Our June 2022 Neighbor of the Month is Presley Pham, a long-time resident of the Beechmont neighborhood. Presley, a recent graduate of the Neighborhood Institute, has started to see her neighborhood with new eyes since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on to learn more about her dreams for Beechmont.
What neighborhood do you live in?
I moved back to and have lived in the Beechmont neighborhood since Christmas of 2006, so that would be around 16 years.
Tell us a little bit about yourself!
I have been a tax preparer during tax times for the last 17 years, and I now consider myself an empty-nester. For the previous two years, I have attended classes online for the MBA program concentrating in Human Resources. I enjoy gardening and camping as my hobbies, and I also like to travel — especially driving out of town.
What do you love about your neighborhood?
I’ve been around this neighborhood since 1990, when I first came to America from Viet Nam. I appreciate the closeness of Iroquois park, the airport, Asian markets, and especially being around the diverse neighborhood.
How and why did you get involved in your community?
Ever since I gave myself a break from working out due to Covid, I’ve started paying attention to my neighborhood and wanting to do something to give back. But deep down, since I see many homeless people who walk by my house more often lately, that makes me think about how I can lend a helpful hand.
What have you been working on recently in your neighborhood?
Nothing much; just after I finished the Neighborhood Institute training course of 12 weeks, I created a plan to build flower beds at Beechmont Community Center with the grant money of $500 from CFN. I also got a matching fund from the community center to make the project more excellent and more extensive. I am glad to have the opportunity to work on it.
What are your hopes for the future of your neighborhood?
There’s a large homeless population on my block and I want to help them. I hope to work with the appropriate agency to help connect them to services and housing. Vietnamese seniors are a considerable number in the community, and I hope to have more activities or programs to suit these people, maybe traveling or field trips around the city or state. What I would like to see in the younger teen group is more community service training by putting them into the practice of scheduling projects.