Pacoima Beautiful

A New Tool for Pedestrian Improvements in Pacoima

Pacoima Beautiful — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:59:14 +0000

On Saturday May 4^th, after receiving training from our UCLA partners at CORICA in UCLA’s School of Public Health, nearly 80
people fanned out into Pacoima’s neighborhoods to gather critical data. The volunteers documented 27 segments during the activity, on many of the primary corridors in the area. The information will be compiled to suggest key areas of opportunity and constraint in relation to how the physical environment supports pedestrians. The day was a lot of fun with youth, neighbors and other volunteers helping out. Thank you to everyone!!

Congrats Grads!

Pacoima Beautiful — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 23:03:20 +0000

During the past few months, Pacoima Beautiful has led its third successful group tutoring session. Pacoima Beautiful staff have witnessed our program participants develop academically and personally. We have had the honor of building a team of dedicated tutors that have not only assisted our students with their homework but also provided college prep information.

Our efforts to build a consistent line of communication with our students and provide a comfortable learning environment, has proven to be effective. Our students are being tutored, mentored, and enlightened. We have witnessed insecurities turn into curiosities. Questions were asked, and our tutors were there to answer. We want to take the time to recognize and congratulate our 25 students for their progress and hard work. A certificate does not suffice to show how proud we are of our students, but it does serve as a token of our appreciation.

Pacoima Beautiful is excited to prepare for yet another session of tutoring at El Nido Family Source Center. We are excited to welcome new and returning K -12 students to our upcoming tutoring sessions. We will initiate our sessions on Tuesday, April 23, 2013 and will continue every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00pm to 6:00pm until June 6, 2013.

If you would like to receive tutoring or if you are interested in becoming a tutor for the program, please contact Sandra Ramirez at sramirez@pacoimabeautiful.org or (818) 899-2454 ext 114.

Pacoima Beautiful and UCLA Team Up with Community for Pedestrian Assessment

Pacoima Beautiful — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:21:45 +0000

Vote for Us!

Pacoima Beautiful — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:59:52 +0000

Van Nuys Blvd. Green Project (click here for video)

Vote for Pacoima Beautiful’s Van Nuys Blvd. Green Project and Help Us Win $100,000.00!

Please visit the Pacoima Beautiful project page at http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/pacoimabeautiful
and click “Vote for this Idea” to vote for our project, The Van Nuys Blvd. Green Project.

The Van Nuys Blvd. Green Project would provide up to $1,000.00 in green improvements to 40 businesses on Van Nuys Blvd. Additional funds would be spent to improve the streetscapes on Van Nuys Blvd. for more information please visit http://myla2050.maker.good.is/projects/pacoimabeautiful

Earth Day Celebration on April 13, 2013

Pacoima Beautiful — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:49:34 +0000

Fruit Tree Festival 2013

Pacoima Beautiful — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 20:57:50 +0000

We love YUTEP!

On Saturday, March 9, 2013, Pacoima Beautiful partnered with
our friends at TreePeople to give away hundreds of young fruit trees.

The event was held at Roger Jessup Park in Pacoima on a gorgeous “almost-spring” morning.

This year TreePeople provided a variety of trees such as apple, apricot,
nectarine, peach, and plum trees. Pacoima Beautiful pre-registered over 100 families to receive a tree.

Pam Gibson, Regional Manager at TreePeople said, “I know
these fruit trees are going to make such a difference in people’s life and
within a few years they are going to have wonderful food to eat and share with their families.”

The event also featured music, food demonstrations, pruning, grafting and planting workshops, art, craft and jewelry vendors. Check out more pictures on our Gallery page.

We look forward to doing this again next year.

Join Us for the People’s Planning School

Pacoima Beautiful — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 00:57:05 +0000

Join us this Spring 2013 for The People’s Planning School! The People’s Planning school is a FREE program. The goal of the program is to provide our community with an education in city planning, civic engagement, active living, leadership development, and advocacy so that our communities can thrive.

The topics that we cover are the following:

City Politics & Us: The Big Picture

What is City Planning and Land Use, why does it matter to us in Pacoima, and how can we use these tools to make change? Join our Clean Up Green Up campaign to reduce pollution and our Streets for People project! Participate in a speaker training and events to improve Pacoima, and the surrounding communities.

Streets for People and Design in Our Community: The Local Picture

How can we shape the future design of Pacoima? Also, learn how we can make Pacoima safer, healthier, more comfortable and pleasant through Complete Streets! Participate in community design workshops and community walks to make a new vision for Pacoima’s streets.

Our Community, Our Family, Our Streets

We’ll have trainings on cyclist and pedestrian rights and safety, and an intro to bike mechanics! Learn about healthy eating and food access issues, waste diversion and the local eco-system. Find out who to call when you have an issue!

The People’s Planning School will meet every Tuesday in April, May, and June at Pacoima Beautiful. 11243 Glenoaks Blvd. Room 8 Pacoima, 91331 from 6:00pm-7:30pm. All classes are bilingual. Childcare is available. Parking is available, bikes are welcome.

For more information please contact Yvette Lopez (818) 899-2454 ext. 103 or ylopez@pacoimabeautiful.org

Twitter: @PB_ _Community (no spaces) www.facebook.com/Pacoima.Beautiful

Army of Youth Volunteers Descend on Park Next to the Pacoima Wash

Pacoima Beautiful — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 23:30:34 +0000

Volunteers anxious to get started

On Saturday over 100 youth spent the day planting native trees and shrubs in the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority’s new park in San Fernando. The 4.75 acre park features an all native plant palette that provide habitat for wildlife as well as a new relaxing place for area residents to escape the urban environment. The park also features two attractive “placitas” and an arroyo that cleans, captures, and infiltrates stormwater that used to flow to the ocean spreading pollution such as trash and fertilizer run-off.

Pacoima Beautiful organized this event with the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority with additional volunteers participating from area universities through Circle K (Kiwanis). Volunteers had a fun day while successfully removing
graffiti, weeding, and planting and watering over 500 shrubs and trees.

Pacoima Beautiful has been an ardent supporter of the community vision to create neighborhood parks and a multi-use greenway path along the flood control channel stretching from the Angeles National Forest in the north to the Tujunga Wash in the south. The vision calls for a greenway and watershed plan that connects residents to parks, pools and recreation centers, improves the
health of area residents through physical activity, reduces stormwater pollution, provides habitat for wildlife, and expands access to transportation options such as walking, biking, and public transit.

The day was a great success. Thank you to everyone who participated in this fun event!

Pacoima Beautiful staff and youth planting native shrubs

Youth hard at work on a beautiful day!

Placita stormwater feature

LEAD HAZARD REMEDIATION WORK CONTINUES

Pacoima Beautiful — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 19:14:58 +0000

The Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD), administers the City’s Lead Hazard Remediation Program (LHRP), funded
by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The overall program objective is to prevent lead poisoning by raising public awareness and enrolling properties into the LHRP to make them lead safe.

Pacoima Beautiful’s Health Promotoras, Amelia Tena and Maria Castro have been working in partnership with LAHD’s Lead Hazard Remediation Program. Under the provisions of this partnership, Pacoima Beautiful provides outreach education, lead-safe work practices education and unit enrollment assistant to tenants and owners with children under the age of six for residential properties built prior to 1978.

Home in Pacoima - Before

Last year, Pacoima Beautiful enrolled 27 families in the program and conducted educational presentations to 32 families at parent centers, community meetings, and day care centers. Using the Systematic Code Enforcement Program inspection list, our awesome Promotoras reached 1,500 families through door to door outreach.

Home in Pacoima - After, now lead free

Pacoima Beautiful has been awarded the contract again from January 2013 to December 2013 to continue this partnership
in creating a lead safe community.

Forward On Climate LA

Pacoima Beautiful — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 22:57:32 +0000

Crippling drought. Devastating wildfires. Super-storm Sandy. Climate Change come home– and the people of the United States and beyond get it. On Sunday, February 17th, the largest climate rally ever is planned for Washington DC with a companion event happening in Los Angeles. Hope to see you there!