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History

In the early 1990’s, Oceanside’s Eastside neighborhood which had in the past had a strong identity with positive social and family relationships, had deteriorated to become a place where people were afraid to come out of their houses after dark. The community park had become the turf of gang members and drug dealers.; Residents were afraid to get involved, fearing retaliation from gang members, and some believed getting involved wasn’t going to help improve the neighborhood. The two community center buildings in the park were in poor condition and offered few recreational programs.

In 1994 a coalition combined four disparate Eastside grassroots organizations into a cohesive force that consolidated the interests and concerns of the residents into strong and effective advocates for improving the neighborhood. Under the leadership of community residents Concha Hernandez-Greene and Connie Johnson, they pulled their community together, calling themselves the Eastside United Community Action (UCAN) and began holding monthly meetings. They were key members in Partners for Healthy Neighborhoods, a collaborative involving residents, city staff, Oceanside Police Department, and area non-profit health, social service, and educational organizations. In 1996, a building in the park that had been built by neighborhood residents in 1957, and had been used in better times for Saturday night teen dances and various community activities was reclaimed as a neighborhood resource center and named after the Chavez family (Joe and Lucy) who had given so much of themselves to the Eastside community.

The Chavez Community Resource Center provided a site for collaborative partners to provide community-based social service, health, educational and case management programs. Monthly community meetings also increased resident involvement and empowered them to work with OPD and the City to take back their neighborhood. Eastside UCAN started an annual Fall Fair in Joe Balderrama Park, providing residents with educational and social service information while provide fun activities for the families attending. The combined efforts of Eastside residents organized under Eastside UCAN, with Partners for Healthy Neighborhoods, Oceanside Police Department, and the Neighborhood Services Department, and more recently the Eastside Neighborhood Association, have improved the quality of life in Eastside. Though there has been a lot of progress since the mid-1990’s, challenges remain, and ongoing efforts are needed to sustain the progress made and provide opportunities for neighborhood youth and families to continue to work toward a brighter future.