A few weeks after my release from incarceration in 2018, I was volunteering as a chef at CCU Church in Lowell on Wednesdays while living in a local shelter. Shortly afterwards in 2019, I found out about THRIVE. Jesse, a current Fellow, introduced me to the THRIVE community and encouraged me to participate in THRIVE’s Circles of Support and Accountability [CoSA]. At the time, I felt immense discomfort and estrangement in Lowell because I was isolated from the changes taking place in my community over the course of many years. I signed up for a CoSA and participated in it for a year and built sustainable relationships within the circle that enabled me to stay focused on my goal of becoming a local business owner. The circles are a resource that make people like me feel less like a problem and more of a solution to the problems of this world, in our communities.

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I didn’t have a worker’s ID at the time so making a sustainable income felt out of reach and I knew I would have to figure out a way to create my own job. As a chef, I created my own recipe called Kamakazi sauce and I wanted to learn how to create my own business, but I needed an ID first. THRIVE connected me with the director of EForAll and I was encouraged to sign up for their Business Accelerator Program. Upon completing the program in 2020, I was finally going to get my worker ID for my new business called Hop Sing in Town. After 6 months of waiting for an ID, however, it was lost in the mail and I had to wait another 6 months to get an ID. This is a typical institutional barrier for migrants in this country. Hop Sing in Town remains an on-going project that I have plans for in the near future.