awards

Chris Schmidt has been a leader in bringing quality of life issues to the forefront with City and County departments. He advocates tirelessly for a response for service and main-tenance and he helped coordinate a successful event with the Orange County Fire Authority, American Red Cross, and the City of Santa Ana to install free smoke alarms and provide residents with fire safety information. We are fortunate to have a champion like Chris Schmidt.

NEIGHBORHOOD HERO

Communication Linkage Forum Presents Santa Ana’s 2017

COM-LINK FORUM BOARD 2016-2017

The “Neighborhood Hero Award” was established by the Santa Ana Communication Linkage Forum Board to honor those individuals who have shown commitment and enthusiasm in bettering the quality of life in their neighborhoods. We have

chosen 16 recipients for this award because each has shown the leadership, commitment, generosity, and the selflessness needed to enhance their neighborhood. We are proud to be honoring these individuals. It is their love for their community that makes them leaders. Please join us in honoring and congratulating these outstanding community leaders.

J U N E 2 2 , 2 0 1 7

Chris Schmidt of Windsor Village Neighborhood Association

Martha Calderon has lived in the neighborhood her entire life and has been an active member of our Santa Anita Neighborhood Board for years. Most recently, Martha formed an afterschool soccer club for local boys and girls ages 6-10. This program currently serves twenty youth and is growing. Through her efforts, Santa Anita is now exploring establishing a Pony Baseball League. We look forward to Martha’s legacy for youth and families in Santa Anita.

Martha Calderon of Santa Anita Neighborhood Association

Nicki Luna-Hernandez of Jack Fisher Park Neighborhood Association

Nicki is the kind of neighbor everyone admires. She organized the first multi-neighborhood park committee for Jack Fisher Park amid concerns that the park was becoming unsafe and uninviting for neighbors to visit. Nicki’s communication with the committee, SAPD, and Parks and Recreation staff created the dialog to turn the park around. Park hours were restricted, new lighting was installed, and police patrols were encouraged. Her commitment to improving the park has inspired greater awareness; she is truly our neighborhood hero and we thank her for all she does.

Carlos Capacete, Maria Navarro, and Guadalupe Tellez of Delhi Neighborhood Association

Carlos, Maria, and Guadalupe have been involved in the Delhi neighborhood for the past three years and have emerged as leaders in their community. Together, they have been a force in raising awareness and improving respon-siveness from the City and other agencies on issues regarding public safety, homelessness, graffiti, park safety, illegal dumping and suspicious activity. They have made great progress in connecting neighbors with resources and are true examples of community builders working with community partners, including the Delhi Center, faith-based groups and schools .

Winston Covington of Meredith Parkwood Neighborhood Association

Winston is always on the lookout to help preserve our neighborhood aesthetics and continues to assist neighbors by directing them to proper Santa Ana departments. He has identified homes needing “TLC” and making the necessary contacts to improve the homes. Winston always keeps the neighborhood informed via emails, meetings, and flyers. His commitment to the neighborhood, over the past few decades, makes him a valuable asset to Meredith Parkwood.

Jean Poppa of Washington Square Neighborhood Association

Having been a dedicated leader on the Com-Link Board for eight years, Jean has engaged the neighborhood and proposed key topics at Com-Link meetings. Jean has also served as Board member of Washington Square for many years. She enthusiastically volunteers at many neighborhood events, including the annual Holiday Party with Santa, movie nights, Wine Walk, and Oktoberfest. For this and much more, we are very proud to call Jean Poppa Washington Square’s Neighborhood Hero.

Raul Ramos Jr. of Santa Ana Memorial Park Neighborhood Association

Mr. Nobody of Eastside Neighborhood Association

Susan Rich of South Coast Neighborhood Association

Susan is very active and canvases the neighborhood to report any code violations to the City. She has forged relationships with traffic, code enforcement, animal control, public works, and SAPD. She has also taken the responsibility to apply for parking permits which would allow residents to park close to their homes. We are grateful to Susan for keeping our neighborhood beautiful, well informed, and engaged.

2 0 1 7 N E IG H BO R H O O D H ER O AWAR D S

Angelo saw a parking problem on his street and decided to do something about it. Working with the Floral Park NA board and the City, the permit parking process proceeded. Angelo was instrumental in monitoring and tracking the petitions that required signatures by homeowners, working through the challenge of many rental homes. His actions have energized a street that once felt left out. Special thanks to our hero Angelo for his dedication.

Patty has been assisting Casa De Santiago for ten years. She’s kept our records and continues to follow up on memberships. Patty has demonstrated that she is a very dependable person and can be counted for any tasks assigned. She is also part of our Welcome Committee and our newsletter, making sure all information is accurate. For these reasons and more, Patty is our hero.

Patty Olvera of Casa de Santiago Neighborhood Association

A brave neighbor, Luis volunteers daily to maintain our public space by sweeping and picking up trash along Sullivan Street. He believes all neighbors should do their part to help maintain a clean and healthy community. We need more residents like Luis to lead by example and encourage others to take pride and be responsible neighbors in the community.

Luis Enrique Aceves Martinez of Bella Vista Neighborhood Association

Angelo Morgan of Floral Park Neighborhood Association

Gavin has been taking care of the neighborhood entrance landscaping for five years. He spends hours cleaning, planting, and weeding. The first impression to Casa De Santiago is one of professional landscaping. In one instance, after a homeowner refused to pay to trim his tree, Gavin offered to pay the expenses. A true hero for us, Gavin is always willing to help and a pleasure to work with.

Gavin Williams of Casa De Santiago Neighborhood Association

Natalie Olivera of West Floral Park Neighborhood Association

Natalie Olivera has lived in West Floral Park for 14 years. At just 20 years old, Natalie has already done a lot to help the people in the neighborhood and the City of Santa Ana. Three times in the last year, Natalie organized a clean up of the creek that runs behind our neighborhood. Natalie's service club has also facilitated notable community accomplishments which include: food aid to the homeless, a riverbed and beach cleanup, graffiti cleanup, cloth-ing and toy drives. We are fortunate to have Natalie as our neighborhood hero.

Our anonymous neighbor, Mr. Nobody has been instrumental in working with a team to re-activate the Eastside neighborhood association in 2016. His commitment to keeping residents informed has created much community engagement. He visits neighbors to invite them to the meetings. He walks the neighborhood looking for Public Works issues, reports them, and follows up with departments to ensure completion. Mr. Nobody’s involvement is already improving the quality of life for Eastside.

For over six years, Raul has been a dedicated leader and tireless advocate for the neighborhood association. He’s helped bring lighting improve-ments to Memorial Park, which in turn has improved security not to mention the physical fitness of residents and youth in the area. Mr. Ramos travels the neighborhood regularly to report code enforcement violations ensuring a safe and beautiful neighborhood. We expect more improvements to come and are proud to call Raul Ramos Jr. Santa Ana Memorial Park’s Neighborhood Hero.

Communication Linkage Forum (Com-Link) was created in 1989 to provide opportunities for neighborhood leaders to come together and discuss issues that were relevant to Santa Ana neighborhoods. Since then, the neighborhood associ-ation movement has flourished and Com-Link has grown from an original group of five to sixty-four neighborhood asso-ciations. For more information, refer to http://www.ci.santa-ana.ca.us/pba/neighborhood-initiatives/Com-Link.asp