To find one of Bayview Hunters
Point's most vibrant and community-serving businesses, be sure to enter through
the correct gate and find the gravel road.
No wonder the average San
Franciscan isn't familiar with Sunborne Nursery, even
though the business has been in the same location since 1989 and supplies indoor
plants to clients coast to coast.
Sunborne is one of a triplet of
independent businesses, along with Decorative Plant
Service and SF Foilage, tucked behind
the Southeast Community Facility and City College on Oakdale at Phelps.
Once found, Sunborne
Nursery's facility proves to be a vast oxygen-rich world of green plants and
busy people. It's a world that includes workers who have found the first rung
on the employment ladder with an assist from Sunborne and Young Community Developers
(a 39-year-old training organization located at 1715 Yosemite Avenue).
"We've developed a great
employment program for local Bayview Hunters Point Youth," said Eli Goldman,
Sunborne Vice President, "and we've done it without duplicating other
services."
Eli's commitment to local
hiring is clear. His eyes lit up, during a recent tour of Sunborne's facility,
when he talked about being a regular guest instructor in Young Community
Developers' Job Readiness Training
Program.
Sunborne has hired twenty YDC graduates over the past
two years.
"I want other local
businesses to know about this program, and to hire local graduates when jobs
become available," Eli said.
Eli points out that students
in workforce development programs need more than just training. They need
practical experience and real job prospects.
"Businesses like ours can be
the missing link in professional development," he said. "After we have provided
specialized training, many of our employees go on to jobs with our
customers."
In a neighborhood where unemployment rates soar,
Sunborne is a scarce entrypoint into meaningful employment.
"Many of the YCD graduates we
hire have little or no job experience," Eli said. "Some may have criminal
backgrounds that impact their ability to find jobs. We do not hold these things
against them."
Sunborne's willingness look
beyond what may be deal-breaking details for many employers has served not just
job-seekers, but the business too.
"We are a business first and
foremost," Eli said, "not a charity. Our new employees understand that they need
to quickly learn the basics and become a productive part of our work."
That's okay with Clarence
Cook who is well aware that he stands to gain more than basic skills from adding
Sunborne to his resume. As he talks about his experience trying to find work, a
moving story of frustration and gratitude emerges.
"Whether or not I end up
doing this kind of work for the rest of my life, I'm glad to have this chance. I
tried getting a job at Lowes and lots of other places. I never got anywhere
until I met Eli at YDC."
Clarence and Felix Arroyo are
both YDC graduates. Working together, they share an air of optimism about the
future, even as Christopher explains how negative stereotypes of the
neighborhood and the people who live here so often stand in the way of getting a
job.
"Now I feel like I have a
chance to make a life here in my neighborhood," Clarence said.
"We need them as much as they
need us," Eli said.
It's a real advantage to a
business when employees live nearby and can get to work quickly when something
unexpected comes up, He explained. Other advantages to hiring through YDC
include the chance to screen out individuals that would clearly not be a good
fit and eliminate wasted training time.
Sunborne Nursery's owners
hope to change the minds of other local business owners, including large
employers like Lennar Urban, who may think that the kind of training and hiring
happening at Sunborne is a drain on resources. They believe that, as long as the
employer and employee are clear about expectations, community-minded training
and hiring practices can actually boost the bottom line.
Sunborne Nursery operates in
commercial space leased from the SF Public Utilities
Commission under an agreement to provide a percentage of its jobs to
residents of the Bayview.
"We have always complied with
this requirement," Eli said. "But a few years ago we made to decision to hire
exclusively from the Bayview for our greenhouse positions, and to
funnel as many jobs as possible to graduates of the YCD program."
That's good news for Bayview
Hunters Point job seekers, and an unusual example for other local
businesses.
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