Armed will paint brushes and rollers, South Coast residents will participate in an Old-Fashioned Fence Painting Party at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 2 to kick off a weeklong celebration of neighborhood revitalization activities nationally recognized as NeighborWorks Week.

“Community improvement activities are a vital piece of neighborhood revitalization,” said Jeanette Duncan, executive director of Peoples’ Self-Help Housing. “The appearance of a neighborhood helps to attract new homeowners and allows existing residents to see that progress is taking place in their neighborhood. Our volunteers realize this importance and will paint thousands of feet of wood fencing at Chapel Court Apartments in Carpinteria.”

Chapel Court is an affordable housing complex for farmworkers and was sponsored by St. Joseph Catholic Church. Peoples’ Self-Help Housing will celebrate NeighborWorks Week from June 2-9 by hosting the fence painting party at PSHH-managed Chapel Court Apartments, 681 Ash Ave. (behind Aliso School) in Carpinteria. Lunch will be provided to volunteers.

During NeighborWorks Week, Peoples’ Self-Help Housing and other NeighborWorks organizations across the country will mobilize tens of thousands of business people, residents and government officials in a week of neighborhood change and awareness. They will rehab and repair homes, paint and landscape properties, conduct neighborhood tours, recognize successful partnerships and host a number of events that educate, train and inform.

In 2011, more than 4,700 families benefited from the week’s activities nationwide.

Peoples’ Self-Help Housing is part of the national NeighborWorks network, an affiliation of more than 230 nonprofit organizations that increase homeownership, produce affordable housing and revitalize neighborhoods in more than 4,400 communities across the nation. In 2010, the NeighborWorks network generated more than $4.2 billion in total direct investment and helped more than 272,474 low- to moderate-income families purchase, improve and maintain their homes. The NeighborWorks network was founded and is supported by NeighborWorks America, which strengthens the network through training, technical assistance and funding.

For more information or to sign up to volunteer in Carpinteria, contact resource development director Rochelle Rose at 805.699.7227 or rocheller@pshhc.org.

— Rochelle Rose is the fund development director for Peoples’ Self-Help Housing.