For many workers, the recent economic downturn either forced or inspired them to finally strike out and start the business that they’ve always dreamed of. And that is especially true for many immigrants who may lack education, English skills, or the dependable transportation they need to succeed in the traditional — and still tough — job market.
Paula Asuncion of Portland, Oregon is one such newly-minted entrepreneur. Asuncion immigrated from Mexico decades ago, and since then, held a variety of low-wage, fast-food and farm jobs to support her six children — a burden that grew more difficult after her husband’s death.
But two years ago, she started participating in a program sponsored by Hacienda CDC (Community Development Corporation), a Portland nonprofit that provides housing, education, and economic advancement help for Latinos. Hacienda CDC sponsored a microbusiness incubator that trained Asuncion and others on the ins-and-outs of entrepreneurship.
Now, Asuncion runs her own catering business and was able to buy a home rather than sharing a crowded apartment with other families as she used to.
Janet Hamada, the executive director of Next Door Inc., another Portland-area nonprofit that offers business training told Gosia Wozniacka of the Associated Press, “The biggest concern among immigrants is having stable work. They come to us and say, ‘I want to start a taco stand. How do I do that?'”
People like Asuncion and those who want to open taco stands, for instance, form a major part of the American economy. According to the Association for Enterprise Opportunity, microbusinesses with five or fewer workers employ 26 million Americans.
The nonprofit Adelante Mujeres in Forest Grove, Oregon, which offers a ten-week microbusiness class for Latinos, has seen a surge in interest from those who want to start their own businesses. Program director Eduardo Corona told Wozniacka,”Anti-immigration laws have led to people having a really hard time finding jobs, even on farms. Since they have to put food on the table, they’re starting to explore their abilities and thinking of opening a business.”
Interestingly, numerous studies have shown that immigrants are more likely than native-born Americans to start their own businesses. One report found that more than half of Silicon Valley tech start-ups were founded by immigrants.
And now with the help of these increasingly popular nonprofit business incubators for low-income people, we’re likely to see even more successful immigrant entrepreneurs in every sector, from tacos to technology.
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Tag: restaurants
A Software Program Yelps About NYC Restaurants That Violate Health Code
The five boroughs of New York City boast a wide range of food options — from halal street food to world famous culinary cuisine. With help of online review sites like Yelp, residents can navigate the overwhelming number of dining options.
And as it turns out, these user-generated commentary sites can be used for more than figuring out where to book a table on a Saturday night.
As New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene figured out, these online reviews are an important source in discovering restaurants violating health code.
Using a software program created by experts at Columbia University, the city mined 300,000 Yelp restaurant reviews (between July 2012 and March 2013) where patrons complained of vomiting, diarrhea, or other details following a meal that could signal food-borne illness, according to the New York Times.
Their findings? Out of 893 possible cases that needed further investigating, 56 percent illustrated an incident akin to food-borne illness, according to a recent federal Center for Disease Control’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
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Though the method is not entirely accurate — there’s no way to tell if the food poisoning came from somewhere else — health inspectors were able to find three restaurants in violation of code.
One eatery was discovered to have bare-handed contact with ready-to-eat food, while another failed to properly clean work surfaces and was found to have cross-contamination of ingredients in the refrigerator. Health inspectors found evidence of cockroaches and mice at a third restaurant as well.
“With food-borne illnesses, it’s much better to reach people sooner,” medical epidemiologist Dr. Sharon Balter told the New York Times. “When investigating an outbreak, we want to know what people who got sick ate, who else was with them and what items they all ate together. If you wait, people forget.”
During the pilot program, officials culled potential cases using a week’s worth of Yelp data at a time, but now experts are combing through the data daily in attempt to prevent future outbreaks. Officials are encouraging other online review sites to contribute to the project to benefit public health.
And while the innovative, cost-effective experiment is fair from perfect, it goes to show that social media can be used for far more than just to #humblebrag or #tbt.
Turn Your Foodie Photos Into Food for Needy Communities
A New York–based non-profit has taken a cultural trend and turned it into a brilliant innovation that lets Manhattan restaurants and diners fight hunger as far away as South Africa, with just a few clicks or taps. The Lunchbox Fund is built on the idea that nutrition fuels education, and the fund’s creative staff members are working to make sure that students in South Africa get the nourishment to help them perform strongly in school. Their new program, Feedie, takes the popular practice of foodie photos and translates those images into donations. When a foodie at a registered restaurant snaps and posts a photo, the restaurant contributes cash to the cause. So far more than 50 restaurants are on board; they’ve already provided 800 meals.