UC Irvine plans center to help Westside

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- UC Irvine plans to open a community outreach center on

the city’s Westside this summer, university representatives announced

Thursday.

The center’s opening date and exact location have not yet been

decided, but university and community partners say they are confident the

center will cement the commitment that already exists between the

university and the Westside.

“There are all kinds of individual partnerships between Costa Mesa and

the university, but this is our chance to bring those partnerships

together, consolidate them and solidify that relationship,” said Kris

Day, an associate professor of the university’s Department of Urban and

Regional Planning, the group spearheading the effort to create the

center. “Our faculty will be able to assist where they will be useful

with applied research and learning, and it will make the campus more

accessible to the community.”

The center, named the Community Outreach Partnership Center, is part

of a national trend where universities are becoming more engaged in their

communities, Day said.

Day began her involvement with the Westside approximately two years

ago, when she began teaching a class to help the city create a Westside

Specific Plan. Since 1998, the city has focused on the aging, rundown

Westside for intense revitalization.

After two years of meetings and studies, the council voted in November

to use the Westside Specific Plan as a resource for developing a new one

-- which could be put on hold until the council can first agree on a

vision for the entire city.

A number of UCI faculty members are involved with Westside projects,

including educational programs and recreational services. Faculty

members, along with churches, community leaders and residents met

Thursday to discuss the center’s goals and structure.

“We must be the change we expect in society,” said Jesse Miranda,

director of the Center for Urban Studies and Ethnic Diversity at Vanguard

University, at a meeting about the center Thursday. “A goal we hope to

accomplish is that friends share . . . We want to share and, also, we

want to learn.”

Day said that, although the center has not yet decided on any

projects, sample projects might include “peace building” to improve race

relations, creating after school and summer educational programs and

identifying new opportunities for small business developments on the

Westside.

The Westside could become a model for new planning techniques and for

a successful diverse community, she said.

Bill Turpit, a member of the Latino Business Council, said he is

excited about the center.

“I think it’s fantastic,” he said. “We have a lot to learn and we have

a lot of resources to take advantage of from UCI. Two things jump out

especially -- the opportunity for youth to see UCI as a possibility for

continuing their education and the possibility of using UCI’s expertise

for economic development on the Westside.”

Maria Elena Avila, owner of El Ranchito Mexican Restaurant, said the

center is “an answer to our prayers.”

“This is going to bring resources and research to help us mobilize

projects we’ve been wanting to do,” she said. “We have some problems in

our community and this will strengthen us and help us work together . . .

The Westside is going to be used as a model for California and the United

States because the things that are happening on the Westside are not

unique. They are challenges that face the nation and we need to open our

eyes to [see] how we are going to deal with these challenges.”