Nov. 17, 2009

HUD program will fund more work on Chinatown project

The Service Learning Institute at California State University, Monterey Bay has received another three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to continue work on the Chinatown Renewal Project.

The grant, one of 10 awarded to colleges and universities nationwide, is intended to help revitalize low-income neighborhoods near their campuses and address local problems. CSU Monterey Bay was awarded $600,000.

The grants are given under HUD's Hispanic-Serving Institutions Assisting Communities program; schools use the funding for a wide range of housing and community development projects. CSUMB will use it to renovate the Republic Café, located on Soledad Street in Chinatown, into the Asian Cultural Center and Museum.

The center will provide the Japanese, Chinese and Filipino communities of Monterey County and long-term residents and property owners of Chinatown a place to preserve their culture and tradition, including opportunities to document family oral history and collect and display cultural artifacts and historical documents. It will tell the story of the impact of immigrants on the development of the Salinas Valley agricultural industry and provide employment opportunities in construction and museum operation.

"This has been an incredibly rich process for the university and our community partners," said Dr. Seth Pollack, director of CSU Monterey Bay's Service Learning Institute. "In opening the Soledad Street community unity garden, we planted the seeds that showed to the neighborhood that change is possible.

"The community planning process that followed brought new voices to the table. Now, our first fruit: funds to construct the Asian Cultural Center and Museum."

Among the students who will be involved in the project are those enrolled in the university's museum studies program.

"Students now have the opportunity to see a museum collection unfold from scratch. They will interview Asian residents and help them to uncover artifacts stashed in closets, attics, garages, under beds, in photo albums and china closets. They will assist in curating these objects into a compelling story of Salinas' diverse past," said Dr. Lila Staples, who teaches in the museum studies program.

Soledad Street was once a thriving Chinese, Japanese and Filipino community. The 12 square blocks that form the area are, literally and figuratively, cut off from much of the rest of the city. The area is blocked from a main thoroughfare by railroad tracks, and blocked from full participation with the rest of Salinas because of its reputation as a haven for drugs and other illicit activity that resulted from decades of neglect.

Since 1997, CSUMB's Service Learning Institute has worked with property owners, service providers, residents and other stakeholders to improve the area. Hundreds of students from a variety of academic disciplines have worked on the revitalization project.