La Ofrenda Festival | Gilroy’s Inaugural Dia de Muertos Festival & Wellness Fair

Nestled in the heart of Downtown Gilroy, the La Ofrenda Festival | Gilroy’s Inaugural Dia de Muertos Festival & Wellness Fair on October 28 1-7pm will be an extraordinary event and is more than just a day of festivities; it’s an immersive experience that embraces the essence of Dia de Muertos – a time when families come together to honor their departed loved ones and celebrate the eternal bond between the living and the deceased. With vibrant ofrendas (altars) adorned with marigold flowers, moving performances, a community bike ride, and a variety of talented artists, our festival promises an unforgettable experience that will leave a lasting impression on the South County community and beyond. La Ofrenda Festival is made possible with a Gilroy Elevate the Arts Grant, a program of SVCreates, with support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, City of Gilroy, County of Santa Clara and fiscally sponsored by Local Color, 501c3. https://mrfuchila.com/laofrendafestival  

Gilroy’s La Ofrenda Festival is bringing together a cross section of sponsorships and partnerships from government, education, health, private sector, arts, transportation, culture, non-profits, labor workforce and more. I would like to personally invite you to join us, and travel to the festival by bike, bus, walk, or drive. The Arts are alive in Gilroy. In 2021, I was contacted by SV Creates (Santa Clara County Arts Council) to build a relationship that wasn’t here prior in Gilroy. From those first initial meetings blossomed into an Arts Círculo held at 6th St Art Studios and around the corner at the Neon Exchange. Today we have a monthly Arts Roundtable, Third Friday Art Walk, Chalk Fest, La Ofrenda Festival, and doors continue to open. 

We provide year-round bicycle, pedestrian, and transit education and encouragement opportunities through programs and policies that promote our community leaving their car at home and choosing to walk/bike/roll/ and take transit. This helps teach our residents safe walking and biking skills, reduces traffic and air pollution, and helps you get more physical activity. La Ofrenda Festival will have many experiences for you including a Community Bike Ride, Bike Valet, Bike Rodeo, Helmet Fittings, Bike Repair, Bike Education, Wellness Vendors, and a Health & Transit Plaza that features a VTA bus and Caltrain booth. 

Gilroy’s multi-modal transportation infrastructure consists of buses, trains, bikes, scooters, and walking. There are many ways to continue to draw residents towards leaving their cars at home and we encourage you to use these active modes of transportation when traveling to the La Ofrenda Festival. Gilroy has a fully connected bike network and transit options. We are actively advancing ideas and projects that promote the concept of free-range people in the City of Gilroy. We advocate for building and planning that considers future generations as well as current residents who don’t own cars. Advancing mobility options reflects what we are teaching the youth in our community through Safe Routes to School and why we are nationally recognized as a Bronze Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists, as well as recognized by the World Health Organization as an Age-Friendly Community. The City of Gilroy is a Complete Streets and Recreation Destination community by resolution.

The City of Gilroy celebrates the role that the arts and creativity play in helping us navigate a pandemic, amplify the need for racial equity, and highlight the power of the arts to change our lives for the better. The Gilroy Arts & Culture Commission and SV Creates work in partnership to support the arts and creativity in Gilroy as an essential part of our thriving community. SV Creates partners locally with the Gilroy Arts & Culture Commission and Gilroy Arts Roundtable to include the City of Gilroy with a network of leaders who care about the resilience of our arts ecosystem and its impact to our community. They are conveners, promoters, incubators, and funders of the arts with a mission to elevate Silicon Valley’s creative culture. The City of Gilroy recognizes that the arts and creativity support student success and life-long learning, provide key job skills, and bring joy to our community while strengthening our connections; and values partnering with SV Creates and State-level organizations to promote unified support for the arts.

Teaching Youth the Power of Voting

Every generation has grown up being told that they, the youth, are the future. In American society, this means that the youth (theoretically) have the power to sway elections once they are of voting age. Unfortunately, the youth vote has not always met its potential in elections due to low turnout rates among young people. The most recent elections, however, have fostered some hope for higher youth voter participation long term. The November 2022 election had the second highest national voter turnout among voters under 30 in at least the past three decades, with about 27% of voters between the ages of 18-29 casting a ballot. The City of Gilroy’s recent housing plan revealed that 38% of Gilroy’s population is 24 years and younger, making this a powerful demographic in our elections and in shaping the future of our community. Yet, it’s difficult to focus on increasing the youth turnout in Gilroy when our overall turnout rates have been alarming.

It was revealed after the June 2022 election that Gilroy had some of the lower voter turnout in Santa Clara County in a primary election. Turnout in Gilroy ranged from 15.6% to 37% of registered voters while most precincts saw rates below 30%. This low turnout is representative of a need for greater emphasis on voter registration and civic engagement in our local community. It is known that voter turnout is always higher in general elections compared to primary elections, but this disparity only strengthens the case for increased efforts to educate the community- youth and adults alike- on the necessity of voting in every election. The primaries are just as important as the general elections; important measures are decided on by voters in the primaries and “nearly 90% of congressional elections are decided in the nominating contests.” If overall turnout in Gilroy is so low, how can we expect our youth to understand and act on the weight of their vote? We as a community must be united under a collective effort to have our voices represented in every election.

Amidst national debates around increasing or decreasing the voting age requirements, it is critical that the youth understand their rights and responsibilities as members of our local, state, and national communities. In California, youth are able to pre-register to vote as early as 16 years old, automatically registering them to vote when they turn 18. Despite this, California youth voter turnout (ages 18-29) of those eligible to vote in the 2022 midterm elections was disappointingly low at only 22.1%. As we approach another election cycle, more in-school and at-home efforts must be made to support the youth in the registration and voting processes. 

This year, I helped bring back on-site voter registration at Christopher High School and Gavilan College, an effort that had not occurred since the 2020 election season. Students were able to register to vote and receive information on how to vote during lunch time on October 3 to celebrate National High School Voter Education week, the last two weeks of September and April. Gilroy High School is also planning similar programming for later this year. This effort can and should be easily applied at all high schools. Teachers can allocate time in class to students checking their voter registration status and registering to vote. School districts should provide students with the information about how to be poll workers in their county and receive both monetary compensation and valuable civic experience. Students should receive guidance on how to receive a state seal of civic education at graduation; only slightly over 1% (5,369) of high school seniors received the seal in 2021, the first year that the seal was awarded.

These efforts have the potential to create a strong collective dedication to civic engagement among newer generations. The key is to not only get youth pre-registered and registered to vote, but to raise youth with the understanding that being civically engaged is a core responsibility as a member of society. If newer generations are able to better embody this dedication to civic engagement than our older generations are, who knows what the state of our democracy will look like in 20 years.

Now The Work Truly Begins on Housing

I am proud of the future housing plan that Gilroy City Council, Planning Commission, Staff, and the Public have approved. We commit to advancing the 40 opportunity sites for multi-family homes, downtown expansion district and first street mixed-use corridor flexibility program, 429 corner lots for the middle income housing program, housing for farmworkers program, inclusionary housing ordinance, and each program listed below. Through incentives, funding, local control, and programs we can offer with other partners, this will further a Gilroy that’s livable for all.

Gilroy places a high priority on providing quality housing opportunities for all residents. The creation of a focused Division within the Community Development Department, and establishing the Housing and Community Services Manager position, will enable the city to make more concentrated efforts on affordable housing production, preservation, and protection of residents. The Housing and Community Services Manager will provide a higher level of expertise and lead a division focusing on housing functions. With the division consisting of the Manager and Technician position, the division will implement projects and programs to address housing needs for a diverse community and provide assistance to families and individuals that are experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness. 

Now is where the true work and evaluation will take place. Empowered through our local control, we will implement these programs and follow through with what we have promised to our residents. By doing this we will become eligible for funding towards implementing our programs and provide housing for all. We are now pulling in the same direction as our regional partners too. The region's long-range plan for housing, transportation, economy and the environment is known as Plan Bay Area 2050. It calls for creating compact walkable communities by promoting high-density housing and mixed-use development near transit stations and in existing urban areas. This aligns the state to local level planning and it's developed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Association of Bay Area Governments, which is made up of our local and regional elected's. 

Through Valley Transportation Authority, which is made up of our local elected’s, Gilroy’s programs will work to advance all three business lines in VTA’s Strategic Plan through growth in ridership and farebox revenues that support increased transit service and generate funding to sustain enhanced service in Gilroy. Our General Plan 2040 Mobility Element and VTA’s Parking Policy aim to grow ridership through ensuring properly sized parking, facilitating access for all mobility needs, and maximizing multimodal access to transit stations through tools that encourage alternatives to the automobile. Transit-oriented communities enable people to access and use transit more often for more types of trips by centering housing, jobs, services and shopping around public transit. They are places where people of all ages, abilities, income levels, and racial and ethnic backgrounds can live, work and thrive.

The City must monitor and report on the results of these and other programs through the annual progress report. State Housing and Community Development will review any action or failure to act by a local government that it determines inconsistent with an adopted housing element or housing element law. This includes failure to implement program actions included in the housing element. HCD may revoke housing element compliance if the local government’s actions do not comply with state law. Gilroy must continue timely and effective implementation of all programs including but not limited to the following:

• Program A-1 (No Net Loss Inventory and Monitoring)

• Program A-2 (Surplus Lands/Affordable Housing on City-Owned Sites)

• Program A-3 (By-Right Approval on “Reused” RHNA Sites)

• Programs A-6 through A-9 and A-15 (Facilitate ADU Production)

• Program A-10 (Facilitate Missing Middle)

• Program A-11 (Inclusionary Housing Policy)

• Program B-3 (SB 35 Permit Processing)

• Program B-6 (Objective Standards)

• Programs C-1 and C-6 (Monitoring and Preservation of At-Risk Units)

• Program E-3 (Emergency Shelter Standards)

• Program E-4 (Low Barrier Navigation Centers)

• Program E-7 (Development and Conservation of Housing for Farmworkers)

• Program E-10 (Housing for Persons with Disabilities)

• Program E-11 (Extremely Low Income and Special Needs Households)

• Program E-13 (Permanent Supportive Housing)

• Program F-3 (Place-Based Improvements in Downtown Gilroy)

• Program F-4 (Housing Mobility and Choice in Higher Opportunity Areas)