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Mayfair Community OEP

77
Youth Served
0
Community Activity Days
0
Nature Area Trips

Amount $46,500
Grantee County of Santa Clara
Award Year 2022
Funding Source General Fund, Outdoor Equity Program
Project Type Program Operation
Project Status In Progress

Description

Conduct the Mayfair Community Outdoor Equity Grants Program (OEP) for residents at and near the Mayfair Community Center in San Jose, CA. This program will include approximately 10 activity days in the community for approximately 510 participants and approximately 11 trips to natural areas for approximately 480 participants during one year of programming.

Activities in the community will include Natural Resources Presentation and Bioblitz Preparations; Recreation Facilities Near You: Archery and Boating; Healthy Living Presentation; Trail Safety and Cycling Presentation; and Camping Demonstration and Local Park Presentation.

Trips to natural areas outside of the community will include Bioblitz at Hellyer County Park, Vasona Lake County Park, Coyote Creek Trail and Los Gatos Creek Trail; Cycling at Alviso County Park; Boating at Vasona Lake County Park; Archery at Santa Teresa County Park; and Education Excursions at Coyote Valley Harvey Bear Ranch County Park, Sanborn County Park, Penitencia Creek County Park, Happy Hollow Park and Zoo, and Coyote Creek Trail.

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Community Home Base Location
2039 Kammerer Avenue San Jose, CA 95122
County Santa Clara
Assembly District AD 25 Ash Kalra (D)
Senate District SD 15 Dave Cortese (D)
Congressional District CD 18 Zoe Lofgren (D)

Program Goals

Service Learning/Career Pathway/Leadership Opportunities

25 opportunities will be available including internships assisting with Activities in the Community at the Community Home Base and Nature Area Trips. 

Partnerships

Santa Clara County Office of Education – The County Office of Education is positioned to assist with reaching youth and families from local schools while forging partnerships with schools throughout the County. They can also partner with Social Services to provide direct information to low-income/free reduced lunch families. Furthermore, they are part of a statewide committee on youth mental health dedicated to implementing recommendations from the ‘Every Young Heart and Mind’ Mental Health Service Oversight & Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) report.

Santa Clara County Public Health Department – The County Public Health Department will assist with the latest information on local covid mitigation protocols and available resources. The Department partners with a multitude of community organizations and government agencies to provide direct information and services to families County-wide. This includes partnerships on mental health aimed at providing residents access to local parks with interpretative services. They also have information on the latest employment and volunteer opportunities available to residents throughout their network.

Mayfair Community Center with San Jose Parks, Recreation, and Neighborhood Services – Mayfair Community Center’s experienced staff provide specialized services serve a range of teens and work to understand their needs for tailored programming. The center partners with a multitude of community organizations and government agencies to help bolster their offering of services. The County Parks Department will work to provide new holistic County Park services for visiting youth led by the Mayfair Community Center staff.

Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful - Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful is a known regional leader in multiple areas on youth outdoor access, environmental conservation, and the creation of job opportunities in the environmental sector. Their experienced staff serve a range of teens, college students, and environmental internship programs. These services have created several opportunities for new employment and partnerships with community organizations and government agencies.

Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority – Overseeing a vast number of regional open space preserves the expertise provided is essential for providing youth and families information on local preservation efforts for Coyote Valley and how these regional investments link with Santa Clara County Parks managed open spaces and wildlife corridors. These services have the potential to create several opportunities for youth and families regarding employment in open space jobs, as well as partnerships with community organizations and government agencies.

Mentoring

This was optional. Grantee elected not to proceed with this option. 

Annual Report Details

Programs may span from one year to multi-year, not to exceed four years. The specific length of the program is contained in the description above.

Category 2023 2024 Total
Youth Served 0 77 77
Days for Activities in the Community 0 0 0
Nature Area Trips 0 0 0

List of Educational Goals Achieved

2023

Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.

2024
We have met part of activity goal #1G. The first two presentations were an introduction to Santa Clara County Parks, described the parks’ special features, as well as provided an introduction to activities that can be done in the parks. The idea was to create awareness and understanding in order to foster a feeling of belonging and environmental stewardship. The next round of programs will continue working on that goal and will take a deeper dive into parks and outdoor basics: Native Wildlife, Hiking 101, Camping 101, which will also meet activity goal #1H and prepared program participants for activity goal #2G.

List of Formed Partnerships

2023

Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.

2024
Parks connected with the Welch Park community during two community sessions – one board meeting and one community meeting. The Welch Park community approach needs to be tailored quite differently than the Mayfair and Seven Trees communities. Because it is not a community center in the traditional sense, with a captive audience and tailored programs and events, the work that we do will need to be adjusted accordingly to this audience or adults/mixed ages. The majority of the audience in the Welch Park community is also Spanish speaking, so having a Spanish speaking staff person is a must. In issuing an invitation to an already established South Bay Fishing in the City event and not getting any participants, we found that outreach to the community needed to happen in more grassroots ways, such as canvassing the neighborhoods.

Lessons

2023

Program still in the planning stages and updates will be submitted in 2024.

2024
As far as lessons learned, the most difficult part of this process is the recruitment and finding of the audience. TOKNA, now known as Welch Park within the community, is a volunteer-run community home base, as opposed to our other locations, which are city-run community and teen centers. The Welch Park community is wonderful and the volunteers are really grassroots - canvassing neighborhoods to get the word out, and looking forward to what we have to offer, but so far we've found that they schedule a lot of things for their own community as well, and finding time and people can be challenging. We look forward to gaining some momentum in 2025.