The Westside Community Development Corporation (WCDC) activates
investments and partnerships that create vitality and opportunity for
residents and businesses of Ventura’s Westside.
The Westside Community Development Corporation (WCDC) activates investments and partnerships that create vitality and opportunity for residents and businesses of Ventura’s Westside.
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS WHO KEEP US GOING!
Collaborations with the following partners help the WCDC bring vital resources and opportunities to the Westside. Click on their links to learn more about their companies. Become a funding partner today, your involvement goes a long way!
Current Funding Partners:
The Westside Community Development Corporation (WCDC)
activates investments and partnerships that create vitality and opportunity
for residents and businesses of Ventura’s Westside.
The Westside Community Development Corporation (WCDC) activates investments and partnerships that create vitality and opportunity for residents and businesses of Ventura’s Westside.
We envision a community that honors its diverse residents
and businesses with welcoming streets and a vibrant
commercial corridor, while providing adequate
housing and sustainable economic security for all.
We envision a community that honors its diverse residents and businesses with welcoming streets and a vibrant commercial corridor, while providing adequate housing and sustainable economic security for all.
After many years of living with seemingly insurmountable challenges, Westside neighbors joined forces
with consultants and staff from the City of Ventura to plot out hopes and dreams for a brighter future.
The group arrived at a clarity of purpose but an overwhelming list of work to do. WCDC founder, Sharon
Troll, tells the story of how this point led to the formation of the WCDC
After many years of living with seemingly insurmountable challenges, Westside neighbors joined forces with consultants and staff from the City of Ventura to plot out hopes and dreams for a brighter future. The group arrived at a clarity of purpose but an overwhelming list of work to do. WCDC founder, Sharon Troll, tells the story of how this point led to the formation of the WCDC
The State of California launched the California Grants Portal,
a project by the California State Library to create a
one-stop-shop to find all grants and loans offered on a
competitive or first-come basis by California state agencies!!
The State of California launched the California Grants Portal, a project by the California State Library to create a one-stop-shop to find all grants and loans offered on a competitive or first-come basis by California state agencies!!
Kendra Gonzalez was born and raised on The Avenue. She attended local schools and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Business from CSUCI. She has always considered the westside of town a home base since her family-owned restaurant has been operating for almost 30 years in the heart of The Avenue.
Her recent role into motherhood has rekindled her desire in local activism and beautification of The Avenue. She aspires to help improve the area which is often overlooked, and to encourage involvement of residents and businesses. Kendra hopes to see more murals, parks, and local businesses develop in the near future.
Director@WestsideVentura.org
Margarita brings diverse experience to WCDC, having served as a mother, wife, grandmother, middle school teacher, church administrator, bookkeeper, secretary-treasurer of a 501c3, and is currently pastor of a Spanish-speaking church in Port Hueneme. She has been serving on the Westside since 2015, and recently moved here with her husband. She is bilingual and is passionate about building bridges across cultures, socioeconomic barriers, languages, and faiths to create a connected community that values and cares for one another. She loves the eclectic mix of Westside and believes that every individual with his or her unique perspective and contributions is a vital part of the collaboration that will make such a dream become reality.
Contact:
Jobs@WestsideVentura.org
Robert has been a proud Westside resident for nearly 30 years, moving to the area with his family when he was 9 years old. Growing up, he attended local elementary and middle schools and was a regular at Westpark Community Center. As a teenager he got a job at Westpark, working there for the summers. As he grew up and raised his own family on the Westside he decided that he wanted to be more than just someone living on the Westside, but someone who is involved in the Westside. He loves this neighborhood and what it represents–hard working families that keep this city running. He wants to see the Westside improve without changing too much, and serves with the WCDC in order to make that reality possible. Robert is married to another Westside native and has two children. He is also a local musician.
Mike has a long history of community service. He moved to Ventura after being born and raised in Santa Paula. He is married with 2 grown children and 3 grandchildren. Mike worked for the City of Ventura and then Area Housing. After retiring he got involved in volunteering with Community Policing, first with the Montalvo Storefront and then was instrumental in beginning the Westside Police Storefront and Resource Center which is still active today. Mike is a founding member and prior Chair of the Westside Community Council, as well as Chair of the Public Safety Committee. He was involved in the creation of the neighborhood clean-ups that are ongoing today with a legacy of neighbors helping neighbors, removing trash, and caring for our environment by recycling. He enjoys spending time with his family and volunteering to better our Westside Community.
Deanna Enriquez moved to the westside of Ventura in 1991 with her family from Santa Barbara, attending Avenue schools and playing community sports. She now works from her home, where she resides with her beloved husband and two darling children.
Deanna has been involved in the WCDC as a volunteer for several years now. She has been active in community clean ups, community decorating, including the Wall Street Mural project.
Deanna is a creative and intelligent person that we at the WCDC look forward to her perspective. She is looking forward to becoming more deeply involved and connected to her community.
Jennifer Greene is a Washington native that transplanted to Ventura in the beginning of 2000 becoming an Avenue resident. She has two children, Connor and Molly, ages 21 and 18, that have been raised on the Avenue, going to westside schools, and also involved in volunteering in the local community.
Jennifer runs her business, JCM (Jennifer, Connor, Molly) Financial, Inc. as a mortgage broker and contract processor since 2004. JCM Financial, Inc. is a certified green business for the City of Ventura.
Jennifer was involved in the WCDC original Changemaker’s group and facilitated the implementation and completion of the Ocean Friendly Garden on the corner of Mission and Ventura Avenues, as well as being involved in the Ventura Botanical Ocean Friendly Memorial Garden. She also worked with other volunteers in the community to clean up Kellogg Park before the park was constructed and still continues to do so at the present.
Jennifer spends her time while not working, reading, hanging out with her animals, spending time with family and friends, hiking, and frequenting delicious Ventura restaurants. She is and will continue to be a big supporter of Avenue businesses and shopping local.
Matt Williams was born in Redondo Beach, visited Ventura a kid and has loved it ever since. He’s lived all along the California coast and off the Avenue since 2013. He chose the west side because it reminds him of growing up in a small beach town, and his time studying in Morelia, Michoacan. Graduated from San Francisco State in ’97 with a BA in Lit. He volunteers at CSUCI Santa Rosa Island Research Center and has been a member of IATSI local 600 since 2000.
Local goals include cleaning, painting and maintaining the historic culture of the Avenue to attract more local small businesses and artisans.
Hola mi nombre es María del Carmen DeLoera, yo nací en Villanueva Zacatecas México, llegué a este país hace 32 años soy madre de tres hijos y dos hermosos nietos. Viví en Santa Bárbara por 14 años ahí nacieron mis hijos. Me movía aventura hace 18 años y desde entonces vivo en el Westside. He trabajado en una compañía de mantenimiento de pisos desde hace 27 años del cual ahora soy dueña de ese negocio, con la ayuda de WCDC y WEV que me abrieron puertas y me capacitaron para tomar esta pequeña empresa.
ackie is a “product of the Avenue”. Her family moved to the area in 1977, where she attended all Westside schools, participated in a variety of Westside activities, and was immersed in the diverse and eclectic culture of the community. She earned a degree in Spanish Literature from UCLA, which enabled her to study abroad in Spain and Mexico and later receive her single-subject teaching credential- a credential she has used to work with Westside youth and their families. She is the co- creator of the global non-profit Laundry Love, co-creator of two Westside school gardens, a former Westside Community Council board member, and co-creator of the Westside’s newest and first ever community- driven park, Kellogg Park. Jackie, along with her husband and their two teenagers, continues to reside in the Westside Community. She feels deeply honored to be working and serving in the community through the non-profit WCDC.
Tracy and her family moved to the Avenue from Los Angeles in 2006. She has expertise in economic and community development and specializes in program design, management, marketing and evaluation. As the director of the creative economy think tank, CreativityWorks, she is especially interested in the role that artists, creativity and social capital play in community success. She serves on the steering committee overseeing the County of Ventura’s Economic Vitality Strategic Plan. She served as the Executive Director of Bell Arts Factory in 2010 and as the Arts Impact Director for Downtown Oxnard in 2011. She was faculty member of Women’s Economic Ventures and the Center for Nonprofit Leadership and is the Creative Economy Fellow for CultureLab, an international library of cultural research. She has a Masters in Public Policy from California Lutheran University. While her family now lives in Oak View, they consider The Avenue their ‘home’ as its neighbors, businesses and artists continue to inspire and enrich their lives.
Funding Partners
Programing Partners
Community Partners
The WCDC is the region’s only “Community Based Development Organization” or CBDO. A CBDO is a special organization certified by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to undertake significant economic and community development projects in communities that are designated by HUD as a Neighborhood Revitalization Strategic Area. A CBDO is granted special provisions for streamlined and flexible funding for programs that address economic development, housing or public service activities. As a CBDO, the Westside Community Development Corporation is a unique and powerful tool that can be leveraged to help address the needs and meet the potential of our community.
The WCDC is a federally-recognized “Community Based Development Organization” that was formed in 2003 to activate partnerships and secure resources to strengthen Ventura’s Westside. Our programs focus on four impact areas:
Through events, workshops and special projects, the WCDC connects those who seek to improve their lives, their livelihoods or their community to resources and opportunities that help create positive change.
