San Ysidro Park may soon offer affordable Zumba classes, soccer practices and other lifestyle-minded programs thanks to a federally funded effort to help South Santa Clara County families live healthier, disease-free lives.
The push to attract residents to city parks stems from a million dollar Community Transformation Grant that Gilroy, San Martin and Morgan Hill received last year through a Center for Disease Control-sponsored initiative to reduce death and disabilities caused by heart stroke, obesity or tobacco use.
“The goal of the Community Transformation Grant is to increase activity at these parks,” explained Art Barron, who currently works for Youth Alliance, a Hollister-based nonprofit organization that helps at-risk youth.
The grant pays for Barron’s salary and he is working to help the two communities establish activities and events that will encourage more families to head outside.
San Ysidro Park, located at Murray Avenue and Lewis Street in Gilroy and Galvan Park, located between Crest Avenue and Hale Avenue in Morgan Hill, have been selected by grant funders as parks in low-income neighborhoods that are not being used enough by south Santa Clara County families.
Barron’s job is to determine what residents think of the parks and what kinds of community changes might make local families utilize the public space more often. So far, door-to-door surveys have been conducted and Barron has received offers for affordable or free martial arts classes, Zumba classes and cooking classes.
While families in Gilroy live an average 0.27 miles from a park, only 35 percent of Gilroy citizens met recommendations for moderate or vigorous exercise last year, according to data from the Santa Clara County Public Health Department and Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation.
Barron is conducting door-to-door surveys and at park events in the two communities to learn perceptions of the parks and what kinds of changes might encourage more families to take advantage of the public space. He is also organizing events, bringing in potential partners and setting up neighborhood alliance groups to continue the good work after grant funds expire.
“In efforts like this, the people are really so critical to helping things move forward,” said Executive Director Diane Ortiz for Youth Alliance.
The $65,000 awarded to Youth Alliance over two years covers Barron’s salary as well as materials for surveys, meetings, training and marketing, Ortiz explained.
“I think that the fact that the Neighborhood Alliance has taken off so well just shows the commitment from the local community and the neighbors to make things better and to see things happen,” said Ortiz. “It’s a hopeful type of project. It’s great to see the community step in and step up.”
City of Gilroy employees and neighbors agree: San Ysidro is in need of change. The park is currently home to a recently refurbished Youth Center, which provides after-school and summer programming for the students of low-income families.
“It’s a gorgeous park and it’s a big park so we’d like to see more families utilize it. When we’re there in programming it’s wonderful. It’s the evening hours that sometimes might attract a negative element,” said Gilroy Recreation Director Sandra Sammut.
She explained that the park, like others in Gilroy, has been the site of gang activity and drinking in the evenings.
“We’d really like to have that be a true family park again,” she said.
San Ysidro is a 9.5-acre park that includes picnic areas, jogging and hiking paths, a children’s play area and basketball courts. The backside of the park is poorly lit at night and is frequently used by teens as a hangout to drink or smoke pot, said Lucero Gonzalez, who lives near the park and joined the San Ysidro Park Neighborhood Alliance group when they first began to meet this summer.
“The park is good but there aren’t things to do and because of that the [teens] look for their own activities,” she observed.
Barron has received several offers for several healthy lifestyle-minded activities that could be offered for free or at a low cost. The Mt. Madonna YMCA also contacted the neighborhood alliance about a potential diabetes prevention class, a topic that would work towards another goal of the grant: lowering the number of people who develop type II diabetes, a form of diabetes that is commonly associated with physical inactivity, obesity and older age, according to the National Institute of Health website.
Two out of every three children in Gilroy, and one out of every three children in Santa Clara County, suffers from obesity, according to Executive Director Kelly Ramirez for the Mt. Madonna YMCA.
Overall, Gilroy (with a population of 48,821 in 2012) has the highest diabetes rate out of four cities profiled by the County Health Department.
For now, the new classes and events slated to be offered at the two parks are on hold until Barron determines through surveys what residents would like to see. He hopes to make the events and activities free or very affordable for the low-income families in the surrounding neighborhoods. The surveys should be completed by late November and locals can expect to see the new programs begin to roll out as early as January, said Barron.
“The survey is just the first of many things they are trying to do,” Sammut added.
As plans for the future take form, the two neighborhood alliance groups continue to meet at least once a month to discuss possible changes to their communities and to put these ideas into action.
“I just get inspired that these community members come to meetings all the time,” said Barron. “A lot of them are working and they have their kids and families but we have a core that is there all the time and ready to make a change in their neighborhood.”
Residents who are overweight or obese:
-Gilroy: 68 percent
-County: 55 percent
Adults who reported not performing any vigorous physical activity:
-Gilroy: 52 percent
-County: 46 percent
Overweight/obese high school students:
-Gilroy Unified School District: 24 percent, highest in the county
Sources: The 2011 Health and Social Inequities report for Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Public Health Department, 2010 Santa Clara County Health Profile Report
