San Jose group targets small businesses to uplift neighborhood

As East San Jose’s Mayfair neighborhood struggles with poverty, gentrification and divestment, one group is creating a plan to uplift people economically.

Last year, workers with nonprofit Amigos de Guadalupe knocked on doors in Mayfair to learn about what residents need most. Residents said they want a way to make more income and have more affordable housing, according to Jose Murillo, director of place-based initiatives. The group put together a 10-year plan called the Neighborhood Prosperity Project to tackle poverty in underinvested areas, starting with Mayfair and branching out to other neighborhoods.

As part of that project, Amigos launched its business mentorship program Hecho en Mayfair in April. The program, which translates to Made in Mayfair, aims to help small business owners grow their revenue by adjusting product pricing and securing more high-dollar contracts. They started with a cohort of 12 business owners who have already increased their revenue by a combined $160,000 within four months, Murillo said.

“That’s money that could be flowing through the neighborhood, reinvested over and over again,” he told San José Spotlight.

Murillo said Amigos de Guadalupe acts as a mediator between the small business owners and the nonprofits and corporations to help secure contracts. Contracts can range from providing food at company events to plumbing services and cleaning. By getting organizations to pledge more investment in Mayfair small business owners, they can put money back into the local economy.

“In fact, if Mayfair residents had the proper resources and our folks were to earn the same as the average family in Santa Clara County, there would be an additional $100 million every single year flowing through Mayfair,” Murillo said. “Imagine what that would mean for a community.”

Yolita, a business owner in the cohort who runs a catering business, said her life has changed since starting the program. She asked to only be identified by first name for privacy reasons. Prior to joining the program, she was often behind on paying her rent and bills.

Murillo and Neighborhood Business Development Manager Liana Salikhova helped Yolita properly price her services, including the time she spent buying groceries, preparing and delivering food. Yolita said she was shocked to see how much more she could be charging. Taking the leap to increase her pricing was scary at first, she said.

Amigos de Guadalupe gave Yolita a contract to provide food for one of its homeless shelter programs. In the past four months, she said her revenue has increased by $100,000, allowing her to invest more in her business and secure more contracts.

Yolita brought on her mother to help so she doesn’t have to work outside with her food cart during a time when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is targeting undocumented immigrants. She wants to make enough money so her mother can retire, and said the program has helped her accomplish her decades-long dream to spend more time with family and build a successful business.

“I have no words to express my gratitude,” Yolita told San José Spotlight through a translator.
Victor Vasquez, co-executive director of SOMOS Mayfair and a partner with Amigos de Guadalupe in building community resiliency in the neighborhood, said a next step could be to link business owners with credit unions and provide business development through the Latino Business Foundation. He also wants to get neighbors more involved through community engagement and by forming their own cooperatives. SOMOS Mayfair has been on the forefront of incubating cooperative businesses over the past decade.

“The problem that we’re tackling is economic injustice that we face,” Vasquez told San José Spotlight. “In order for us to do that, we have to create a movement to address that economic injustice through advocacy, but also build our own institutions that help our communities have prosperity.”

Contact Joyce Chu at [email protected] or @joyce_speaks on X.