“Walking through Mayfair, its community garden and clean and brightened streets provide tangible testament to changes that have already taken place. More profoundly, the lives of individuals have been changed.”
– Renee Berger, President of TEAMWORKS
History
Beginning in 1997, the residents of Mayfair and regional leaders worked together to address chronic issues of poverty and hopelessness in the Mayfair neighborhood.
We began with making changes in areas that we could see: hiring crossing guards and adding new traffic lights; improving sidewalks; replacing graffiti with community murals; recovering Silver Creek, and replanting the oldest community garden in San José.
Then, we moved to the deeper work of changing lives. During our first ten years we succeeded in increasing worker’s skills by enrolling 500 adults in literacy, ESL and high school/GED classes, enrolling over 1,000 children in health insurance, and launching a neighborhood-wide, school readiness initiative targeting children ages 0-5.
Knowing that no one organization could do everything needed to change a community, we took it upon ourselves to build relationships with others. We built coalitions and continue to work closely with many allies including non-profit social and human service agencies, housing developers, mental health practitioners, cultural workers, community colleges, adult educators, community organizers, and hospitals and community health providers to bring critical programs, services and new resources to our community.
Throughout our history, we have been committed to sharing our experience with other “Mayfairs’ across California and beyond. Stories and examples of our impact are documented in Sí Se Puede: Lessons for Community Transformation and in Results, Resilience and Renewal: Mayfair Index of Progress Report.
