Update on Project Activities:
What We Observed and Learned / Critical Analysis: In the last two weeks, we completed 4 interviews; in total, we completed 5 interviews to integrate into our analysis. Looking at all the interviews together, we had a few key takeaways. Our first major takeaway was that although the 2008 recession had hit these businesses hard, it had merely signified a drop in business compared to normal business. On the other hand, COVID had necessitated closures and strict safety standards that forced businesses to adapt in new and often costly ways. Furthermore, many businesses had to entirely change their mode of service delivery (for example, by selling online instead of in person), and businesses relying on in-person services suffered far more than businesses that could shift online. Our second major takeaway was that the many crises of 2020 often compounded each other. One business owner reported that their business had been negatively impacted not just by COVID but also by the California wildfires, which only compounded their financial struggles. Our third major takeaway is that while the business owners unanimously expressed gratitude for the microenterprise grants, the money was not nearly enough to cover their needs in the long run. In listening to our interviewees sharing their experiences, we made sure to exercise the traits that we spoke about in our oral history lecture: empathy, patience, and listening. We made sure to send thank-you notes that also expressed appreciation for their sharing some difficult experiences with us. Alex Andrade suggested in our thank-you notes that we refer the interviewees to the Milpitas City Council’s public forums, where they could express their difficulties directly to the Council. So we referred our interviewees there as a next step, to keep them from feeling like we left them hanging after the evaluation. On Monday, November 9, we presented our preliminary survey and interview findings to the Economic Development and Trade Commission of Milpitas. We found the opportunity illuminating in terms of helping us learn how local government functions and what sorts of norms are in place for public participation and transparency. The meeting was open to the public by invitation, private citizens were given three minutes to orally state a comment, and one citizen even took the chance to make a suggestion about bringing the newly approved wealth tax in San Francisco over to Milpitas. Although by appearances opportunities for citizen contributions were low on Arnstein’s ladder of political participation, since there was no decision making taking place, it would seem that actually, the EDTC did a commendable job in ensuring public transparency over Commission meetings. Moving Forward: Our next steps are to draft our report, edit our slides for the class presentation, and distribute the report to members of the Milpitas community. Alex Andrade mentioned the following recipients: the Milpitas Office of Economic Development, members of the Economic Development and Trade Commission, and members of the City Council. While we edit our presentation, we will ask each team member to provide thoughts and ideas to include in our presentation. This will help us with our reflection. As we draft the report, we will look to continue our close collaboration with our community partner so that we can ensure that our final deliverable meets all of the goals of our project. Two important elements that Alex requested in the final report were our honest assessment of the program’s success and our recommendations for future actions. As we write these portions of the report, it is important that we look back on our relationship with our community partner. It is perhaps even more important that we represent the voices of the microenterprise community that we have had the privilege of hearing as a result of our surveys and interviews. As we draft our report, we will look to Arnstein (1969) as we try to incorporate the citizens into the planning process as much as possible and in a way that grants them genuine power over the future of their community. We will also look to Mirabal (2009) as we try to preserve and share the voices of the grant recipients in our report. Once we complete the first draft of our report, we will send it to Alex Andrade so that he can verify that all the requested information is contained within and provide feedback as necessary. Comments are closed.
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