On Friday, May 22nd at the Neighborhoods USA (NUSA) Conference in Spokane, WA, the Sylvan-Old Auburn Road (SOAR) Neighborhood, one of the ten Neighborhood Groups located within the City of Citrus Heights, received first place honors in the Multi-Neighborhood Project Partnerships category for their highly-acclaimed 2008 Senior Health Fair event. By receiving the first place category recognition, SOAR was also selected by the NUSA Judges as the prestigious 2009 Neighborhood of the Year.

Selection of the Neighborhood of the Year Award winner was based on the degree to which the NUSA panel of judges felt the project was innovative, overcomes obstacles, mobilizes community resources, and creates partnerships between people of different ages, cultures or economic stature who would not ordinarily work together, the extent of grassroots involvement, volunteer contributions, and the potential for the project to be replicated by other neighborhoods throughout the U.S. and abroad.

SOAR held its first annual "SOAR to Healthy Heights" Senior Health Fair on Saturday, May 17, 2008, and found the event to be a tremendous success. Recognizing the need for Senior Citizen related programs and events, SOAR took the lead on the event and involved several other community partners, including the City of Citrus Heights, the Sunrise Recreation and Park District, the Sacramento County Adult and Aging Commission, the Citrus Heights Collaborative, Sacramento County Senior Nutrition Services, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Area 4 Agency on Aging, and many dedicated community volunteers. The event featured over 50 exhibits/information tables (no selling of products was allowed), useful demonstrations on how to prevent falls and make your home more safe, workshops/lectures on various medical topics, musical and dancing entertainment, and healthy snacks for the 200+ number of attendees.

According to Dr. Jayna Karpinski-Costa, SOAR Neighborhood President and Citrus Heights Vice-Mayor, "The SOAR neighborhood took the lead but we won in the category of Multi-Neighborhood Partnerships. It really is a team effort and truly a well-deserving recognition of the hard work of a lot of very dedicated people. I am exceptionally proud of this accomplishment which puts Citrus Heights Neighborhoods on the map globally!"

Recently, SOAR held its 2009 "SOAR to Healthy Heights" Senior Health Fair on Saturday, May 16th and increased attendance by 50% (over 300 attendees). The event is once again planned to take place in May 2010 with even more enhancements to be implemented. For more information, please contact the SOAR Neighborhood President and Citrus Heights Vice-Mayor, Dr. Jayna Karpinski-Costa, at (916) 722-8647 or click here to visit the SOAR Neighborhood page.

ABOUT THE CITRUS HEIGHTS SYLVAN OLD AUBURN ROAD (SOAR) NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP - AREA 10:
Sylvan Old Auburn Road (SOAR) Neighborhood Group is one of ten neighborhood areas designated by the City of Citrus Heights shortly after the City's incorporation in 1997. Its boundaries are the major thoroughfares of Sylvan Road, Old Auburn Boulevard, Sunrise Boulevard and Greenback Lane. It includes about 2,200 single-family homes, about 1,200 apartment units, one senior mobile home park, one high school, 5 churches and many assorted small businesses. Anyone who lives, owns property, attends school or owns a business within the neighborhood boundaries is automatically a member of SOAR; there are no membership dues.

ABOUT NEIGHBORHOODS USA (NUSA):
Neighborhoods, USA is a national non-profit organization committed to building and strengthening neighborhood organizations. Created in 1975 to share information and experiences toward building stronger communities, NUSA now continues to encourage networking and information sharing to facilitate the development of partnerships between neighborhood organizations, government and the private sector. The organizational mission of NUSA has, since its inception, been to build and strengthen neighborhood associations and to promote productive communications and collaborations between those associations and both the public and private sectors. The organization has, for over thirty years, served these broad objectives in part through the conduct of an annual conference. This provides an opportunity for people from all locations, sectors and levels of society to discuss the pressing issues of the times, share experiences and offer encouragement or assistance. Visit http://www.nusa.org for more information.