The SD Food Justice Project is the latest chapter in to our long-term food security efforts in City Heights and beyond, and our Economic Development team is working hard to find the first 100 small business applicants with priority focus on marginalized business owners and supporting the entrepreneurship of individuals with limited English proficiency, regardless of immigration or citizenship status.

Like so many young people in City Heights, Hana knows the struggle, hustle, and resilient hard work of a new immigrant here. Her parents taught her the value of education, and now she is going to college and majoring in aerospace engineering.

From an Ethiopian refugee camp to being a student at Mira Costa College, Roda continues to face challenges, but she refuses to allow anything to interfere with her goals of graduating from college.

“When I meet mothers, first-time immigrants, I think of my mother… how hard it was for her, and I realized I could be a resource for immigrants and refugee families.”