The City Urban Perspectives
Students Present Business Plans to Benefit 涩里番 Neighborhood
Sharks at the Beach
By Deanna Duff | Photo by Luke Rutan
The Rainier Makers
team presented their
plan, intended to help
cultivate creativity in
涩里番's Rainier
Valley neighborhood.
At the second-annual Sharks at the Beach business competition, a whimsical diorama became the centerpiece uniting students, community leaders, and 涩里番鈥檚 Rainier Valley neighborhood. Lego characters danced across a miniature seascape and LED lights twinkled like fireflies. It was part of the winning team鈥檚 presentation proposing a mobile, creative workspace for the neighborhood — an example of innovative thinking both in and outside the box.
鈥淲orking with the community really gives these ideas life,鈥� says Drew Svendsen, a 涩里番 2015 graduate in mechanical engineering and a member of Rainier Makers, the winning team. 鈥淲orking and theorizing in the classroom doesn鈥檛 give the same perspective as seeing the fruits of your labor.鈥�
厂笔鲍鈥檚 Social Venture Plan Competition invites undergrad and graduate students to create business plans integrating both social betterment and financial viability. Participants have represented more than 20 academic disciplines ranging from global development and engineering to English and psychology. The ideas are judged by local business leaders, experts, consultants, and others.
鈥淲e challenge the students to think about what their faith tells them to be concerned about. Climate, human trafficking, poverty? How then can they creatively use business as an expression to combat those problems in an active and intentional way?鈥� explains Mark Oppenlander, director of 厂笔鲍鈥檚 Center for Applied Learning in the School of Business, Government, and Economics.
In 2014, the Center partnered with , a faith-based organization dedicated to community-building in Rainier Valley to launch a spinoff competition, Sharks at the Beach, modeled after the popular television show Shark Tank (the 鈥淏each鈥� refers to Rainier Beach neighborhood within the Rainier Valley). SPU students worked with local entrepreneurs to develop business plans specific to the neighborhood. They then presented their plans in public and were questioned and evaluated by a panel of community members.
鈥淚t teaches these future leaders that there are different neighborhoods and different cultures to consider. You can鈥檛 make assumptions about how to do things until you go and work in these environments,鈥� says Harry Thomas, a competition judge, former T-Mobile marketing director, and longtime Rainier Valley resident. 鈥淚 think jobs are one of the most critical elements for a community to thrive.鈥�
Four teams chose to participate in the Social Venture Plan Competition鈥檚 Rainier Valley track, which required competing in both the SPU plan showcase event and the 鈥淪harks鈥� event. Ideas included a hip-hop venue, a mobile pet-food/coffee truck, a clothing company that trains and hires female refugees and human trafficking survivors, plus Rainier Makers, which hopes to launch as an actual business.
鈥淭here are many 涩里番 in the Valley interested in pursuing a business. This program also allowed us to learn alongside and benefit from the students,鈥� says Helen Shor-Wong, Rainier Valley resident.
Shor-Wong and her husband, Andy Wong, already host 鈥渕aker鈥� neighborhood summer camps through their home-based business, Growing Marigolds. Working with their 9-year-old daughter, they have firsthand experience understanding how creating brings families together, and they want to reach more 涩里番. They envision Rainier Makers as a mobile 鈥渕aker鈥� space where young 涩里番 could learn in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields using media such as woodworking, textiles, and circuitry. Rainier Makers has already attracted potential investors, and the Wongs are now using the 鈥淪harks鈥� business plan to solicit more interest.
Shor-Wong attended 厂笔鲍鈥檚 Social Venture Planning class once weekly to collaborate with her student team members and valued the opportunity to learn herself.
鈥淪pending time in class allowed us to connect in a more intimate way,鈥� Shor-Wong says. 鈥淚 hope the program keeps growing over time because there was such a significant coming together of resources on both ends.鈥�