Willow Glen Resident

Community

Photograph by Mark Tantrum

Super Citizen: Willow Glen resident Rosamaria Hernandez has been the highly visible and energetic community coordinator assigned to the Blackford, Burbank/Del Monte and Winchester neighborhoods for the past two years.

Coordinator is a superwoman, uses endless energy to give back

By Gloria I. Wang

She's not faster than a speeding bullet, and she's not exactly more powerful than a locomotive. She's definitely not a bird, nor a plane--but they do call Rosamaria Hernandez "Superwoman."

The Willow Glen resident is a community coordinator for San Jose's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative, and is constantly out and about in the city. From running around at events in the Blackford, Burbank/Del Monte and Winchester neighborhoods to organizing activities on her Willow Glen block to attending meetings of organizations at which she volunteers, Hernandez seems to be in 10 different places at once.

"There are possibly five of her," said former co-worker Kim Gaddis, crime prevention specialist with the San Jose Police Department. "That girl is always moving."

Hernandez, 69, is a longtime San Jose resident who has worked for the city for 22 years. In her current position of community coordinator, she works to connect individuals and groups in her areas of responsibility with city resources--"helping them do whatever is necessary to make the city safer and cleaner," she said. "The ultimate goal, of course, is to help that neighborhood become an independent and self-reliant neighborhood."

To that end, Hernandez attends neighborhood association meetings, works with groups to develop fliers, signs residents up for classes offered by the city, and helps create e-mail and mailing lists. She also gets involved when the San Jose City Council or planning commission faces an issue that affects one of her neighborhoods.

"We're not just saying, 'Go to a meeting,' we're trying to give residents the information and knowledge that they need to be better prepared," she said.

The Blackford Neighborhood Action Coalition is one organization that has benefited from Hernandez's aid. Hernandez says two years ago, she and other city staff worked with the NAC to develop an action plan for the neighborhood's National Night Out, which promotes crime prevention and community participation. The event was considered to be a success, with about 750 people showing up.

Last year, the NAC became more independent, using and modifying the existing action plan but then running the event from start to finish without much assistance from the city.

"They were moving forward, and they had a great event," Hernandez said.

On top of that, the experience led immigrant members of the primarily Spanish-speaking neighborhood to realize they could get involved in their community and truly make a difference.

Hernandez "really goes the extra 10 miles to get things done," said Christine Landau, treasurer of the Blackford NAC. According to Landau, Hernandez stays at meetings until late at night to stuff envelopes and personally picks up Christmas presents for children as part of the annual Family Giving Tree event.

"She's such a wonderful, wonderful person," Landau said. "I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to work with her."

"I very much admire the way she handles the public," Gaddis added. "She's definitely an asset to city services."

In addition to her job, Hernandez also volunteers in the community. She's helped coordinate events such as a Fourth of July block party and Friday night potlucks in her own Willow Glen neighborhood, and she is active in the National Latino Peace Officers Association, San Jose Exchange Club and Hispanic Development Corporation. In 1996, the Hispanic Development Corporation honored Hernandez with its Portrait of Success Award, which the organization's website says recognizes community members for being "outstanding Hispanic role models."

But Hernandez sees volunteering as a way of life. Growing up in the San Joaquin Valley in a Mexican family, Hernandez says her mother was active in the local PTA and the church, and her father emphasized to his children they needed to see the good in others.

It wasn't until her three children were in elementary school, however, that Hernandez started becoming active in the community. And she's been able to maintain that volunteerism through her relocation to San Jose, a divorce, the raising of three children--one of whom has special needs--and a full-time job.

At the same time, Hernandez has been able to have a rich personal life.

"If I'm not working, I'm out having fun or traveling," she said, adding that she takes time off when she needs to in order to avoid burnout. For her 70th birthday later this year, she will board a cruise to the Caribbean with some of her closest friends. And a couple years from now, she will most likely retire.

But Hernandez is quick to point out that she finds fulfillment in her job, calling the ability to change the lives of people and their neighborhoods awesome. "I'm not in any rush [to retire]. I enjoy the work that I'm doing, I enjoy the people that I work with," she said. "My brother always says, 'Do they really pay you for this?' "