By Ben Cartwright
The Good Neighbor Program
The College Area is a vibrant community that encompasses the many neighborhoods surrounding San Diego State University. Part of what makes the College Area so great is the diversity of student and non-student residents that live near each other in the neighborhoods. Living in a diverse neighborhood comes with responsibility and that is what the Associated Students’ Good Neighbor Program (GNP) teaches and encourages.
The Good Neighbor Program was established over 16-years ago by former Associated Students councilmember Kevin Faulconer, who now serves on the San Diego City Council. The purpose of the program is to increase awareness in the College Area community about the relationship between student behavior and the quality of life on and around the San Diego State campus. What that means is that everyone, students and non-students, has a responsibility to take care of the community and each other, creating a true “community”. How this is carried out is through community outreach, peer-to-peer education, and other community service activities.
The program is overseen by the A.S. Vice President of University Affairs, and the University Affairs Board. Tim Velasquez, the 2008-09 VP of University Affairs, has taken the program to a new level, and has plans to make the GNP better than ever. His plans include creating an expert team of student volunteers who will be trained to reach out to houses with student residents that have received noise or other quality of life violations. The volunteers will visit these houses a few days after the report is received, and will discuss appropriate behavior, how to be a good neighbor, and explain the various fines and sanctions that they may receive if negative behavior continues. The volunteers are not out to lecture the students, but to have a peer to peer conversation that motivates the students to learn more about how their behavior is affecting the quality of life of the people around them.
Another team of volunteers will spend time canvassing neighborhoods that have a high concentration of student residents in them. Volunteers will visit the houses and talk to them about SDSU and A.S.’ “Successful Community Living Brochure” which is a guide to living in the College Area. Volunteers will be able to answer questions that student residents may have and let them know that they have support from the GNP if they have any concerns about issues in their neighborhood.
Finally, the GNP will organize community service activities where student and non-student residents can come together and make positive changes to the neighborhood. The GNP will spearhead the College Area Clean Team, which will consist of quarterly neighborhood clean-ups. This will be an excellent opportunity for students to take pride in the community they live in, meet their neighbors, and have a great time. The first clean-up will take place in mid-October and more information will be available on-line at www.as.sdsu.edu.
If you are interested in volunteering with the Good Neighbor Program in any of the program areas or would like to be added to the GNP’s e-mail list please e-mail as.vp.univ@sdsu.edu or call 619-594-6555.
The Good Neighbor Program also operates an Information Line. Messages can be left at 619-594-SAFE. More information about GNP is available online at www.as.sdsu.edu/good_neighbor.
Last update: 12/11/08
