Gilroy
– After getting its start two years ago, Gilroy Eigleberry
Neighborhood Association quickly became one of the most active and
visible of Gilroy’s dozen neighborhood associations.
Last weekend, the neighborhood received an accolade never before
received by Gilroy’s associations that strive to create a true
”
neighborhood
”
in more urban, low-income and often crime-ridden areas.
Gilroy – After getting its start two years ago, Gilroy Eigleberry Neighborhood Association quickly became one of the most active and visible of Gilroy’s dozen neighborhood associations.
Last weekend, the neighborhood received an accolade never before received by Gilroy’s associations that strive to create a true “neighborhood” in more urban, low-income and often crime-ridden areas.
The Community Foundation Silicon Valley awarded the neighborhood the Building Resourceful Inspirational Creative Community, or BRICC Award, last Saturday, for building community and revitalizing the neighborhood.
Art Barron, the Eigleberry association president and founder, said the group beat out about 150 other applicants to receive the prestigious award and $1,000 grant.
He said the group is always looking for ways to build community in the Eigleberry neighborhood, near downtown Gilroy. For example, with this award, he’s trying to put together a Halloween Festival.
Between 20 and 30 people regularly volunteer with the association, planning events like block parties, clean-up days, and, recently, a voter registration drive. As many as 100 people volunteered at this year’s Garlic Festival through the group, Barron said.
But the neighborhood association strives to have an impact beyond the occasional get-together, and Gilroy police say it’s working there, as it’s worked in other densely populated areas.
“They are promoting safety in the neighborhood – it’s getting the neighborhood to get to know each other,” said Rachel Munoz, a community service officer with Gilroy Police Department’s Neighborhood Resource Unit.
One resident on the 6000 block of Eigleberry said the better street lighting – provided by the city at the association’s request – has made a difference like night and, well, day.
“If it’s dark, sometimes, the children will be playing out here in the street, so it helps a lot,” said the resident, who declined to give his name. “It makes it a lot safer.”
Munoz said the GPD gets involved in the association, attending monthly meetings to address residents’ concerns and keeping in close contact with Barron. Officers work with absentee landlords and problematic tenants – using probation when necessary – to keep the neighborhood clean, she said.
Even something as simple as encouraging landlords or residents to put on a fresh paint of coat, or plant a lawn in the front yard has made a difference, she said.
The association does its part to keep the neighborhood clean by bringing out dumpsters and organizing yard clean-ups.
One 10-year resident of Eigleberry said the clean-ups go a long way toward making the neighborhood attractive.
However, she said she hopes the association does more to create camaraderie.
“That is needed a lot,” said Margarita Fuentez, who lives on Eigleberry near Tenth Street. “That is what a neighborhood is for – you say hello to each other, even if it’s just when you pass each other at the fence.”
As the Eigleberry association continues to grow and draw people out of their homes to meetings and events, the neighborhood becomes a safer place, Munoz said. She has seen it happen in other neighborhoods like Rogers Lane and San Ysidro.
“When people get to know each other, there’s a little more accountability that happens,” Munoz said. “Our crime has gone down through all of our neighborhoods and this is because these neighborhoods have been hard targets.
“There’s a paradigm shift that’s going on in the neighborhood in terms of what used to be a soft target – vulnerable and fair game – because people are now going to report gang activity, drug activity.”
There have been subtle changes that would not have happened without the association, she said, from families getting involved in the community to people contacting police when they witness suspicious activity.
The presence of a strong neighborhood leader like Barron will go a long way, Munoz said. He is a mailman in the area and started the association after seeing a need for a stronger sense of community. Fuentez said Barron often stops by her porch to drop off fliers to announce association events or meetings.
“There’s no way the GPD would be able to do the work that the leaders are doing,” Munoz said.
“There’s a lot of great volunteers that come out and help me, there’s a lot of interest, that was kind of just – someone needed to get the ball rolling,” Barron said. Some of that support was used to adopt a needy family last Christmas.
The Eigleberry association also is a partner in the newly established Glen View Association, which received a $2.3 million grant to provide outreach services to family with pre-kindergarten age children. The neighborhood around Glen View Elementary School, like that of Eigleberry a quarter-of-a-mile away, is a high-need, densely populated and low-income neighborhood.
“These are the partnerships that we’re looking for,” Munoz said. “These are the people that help us to link up and improve quality of life in our community.”
