Message from the President of Genesis Neighborhood Association

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Genesis Neighborhood Association has been incorporated and active since January 2010. Every year since we started, we have attended Palm Beach County Resident Education to Action Program and for two years in a row, we have acquired grants. We have also acquired other funding through our very successful efforts, thanks to local small businesses and resident donations.

This year we are working with the city to identify a city owned property in order to acquire it and install playground equipment within the Genesis boundaries.  We have acquired three corporate sponsors as well as two church organizations that stand in solidarity with our efforts.  We have initiated, developed and maintained a healthy productive line of communication with municipal, county and state elected officials and staff.  Shelly Vanna personally awarded Genesis a certificate of recognition for our accomplishments at a meeting before Genesis was even one year old.

When Genesis had its first meeting, the majority of residents clamored for the paving of the major avenues that traverse our east - west boundaries and speed bumps on A Street.  In 2011, we got our speed bumps after Genesis distributed a petition that acquired a 90% approval from all the residents who lived on A street between 6th and 12th Avenues South.  It took nearly five years of constant attendance to commission meetings, meetings with multiple Directors of Public Services and two different city managers and here we are today happy to announce that 10th Avenue South is no longer a sand dirt road, 8th Avenue south is under construction and 7th Avenue South is a green light to begin paving in 2015!

Countless residents can attest to the assistance, advocacy and compassion and care they have received from Genesis members and the board of directors, one of whom is known as the “Grandmother of Lake Worth.” We are most proud of her testament. We have painted so many homes in our city and county.  This year we will launch our Leocadia Fonseca Endowment Fund which will award a $1,209.00 dollar grant to a worthy Lake Worth neighborhood association that does not have funds to perform a community improvement project of their choice.  A twelve member Board of Directors will vote to approve one application.  This was due to launch this month but with my four major life threatening hospitalizations, the roll out schedule had to be pushed back.  Genesis has also negotiated commercial space that we toured last month in the new La Joya Villages development where we can have our meetings and a Genesis Community Center.

On the eve of our first quarterly meeting in 2015, I extend an open invitation to the board of directors of Memorial Park Neighborhood Association.  They are listed on the NAPC website for approximately a year now but are not legally incorporated nor have they ever held any meetings or yet done anything for the neighborhood.  If they are serious about doing something positive for the community, then I extend my hand in a sincere invitation to join forces with an organization that has a five year track record of amazing results.  We need as many hands on deck to accelerate or progress.  There should be no room for egos or personality conflicts if the common goal of community improvement is sincere.  I will reiterate our willingness to take part in the call for spirit of unity in our city for the New Year.  Let us make a difference as a team! Best wishes,

James Ward and I look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Monday, 6pm, January 26, 2015 at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church, 928 S. E Street, Lake Worth, FL. Come on out and meet your candidates!

Mark A. Parrilla
Genesis Neighborhood Association, Inc.
Genesis Website