Mayor launches One West Chicago to celebrate diversity, unity

Mayor Ruben Pineda has a dream for West Chicago.

And he's just getting started.

"When it's all said and done, I want people to say, 'You see what they're doing in West Chicago? That's where I want to live, that's where I want to raise my kids, that's where I want my children to go to school,'" Pineda said.

A key part of that dream is a new program called One West Chicago, which aims to bring together the city's diverse cultures and increase community participation by people of all backgrounds.

West Chicago is 51 percent Hispanic and Pineda wants to ensure that portion of the community both embraces its roots and becomes more active in city affairs.

"One West Chicago is where that cultural development comes in because we are reaching out to half the population," Pineda said. "We want everybody to mesh and work together."

Toward that end, Community Outreach Specialist Adrian Marquez is working to engage the Hispanic population and provide educational material about the services the community has to offer.

"I think for me, (One West Chicago) is about celebrating our differences, celebrating what makes each person unique," Marquez said. "We all have different talents, and this is kind of exposing that."

One of the main ways Pineda hopes to implement the concept is through a series of festivals designed to bring residents together. The city assigned three people to organize and build support for such events, while also working with businesses in the area to attract the city's Hispanic population.

The first of this year's celebrations, Blooming Fest, was held Saturday in conjunction with the city's push to be named an America in Bloom community.

The annual festival featured a West Chicago Garden Club plant sale along with a craft show, a car show and entertainment.

This was the first year One West Chicago was featured at the festival, with the creation of the miniature symbolic community garden. Participants could visit and interact with people at five different vendor booths, where they received a flower petal made out of cardstock. Each petal had a question on it, where participants wrote their answer.

After visiting all the booths, they then put together a flower out of the five petals and "planted" it in the garden. The variety in the flowers was meant to symbolize the diversity in the community.

Marquez said roughly 50 flowers were planted; most were by West Chicago residents, but some came from out-of-towners. The garden will be on display at city hall.

"We had quite a good turnout for the activity ... We're just excited about the response we got from our residents," Marquez said.

Pineda grew up in the community and became mayor six years ago with the goal of improving his city.

He is working to lead the town through a new strategic plan, which focuses on economic development, community image, intergovernmental partnerships and One West Chicago.

Before embarking on the plan, Pineda said the city asked residents what changes they wanted to see. And one of the thongs they specifically asked for were more community activities.

"We reached out to the community and to our businesses and everybody in general to see what they wanted," Pineda said. "And that was one of the things they really brought up: that they'd like to see more community activities, getting everybody together."

Pineda has been building interest in the plan primarily through social media such as Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. The city also is using its website, westchicago.org, which includes an activities calendar.

In addition, Pineda said he makes sure to stop by schools and interact with students.

"With the children, they influence their parents quite a bit, and you want to make sure that the next generation is very happy and is thinking about the future of West Chicago," he said. Pineda also aims to create a healthier community, specifically with his Move with the Mayor campaign, featuring community walks every weekend from April through November.

Thus far, Pineda said, the strategic plan has received positive responses from most of the community.

"People love everything that's happening, and they get excited about it because you want to be able to know that your community is out there doing things and promoting things and looking at the future to make sure we're going to have a strong and prosperous community," he said.