When resources, community residents, and community partners come together, a whole community becomes stronger. This is a main function of the Buena Park Collaborative -a group of government, not-for-profit and faith based organizations and resident leaders who come together once a month to determine how to better serve the residents of the city.
Through these meetings, Collaborative members realized that the community’s needs and their services intersect.
When resources, community residents, and community partners come together, a whole community becomes stronger. This is a main function of the Buena Park Collaborative -a group of government, not-for-profit and faith based organizations and resident leaders who come together once a month to determine how to better serve the residents of the city.
Through these meetings, Collaborative members realized that the community’s needs and their services intersect.
Residents in the Bellis Park neighborhood have often expressed concerns regarding the accessibility to programs available to families–especially during the summer. Bellis Park soon became a key focus of the Buena Park Collaborative to bring services and programs to these families.
Summer break is a crucial time during the year to keep a child actively engaged with reading and physical activity. With this in mind, residents and members of the Buena Park Collaborative were ready to take action and partnered up to encourage reading, to help youth improve their reading skills and to provide physical activity opportunities and nutrition education to the Bellis Park neighborhood.
The Buena Park Library has joined with Mrs. Milch, a kindergarten teacher at Gilbert Elementary School, to read stories to children and their families at Bellis Park on Wednesdays from 12:30 – 2:30 p.m. from June 4 – July 30. Mrs. Milch has been doing so for 15 years each summer.
She encourages parents to read to their children, and reminds children to read every day. Each week, Giving Children Hope provides fresh fruits such as strawberries, watermelon and oranges to ensure the families are enjoying nutritious snacks as they listen and read.
Starting Wednesday, July 16, the Nutrition Education Obesity Prevention (NEOP) Peer to Peer Education Program will offer a series of three nutrition classes for parents starting at 1:30 p.m. while Mrs. Milch reads to the children.
In addition to the story time offered by Mrs. Milch, Buena Park Library Outreach Coordinator, Stella Galvan, brings the library to the park with herPop-up Library. Children may check-out books from the pop-up library and earn prizes for reading when they sign-up for the summer reading program.
Another Buena Park Collaborative member, the Successful Families of Buena Park,a group sponsored by Community Action Partnership of Orange County, is a resident led group that focuses on improving community health in the city. This group sponsors weekly Family Fun Play Days at Bellis Park every Friday from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Parents and children actively engage in fun physical activity in a safe and friendly environment. Collaborative partner Marco Lazaro from the CYSC-BSA, a local soccer club in the city, has volunteered some Fridays to teach the youth basic soccer skills and engage them in fun and friendly soccer matches.
The Buena Park Collaborative has a vibrant membership that is making connections and helping build a stronger community but we can’t do it alone!We invite community leaders, agencies serving Buena Park and anyone interested in learning more to join us at our monthly meetings. Meetings occur the last Thursday of the month at the Buena Park Library, 7150 La Palma Ave, Buena Park, CA 90620, from 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Please contact Sarah Conlin at sconlin@bpsd.k12.ca.usor Amanda Knitter at amanda.knitter@lung.org.
