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HELP THEM WIN A SMALL BUSINESS GRANT & KEEP PARK PLACE COFFEE IN BUSINESS!
A plea from Park Place Coffee's owner:
"I'd like to ask for your help in helping me win a business grant for the cafe. As you may know, I'm looking at closing at the end of the lease unless something changes monetarily. THIS COULD BE IT! I've applied for a business grant, and the winner will be partially determined by the number of votes my submittal receives. Anywhere from $10-25,000. There are so many more things Park Place Coffee can do for the community if I could get this business grant."
How you can help
"When you click on the link above, it will take you to the contest page and my submittal."
"At the bottom it will ask if you find the story INSPIRATIONAL/USEFUL. When you choose one, it will ask you to register by setting up an identity. (It is their way of making sure all votes are valid. This contest is through INTUIT - the makers of Quickbooks and TurboTax - not a fly-by-night.). I know sometimes people are wary of registering, but the process doesn't require much information and it could make a HUGE DIFFERENCE!"
"PLEASE take the time to vote and possibly keep Park Place Coffee in the Rockwood community -- and please ask everyone you know to vote too! I suggest you vote for the CATEGORY: Inspirational and Useful."
Dina DiNucci
parkplacecoffee.com
PLEASE CLICK HERE. VOTE FOR PARK PLACE COFFEE. HELP THEM WIN A SMALL BUSINESS GRANT & KEEP PARK PLACE COFFEE IN BUSINESS!
Recently seen in The Oregonian:
Rockwood coffee shop about more than profit
by Melody Finnemore
Special to The Oregonian Thursday November 20, 2008
Dina DiNucci hadn't planned on owning a coffee shop. Yet Park Place Coffee is nearing its second anniversary, and the Rockwood establishment is celebrating its success as a vibrant community hub. That sense of personal connection and neighborhood pride is what DiNucci was after when she opened the eatery and coffee shop at 1288 SE 182nd in January 2007.
DiNucci, 45, grew up in Southeast Portland and moved to Rockwood in 1999. The single mother wanted to provide a pet-friendly, permanent home for her children in Gresham, where she worked as a city employee. Rockwood was affordable. It also had an iffy reputation DiNucci didn't know about until after she moved in.
She found the rumors to be untrue. DiNucci also discovered that many Gresham residents felt differently and often wrote letters to the editor that further spread negative stereotypes. She wrote a letter of her own (to The Oregonian) that described her comfortable community, where violence was nonexistent and neighbors shared tools while working in their yards.
DiNucci further worked to build Rockwood's positive image by chairing the Rockwood Business Coalition and the Neighborhood Restoration Subcommittee for Rockwood Weed and Seed. She was vice president of the Centennial Neighborhood Association and served on the city of Gresham's task forces on community safety and economic development. DiNucci also managed the campaign for the Rockwood-West Gresham Urban Renewal Plan, which was adopted in 2003. Earlier this year, she received a Golden Note Award from the Gresham Area Chamber of Commerce for her community involvement.
During a recent interview, DiNucci talked about the importance of community involvement and how her coffee shop helps bring neighbors together. Her responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q. Why did you decide to open a coffee shop?
After at least three years of spending 40 hours a week or more on volunteer work in Rockwood, I wondered if I could ever turn this mission into a job instead of doing it after leaving the office at five. I sketched out many plans for a business; some had a community center feel but wouldn't generate enough profit. I talked it through with many knowledgeable professionals, and my ideas were grand while my budget was not.
Park Place Coffee was never about coffee. It was about bringing a place that feels like home into a neighborhood where people didn't stop and look around before. I wanted to have a space in Rockwood that shows the positive aspects of the community and where the average person can come in and learn about ways to engage in their community.
Q. What do you enjoy most about running Park Place Coffee?
I love that the people who come in are kind and well-meaning. My heart is warmed daily when people thank me for being here. I love to hear most new customers say, "We'll be back!" I love that customers can sit in the restaurant and look out the window into Vance Park and say it's beautiful as they see positive activity going on. They ask questions about the disc golfers and the imaginative children's garden. Those same people, if they hadn't come in, would still rely on things they heard: "Vance Park is unsafe and full of gangs."
I appreciate the people who have taken the time to bring commerce to an area where many choose not to shop. There are so many dear people who come here, and I know, as I never have before, how many truly good souls are in my community.
Q. What challenges do you face?
Every day I worry that I am not doing enough and that I should be able to do more to effectively engage this community. I want to be a highly effective community hub, but I must also be a highly effective restaurant owner. Sometimes the dual role is hard to maintain.
The economy is also a big challenge. It is hard to meet monthly bills, and that affects the ability to staff the place adequately, problems that all restaurants face these days.
Q. Why is community service so important to you?
I have a mind that goes a million miles an hour, and I can always see places to make a difference or make things better. Before Rockwood, it was the American Cancer Society. Before that, it was volunteering in the schools, literacy tutoring or working as a CASA volunteer. If I am healthy and able to give and I can make a difference, I believe I have a responsibility.
PLEASE CLICK HERE. VOTE FOR PARK PLACE COFFEE. HELP THEM WIN A SMALL BUSINESS GRANT & KEEP PARK PLACE COFFEE IN BUSINESS!
