Growing Up
Students learn real-life business lessons.
Three years after it began as a seedling at an inner-city Los
Angeles high school, Food From the Hood has grown into an
award-winning student-run company whose roots are beginning to
spread across the nation.
Food From the Hood, which we first spotlighted in January
1994's "Business Beat," is a nonprofit corporation
that enables students to earn scholarships by promoting and selling
a salad dressing they created. The company's creamy Italian
salad dressing is sold in 2,000 grocery stores in California as
well as in natural-foods stores in 23 states. The group was also
recently recognized as Kidpreneur of the Year during the Creativity
in America '95 conference in Universal City, California.
Enid J.H. Karpeh, producer of The Kidz in Biz Expo, which
presented the award, says Food From the Hood was chosen because it
typified the American dream of overcoming the odds to create a
successful business.
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"This award shows that we are a very successful
business," says Terie Smith, a 10th grader and two-year owner
of the company, which is run from Crenshaw High School in Los
Angeles.
Faculty advisor Tammy Bird agrees about the message of the
award. "When we first got started, no one took us seriously.
The students didn't even take it seriously," Bird says.
"But this award solidifies that what they're doing is a
real business. It shows that they are successful and are now role
models."
Future plans for Food From the Hood include the addition of
low-fat ranch and nonfat honey mustard dressings to their line in
April, says Agusto Rivero, a junior who is a first-year student
owner along with his younger sister Eloisa.
Rivero says the company is also in the process of finalizing a
licensing agreement to allow an Ithaca, New York, youth-run company
to sell an applesauce under the Food From the Hood label.
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