Pictured above is a mural commissioned by MHCH located on the north wall of Rio Meat Market on the corner of Montana and Fair Oaks. Left to right: Jose Robledo, Councilmember Tyron Hampton, Maria Arias, Jill Shook, Anne Warren, artist Jason Smith, Councilmember Justin Jones, Anthony Manousos, Bert Newton, Jean Burns and Joe Bautista
OUR VISION
“To beautify and not gentrify”a once thriving "Black Main Street" from Washington Blvd to the north Pasadena/Altadena border (between Woodbury and Montana). We are inspired by this from Zechariah 8:4:
“Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”
OUR MISSION and STRATEGY
“To be repairers of the broken walls and the restorers of the streets with dwellings.” Isaiah 58:12
To create a team of empowered local leaders to restore this neglected area of the city. This was a once vibrant and thriving "Black Main Street." The mission is restorative justice to provide a "right to return" with affordable housing, a thriving business community, and safe and beautiful streets with public art.
Since 2015 we have employed numerous strategies to listen to the desires of the community by going door-to-door with conversations, 150 one-on-one surveys, 1000 household surveys, focus groups and more. For the last few years the N. Fair Oaks Empowerment team has worked with a prestigious planning and design firm called The Arroyo Group to create a Vision Plan for N. Fair Oaks with input from the community. This Vision Plan provides recommendations on how the city of Pasadena can foster the revitalization of this area: Vision Plan for N. Fair Oaks.
After hearing from community members who showed up at public meetings, the Planning Department and Planning Commission decided to adopt most of our recommendations, particularly our request that the density on N. Fair Oaks be raised to 48 dwelling units per acre to make it feasible to build multifamily and affordable housing. This is major win since it will encourage the economic development of this divested area of our city, a once vibrant "Black Main Street."
The Planning Department staff also gave us the authority to name this area in the Specific Plan. Members of the community met and provided two potential names for the area. The Planning Commission voted to approve "The Black Legacy District." The name and the Vision plan recommendations will be considered by the City Council in September, and we need to continue to plan and advocate. To identify this area as the Black Legacy District a public art team has emerged as well as an effort to look at business development. If you'd like to become involved, contact Jill@makinghousinghappen.org.
NORTH FAIR OAKS EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVE
Our History...
Once a vibrant and thriving community, years of segregation and divestment dramatically changed the N. Fair Oaks area corridor due to historically harmful Federal policies adopted locally: racially restrictive covenants, the 1949 Federal Housing Act (under the urban renewal policy aka “Negro Removal"), predatory banking, eminent domain, and more.
Due to “red-lining” by banks starting in 1939, African Americans were prevented from obtaining home loans, so they opened their own bank to obtain mortgages, called Family Thrift, today called One United Bank which was on N. Lake and Washington. Once the Fair Housing Act was passed in 1968, allowing African Americans live outside of North West Pasadena, those with means moved to other parts of the city. This left a vacuum of higher-end residents needed to weave the mixed-income fabric needed for a healthy community.
The 1956 Highway Act, which released federal funding for highways across the US, has sliced through Black neighborhoods and thriving Black business districts, and that was also true of NW Pasadena with the 210 and 710 freeways. Once freeways cut off NW Pasadena from the rest of the city, businesses began failing. The way was opened divestment and drugs. Later, depressed home values led to gentrification in the NW, where homes were still affordable for those who had the means.
This community has been deeply wounded.
At one point, nearly 20% of Pasadena was Black; today, only 8%. African Americans have either been priced out or have cashed out. Due to increased property values, beginning in the 1990s, of many white residents getting a great deal on home purchases in this depressed area, pushing out long-time residents. Many churches have become commuter churches. One African American church has 8 members left.
In 2015, the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance (IMA) voted to allow Jill Shook, who was a long-time member of the IMA, to plan the resource and employment fair that year. Shook felt led to organize a resource fair on North Fair Oaks, not far from her home. She learned from her mentor Dr. John Perkins to help develop under-resourced communities by working with and by the community, not for the community; this strategy changes everything. Shook also needed mentors to better understand how to lead this emerging effort. She was mentored by Communities First Incorporated. She began a listening campaign with and by the churches, resulting in 150 surveys within a five-block area on N. Fair Oaks. Questions were asked like, How long have you been in the area? What do you like about your community? What would you like to see changed? Would you like to be part of that change? Most of the 10 churches, 10 businesses in this five block stretch participated, as did a number of the residents. The results were telling.
Some felt the survey was a waste of time to imagine an improved community because they felt the city would never invest in this community or agree to make any changes. We needed to resurrect hope.
We needed more mentors. So, we partnered with the Complete Streets Coalition to create focus groups that helped us to visually imagine what the community wanted. We identified 15 specific items they hoped the city could address. First, sidewalks were repaired. Second, in 2017, the Pasadena City Council unanimously voted to put a $268,000 traffic signal to help slow traffic and bring safety. In 2025, a Complete Streets redesign was implemented which changed the streets from four lanes to three with a center turn lane. Seeing the signal in place and new street configuration has brought safety and resurrected hope.
Phil Burns, principal of The Arroyo Group planning firm became a homeowner in this area. In 2022 he joined our team and asked us to consider creating a professional Vision Plan that would include all our community-based research to date plus four additional listening sessions. (See article.) In 2023 we conducted those four listening sessions at New Life Holiness Church's community center, the Boys & Girls Club, La Pintoresca Park, and culminating in our MHCH annual event at New Life Holiness Church. In 2024, the Vision Plan was completed thanks to The Arroyo Group under Phil Burns' leadership. That year our team presented the Plan multiple times for further public input to most of the churches, the IMA, the Boys & Girls Club, the City Planning Department, and the Northwest Commission. We appreciate the persuasive letters of support sent to the City Council from the Northwest Commission and others.
In 2025, the Vision Plan was updated based on input from City Councilman Tyron Hampton and other community members. This was important because we were anticipating giving input to the Orange Grove North Fair Oaks Specific Plan that hadn't yet been adopted. It's been very exciting for this team to shape this 20-year plan. In 2025 we met at the Planning Commission with 30 speakers from the community supporting the Vision Plan all dressed in T-shirts saying, "Restore our Community." It was such an honor to hear a member of the Planning Commission say that this was the best presentation they ever heard. In the Spring of 2026, the Planning Commission asked us to name the area. We suggested several names and they voted to support "Black Legacy District." Next, we will go to the City Council at the end of September 2026 to testify and ask that everything in the vision plan be approved, plus the new name for the area.
There is still much more work to be done. We would value your partnership. Contact us today to find out how you can participate in our efforts to revitalize North Fair Oaks!
To see more about the history of North Fair Oaks and the North Fair Oaks initiative, check out our blog.
Hope for change began to emerge. The community later met to unveil the results of the survey. The biggest concern was the street, not feeling safe due to the traffic, cars speeding by, the lack of lighting and good sidewalks. Others were concerned with economic development, wanting coffee and ice cream shops and thriving businesses. And everyone wanted housing they could afford, including Genee Johnson in this video.
As a result of the survey, a team emerged to plan the resource fair. The planning team wanted to resurrect hope by providing a name for ourselves and do something big. For the resource fair, the team decided to close down Tremont Street with booths representing all the local businesses, and churches, local resources, employment opportunities, and featured the skills within the community. People entered the Workforce Employment Mobile Unit and once they applied for a job, they received free haircuts, free dress shirts, and ties. Even Judy Chu, our local congressional representative, and Mayor Terry Tornek showed up. Over 500 members from this N Fair Oaks corridor from Washington Blvd to Woodbury attended this NW Jobfest.