Cal Heights Neighborhood Association wins top prize at national competition

The ‘Neighborhood of the Year’ winners also place first in Physical Revitalization/Beautification category

Stephanie Raygoza
Staff Writer

The California Heights Neighborhood Association (CHNA), located within Long Beach’s historic California Heights District, has been named the 2012 “Neighborhood of the Year” after winning the Neighborhood USA (NUSA) grand prize at the 37th annual conference on May 25. The association also took first place in the Physical Revitalization/Beautification—Single Neighborhood category for its California Heights Home and Garden Tour.
According to the association’s press release, the organization recognized CHNA’s tours as demonstrating both the intrinsic and financial values of maintaining the neighborhood’s historic character and unique sense of place. The “Neighborhood of the Year” award is the only national award given on an ongoing basis to neighborhood organizations for their self-help initiatives.
CHNA President John Royce, board treasurer Tim Price and Cal Heights Clean Streets Coordinator Stacey Morrison submitted and presented the home-and-garden tour as its community-improvement project the same way they represent the association to the community— as a way for people to understand the historic context of the district and to foster a sense of place around the district.
“While we are proud of our awards and honor CHNA’s recognition, Stacey, Tim and I have been inspired by the dedicated people we encountered last week at NUSA, who are solving problems in their respective neighborhoods, beautifying, restoring, collaborating with community partners, making friends and building community all across this nation of ours,” Royce said.

CHNA received $400 for their first-prize win and $1,000 for receiving the grand-prize award, which came as a surprise to the association as they weren’t even aware that there was a cash reward. “This was all for camaraderie and notoriety and just having a nice little feather in our cap,” Royce said. “And hopefully moving us forward as far as more recognition for what we’re doing. That’s really what it’s all about.”
Hundreds of neighborhoods, businesses and homeowners associations from across the country submitted their 2011 projects for the national competition, which breaks down into three categories. In addition to the category won by the association, finalists competed in the Social Revitalization/Neighborliness—Single Neighborhood category and Multi-Neighborhood Partnerships category.
“When we put the presentation together we wanted to clearly present how the home-and-garden tour is a huge volunteer effort,” Royce said. “It’s a nice dynamic to be able to explain. It’s also a great way for us to establish the fact that this is a historic district and the more people and residents that we have who understand that, that means a brighter future for this community.”
The trip to the conference was made possible through CHNA and community donations, two complimentary airline tickets from JetBlue Airways, $500 from Orozco’s Auto Repair and funds personally paid by the attending board members. “We are very touched by the generosity of our community,” Royce said. “We thank all our board members, volunteers and supporters, past and present, for making this award possible.”
With a national award under their belt, CHNA will continue to work on upcoming projects, including their next lamppost restoration and, later in the year, the 2013 California Heights Home and Garden Tour. Their award-winning video presentation titled “It Takes a Village to Make the Village Strong” can be viewed at calheights.org.
Roxanne’s Lounge, located at 1115 E. Wardlow Rd., will host CHNA at their “Pink Wednesdays” for the month of June and for a Sunday barbecue on June 24 to help close the fundraising gap for the NUSA trip expenses. A portion of food-sales proceeds will be donated to CHNA.