Goleta Old Town Community Association team took third place in the Best Neighborhood Program — social revitalization category during Neighborhoods USA‘s annual Neighborhood of the Year competition May 24 in Birmingham, AL.,
Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) is a national organization dedicated to building and strengthening neighborhood organizations.
Nine neighborhoods from across the United States competed in various categories. Goleta Old Town Community Association entered in the category of Social Revitalization/Neighborliness for their programs in the Old Town area.
“The competition was tough,” said Phebe Mansur, Goleta Old Town Community Association Board president. “There were a lot of good programs submitted this year. That deck was feeling pretty stacked going into this.”
During the event, each neighborhood goes before the NUSA panel of judges and presents their programs. They have 12 minutes to make their case.
Old Town’s entry detailed its journey from formation to creating special neighborhood events like the Candy Crawl on Halloween, Movie Nights for kids, Concerts at the Gazebo, and the inaugural 2016 Goleta Christmas Parade.
The support of other organizations like the Goleta Valley Community Center, Elks Lodge, Goleta Rotary, and city of Goleta have helped power the achievements of the Goleta Old Town Community Association.
Things were going well for Old Town when the Thomas Fire hit, putting so much poisonous ash and smoke in the air that it forced the cancellation of the 2nd annual Goleta Old Town Parade in 2017.
Determined to save Christmas for the kids, the team raced into action to bring Santa Claus to the Goleta Valley Community Center, and created a fun night for families including holiday games, and cookie decorating.
“You just can’t let Christmas go up in smoke,” said Mansur. “We had to find a way bring holiday cheer to the community.”
The judges agreed this was an outstanding example of a neighborhood pulling together, awarding the team third place in the final judging out of 17 entrants.
“It’s wonderful to have your good work recognized nationally,” said Mansur. “We did all these things because we love this community. But it’s certainly affirming when other neighborhood organizations from across the country also think you’ve done something worthy.”
Created in 1975 to share information and experiences used to build stronger communities, NUSA advocates networking and information-sharing to facilitate development of partnerships among neighborhood organizations, government and the private sector.
— Sharon Byrne for Goleta Old Town Community Association.