more, my experience working with the OED through the LSB Community Fellows program has shown me the critical importance of balancing perspectives on the job––also giving me invaluable opportunities to practice that skill. As I look towards my career after college grounded in this experience, I feel more than prepared to handle the inevitable challenges that will come my way.