Things Are About to Get Very Interesting!
We are now moving into our fifth week of NPI and things are about to get very interesting! After being accepted into the Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative, my classmates and I have been very eager to begin working with a business owner. Yet, first there was preparation to be done. In our first weeks, we focused heavily on getting to know one another as well as the Alum Rock neighborhood.
To begin, we jumpstarted this process with a visit to Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. After carpooling to their campus on the East Side of San Jose, we were welcomed into a large classroom by some of Cristo Rey’s students and staff. Then, after enjoying some tasty pastries, we were offered a student led tour of the Cristo Rey campus. I was highly impressed by the professionalism that these students exhibited. In delivering an articulate and insightful tour of their campus, these students openly offered us insight into their daily lives at Cristo Rey as well as their local community. Then, after our tours were completed, we sat down to exchange stories with these students. As we asked them questions about their local community, their experience growing up in Alum Rock, and their time at Cristo Rey, they asked us in return about our own experiences and about life at Santa Clara University. Most of the Cristo Rey Students that I talked to aspire to attend SCU after their graduation and are highly motivated to achieve this goal. Personally, I was grateful for the opportunity to share with them something of my own experience since they had all been so gracious in opening up to us and telling us about their community.
Next, we toured each of the five businesses that the Neighborhood Prosperity Initiative will be working with this year. As we walked inside of Licia’s Imports and Sweet Passions Bakery, it was great to finally see firsthand the businesses that we would soon be assigned to. Finally, to complete our day, we got to meet each of the business owners over lunch at a local restaurant. In speaking with each of them and hearing about their respective businesses, I was struck by what hardworking entrepreneurs these people were. At the end of the day, as we returned back to SCU, I was very excited to learn which business I would be paired to work with.
So, I was thrilled to learn that I will be working with Green Bay Hauling alongside three of my classmates and friends. Next week, we will be meeting with Henry, the founder and owner of Green Bay Hauling, for a preliminary dinner so that we can get to know him and his business better. I look forward to hearing about his life story and hopefully beginning to develop a relationship that will help us to work well with one another over the coming months. My group members and I have so many questions to ask him, but we would like to start by simply learning who he is, where he is from, and what led him to found Green Bay Hauling. Then, we hope that we are able to help with whatever plans Henry has to improve his already successful operation.