When pizza delivery services won’t deliver into their neighborhood, a boy joins a group of teenagers to form their own pizza delivery service with the slogan, “It’s fresh, it’s good, it’s from the hood!” While outsiders viewed his community as unsafe, he felt safest and the most supported in Robert’s Park. Involvement in this business catapulted young Dr. Goodman to want to continue a life of giving back to his community.
When pizza delivery services won’t deliver into their neighborhood, a boy joins a group of teenagers to form their own pizza delivery service with the slogan, “It’s fresh, it’s good, it’s from the hood!” While outsiders viewed his community as unsafe, he felt safest and the most supported in Robert’s Park. Involvement in this business catapulted young Dr. Goodman to want to continue a life of giving back to his community.
https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/VA-Pilot/issues/1996/vp960920/09200566.htm
https://www.twp-themovement.org/
(Distorted tones play)
Nichole Hill: If you have never lived in public housing, you might assume the worst. Many people, and even many studies have. But Dr. Goodman begs to differ. In his neighborhood, when other people divested, the community innovated.
Dr. Goodman: So my name is Eric Goodman. Dr. Eric Goodman. Yes, born right here in Norfolk, Virginia at DePaul Hospital, December 15th, 1982.
I grew up in (what is is no longer there), but it was called Roberts Park. Then it transitioned to Roberts Village Public Housing Community. And so I was born and raised there. Generational, I had an opportunity to grow up with my Great Grandparents. And so my Great Grandparents lived in public housing and their children lived in public housing, it was my Grandmother and her Aunts and that type of thing. And then my Mom. And her Siblings all lived in public housing. So we had multi-generational families living in Robert's Village or what was called Robert's Park at that time, off of Princess Anne Road, right across from the Kroc center, (which is no longer there) as part of the Hope Six Development. But we all grew up there in generational poverty.
(Music plays, dogs bark, sound of crickets)
Dr. Goodman: It was, it was beautiful. There was not too many people, and they called it old Roberts Park and new Roberts Park.
They said 'old' and 'new' because it was a renovation that took place. And so a lot of the older people like my Great Grandparents, they lived in old Roberts Park and so I would walk from old Roberts Park to the new Roberts Park, but I was thinking it was like a city, like when I was a child.
Like it was crazy because it was so spread out, you know, so many public housing units. And I rarely left the community because my Mom didn't drive. And so we had candy ladies, we had freeze cup people. We had a guy that sold snacks. We had a corner store, which is Spartan Market
(A door bell tinkles)
But Mr. and Mrs. Kim were like family. Like the people who owned Spartan Market because they sold our greens, they sold our fatback, they sold and the milk, anything we need, it was at that corner store.
Like we did not have a Walmart. We didn't have a Kmart anywhere near us. So there was that, you know, I was talking about now fast forward into 2023 where we are now, but you have like the food desert, food insecurity, all that. Now, I know that because I'm an educator and we, this is something we talk about, but back then I didn't realize what it was.
But we eat, slept, played in that community. I rarely left and I think that's one of the best things that could have happened because I literally didn't see anybody but African American people, and Mr. and Mrs. Kim.
That was it. And so I was pretty ignorant to races and modalities and ethnicities and everything. Like I just did not know.
And it wasn't until I was bused to Azalea Gardens Middle School, 'cause they were doing crosstown busing, trying to break up pockets of poverty at that point in time.
And it wasn't until I went to Azelea Garden Middle school that I realized, like, I just remember my sixth grade teacher, Brenda Battle, bless her heart. (Laughs) I walked into her class and I saw a lady that was of Asian, descent or Asian nationality. And I remember saying, "Oh, Ms. Battle, she is Oriental."
And she said, "Baby, that's a rug. Don't you ever say that again." You know? And she laid into me. But I was so ignorant to the culture.
I can remember asking my mom: Was she hiding all these people from me? I was like, are you hiding these white people from me?
And my Mom was floored because it wasn't anything she was doing on purpose. You know, she worked and I don't know my Dad today, by the way.
So, my Mom raised me, single parent, and I mainly stayed with my Grandmother and my Aunt. When my Mom worked. And so I remember coming home and my Mom was like, "Hey, these people saying they're white. What is that? What does that mean to be white? You know, where were they born? Where were you been hiding them?"
It was just that, I did not leave that community.
I felt safe in the community.
A lot of the elders didn't go to middle school. They dropped out of elementary school to work, share crop. I mean, just the gamut of everything they were, you know, some of them were born into slavery, that knew my great grandparents.
They pushed us like nobody's business. Like there was--I'm walking down the street and they my middle name is Jay. Everybody calls me Jay and they're like "Jay, you better get to school Jay. You better do what you're supposed to be doing. Jay--Don't look this way. You better get," you know, it was that it was every day they were, and they're sitting out on the porch, most of them in wheelchairs cause they have all kinds of ailments, but it was so much positive motivation. It was like a motivational walk every day, every day. It was like, "You need some money? Do you need this," but they, they pushed you to do better for yourself. And so that was a beautiful thing. I didn't realize it when as a child, but looking back on it now, I realized.
It's not until you get older, you sit and realize you're like, oh man, that was, that was probably part of the reason that, you know, I was, I was doing what I was doing, it wasn't intrinsic. It was like that external motivation that they were putting out in the atmosphere every day.
I'm just like every day. Miss Willa Mae, my Aunt, my Grandmother, they're on the porch and they're like, "Go. You better go to school. You better do this", and as you coming back home, it's about your day. The whole walk home because remember, I was on the other end. It's feeling like I was walking a country mile, you know, or I was Parkside, you know, but it was so much positivity.
And I loved it. I loved it. So it was super safe for me. you know, you saw the drug dealers, you saw, you know what they were doing. Like I wasn't dumb and, in middle school and knowing what they were doing at that point in time, but they looked out for you, they made sure you were okay, you know, and they knew my Mom, So they weren't bothered with me.
You had a couple people get robbed, you know, people get robbed all the time.
Pizza Hut and pizza companies refused to deliver pizza in the neighborhood.
Because they were getting robbed, they wouldn't come out the night. They were like, Oh God, you know, what you call and say, what's your address? They're like, "Oh no, we don't come out there."
But we were sitting there talking one day and we were like, "Hey, let's start some businesses." Why don't we start some businesses in the community and let's start with pizza, you know? And so Mrs. Jackie was the advisor.
Nichole Hill: Jackie Baker and Julius Norman worked in the Youth Services Department of the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority (or the NRHA). Together they supported young people with forming businesses in the housing projects. These businesses would solve problems in the community and teach kids that their area code did not determine their opportunities for success.
Dr. Goodman: She helped us to do the homework and legwork. How do you start a business? You know, all that type of stuff. And had people come in through the grant to teach us all about business.
We do elderly in the community. We would set up a delivery type service, you know, they would put in their orders to eat the pizza. The whole pizzas were like $10 at that point in time. And I think we purchased them for like eight. So we make a $2 profit off of each.
The slogan was "It's fresh, it's good, it's from the hood." (Laughs) That was the slogan is fresh as good as from the hood. Yes, sir. Hot off the press. It was beautiful.
We had, we had hours, we would meet and talk about what else can we sell? So we ended up selling like hot dogs and sodas and all those type of things. And we also did events like if you needed to have pizza at your party, you can put in your order through us, and so it was, it was about answering the needs of the community also like breaking down stereotypes and what people thought, like they didn't think anything good came out of public housing.
Nichole Hill: The teenagers took their jobs seriously. Feedback from the community helped to inform their upgrades. For example, if they heard that the pizza was delivered cold, they would ask Pizza Hut for warming bags.
Dr. Goodman: We had this big humongous grand opening party. DJs, bounce houses, all that type of stuff.
And the community was just so--they wrapped themselves around us. We never had any pizza left over. Yeah. And then even with the cookie factory, we never had cookies left over. They listened to tune in the DJ, like anything we did, our elders really supported us really, really, really supported us, even though they weren't supposed to have the pizza and cookies and stuff, but yeah, it was, it was, it was such a dope experience that I would never forget.
(Uplifting music starts)
All of us are doing very well. Everyone who grew up in public housing and we were deemed dead. Like we weren't going to be successful. We used to get pity looks and I mean, it was bad. It was bad. And I didn't see it that way. I didn't--
But when you look back on it, you're like, Oh, they were looking at us. Like we were, you know, these children can't read. They can't write. They live in public housing. They can't even get pizza, you know, good gracious, you know but we're all doing very well. Every one of us is doing very well.
(Upbeat music swells)
Nichole Hill: And he has paid that mentorship forward in his role as the principal of Richard Bolling elementary school, the same school that he volunteered at when he was in high school. Now he serves as the principal of Yellow Charter School. He is also part of a group called the Norfolk Public Housing Alumni Association that provides guidance to people transitioning out of public housing. The ripple effect Mrs. Jackie had on the kids she worked with is still being felt throughout Norfolk today.
Visit our website Truthbetoldcommunity.com to find out ways to get involved, and share this episode with friends.
This series was written by Jackie Glass and Hannah Sobol, edited and hosted by me, Nichole Hill, Sound Design by Trendel Lightburn, and our work has been supported by the Virginia African American Cultural Center through a grant from Virginia Tourism Corporation. Follow our work by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. We couldn’t do this without people brave enough to share their experiences, so thank you Dr. Goodman!