GILROY
– For six years, a philanthropic trust has paid for ice cream
socials, cleanup days, holiday posadas, crime watches and other
such activities in Gilroy’s various neighborhoods.
GILROY – For six years, a philanthropic trust has paid for ice cream socials, cleanup days, holiday posadas, crime watches and other such activities in Gilroy’s various neighborhoods.
The Community Foundation Silicon Valley’s motto is, “Building a stronger community through strategic philanthropy.” In Gilroy, CFSV has been offering neighborhoods grants, as well as training on how the funds might best benefit their communities.
On Thursday, the Gilroy Police Department and United Neighborhoods of Santa Clara County are hosting an information meeting about the grants. CFSV representative Grainger Marburg will be there, and all Gilroy residents are invited.
Gilroy neighborhoods have a strong record of getting the funds they ask for from CFSV.
“For the last two years, Gilroy has received more than half of the grant allowances for Santa Clara County,” GPD Community Service Officer Rachel Muñoz said.
Police have a strong interest in supporting the kind of activities the grants fund. Muñoz and other Gilroy officers hope that with more tightly knit neighborhoods, residents will feel more comfortable reporting crime to authorities.
“Some of the neighborhoods we’re really encouraging to apply for these grants are the low-income, high-density neighborhoods,” Muñoz said. “When (people) get to know one another, people get a sense of unity. When there’s a sense of unity, people feel like they can talk to one another about issues, good or bad.
“They can unite and stand up to criminal activities in their neighborhoods. … They, as neighborhoods, do not need to tolerate the criminal elements that are affecting their quality of life.”
Police need these extra “eyes and ears” in order to keep crime at a minimum, according to Muñoz.
“The Gilroy Police Department cannot have a patrol officer at every street corner,” she said.
The neighborhood grants information meeting will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Gilroy Senior Center, located at 7371 Hanna St. (at Sixth).
The deadline for a neighborhood to a apply for a grant is Oct. 24. CFSV will notify the recipients in January.
