THRIVE Westside is partnering with Just Communities to offer a series of neighborhood dialogues to engage Santa Barbara’s Westside community in an effort to identify the assets and strengths of the community, as well as to identify concrete community improvement strategies and initiatives in order to better inform the overall goals of THRIVE Westside and help strengthen the Westside neighborhoods and schools.

The community dialogues began this week and run through mid-December. Additional sessions will be held in January, and the effort will culminate on Jan. 21 with a one-day Community Action Summit where the community will come together to share their ideas and determine which strategies to pursue.

“The promise of our collective future in Santa Barbara is linked to strong neighborhoods whose residents are healthy, educated, empowered and inspired to take on the challenges of our times,” said Lois Mitchell, president of the Orfalea Foundations.

THRIVE Westside is a partnership between Harding University Partnership School, McKinley Elementary School, La Cumbre Junior High and San Marcos High School to ensure a coordinated effort of resources for children and families living in Santa Barbara’s Westside neighborhood. The goal of the project is to ensure that all children are healthy and safe, prepared for kindergarten through high school graduation, and on to college and prepared to enter the work force.

“After working for 24 years on the Westside, I’m excited for the community and the students to come together for the betterment of all groups, preparing students for college and careers in our community speaks to the rightful role of the Westside in the future of Santa Barbara,” La Cumbre Principal Jo Ann Caines said.

THRIVE Westside’s neighborhood initiative is an opportunity for neighbors to come together to build a community vision for the Westside. As part of the initiative, neighborhood action teams will be formed and will have an opportunity to implement their plans and determine how at least $10,000 in private funds will be used.

“By working together, there is tremendous opportunity for innovative and creative ideas to be put into action to make the Westside an even better place to live,” said Sally Kingston, principal of Harding University Partnership School. “As principal, I have had the opportunity to meet and work with hundreds of neighbors and hear about their great ideas for the neighborhood. Connecting families and harnessing the energy and ideas through the neighborhood dialogue process would provide a more unified voice and a structure for action for neighbors. I believe anything is possible, and everyday I see hundreds of amazing possibilities for the neighborhood.”

Jarrod Schwartz, executive director of Just Communities, added, “Traditional opportunities for public engagement — a three-minute public comment at a City Council or at a school board meeting — don’t empower or inspire people to be part of the solution. This effort will help people get to know their neighbors, trust their neighbors, identify the assets they possess, explore the challenges they face, and then work together to overcome those challenges as a community. THRIVE Westside will produce concrete improvements in the neighborhoods, but it will also produce an increased sense of community.”

To learn more about the community dialogue project and how you can participate, contact Just Communities at info@just-communities.org or 805.966.2063.

You are also welcome participate in one of the four upcoming dialogue groups:

» Five Fridays starting Nov. 11 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Harding University Partnership School

» Five Mondays starting Nov. 14 from 9 to 11 a.m. at Harding University Partnership School

» Five Tuesdays starting Nov. 15 from 5 to 7 p.m. at La Cumbre Junior High in Room 104

» One Saturday, Dec. 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at La Cumbre Junior High

Click here to register or call 805.966.2063.

— Patricia Madrigal is the director of THRIVE Westside.