Strengthening community, one meeting at a time

By Kristine Pascual | Special to the Courier 

For more than three decades, Active Claremont has connected residents with local government, volunteer opportunities, and one another through monthly meetings, community forums, and civic engagement events.

This year, the organization was selected as Claremont’s honored community group for the city’s Fourth of July celebration, recognizing its longstanding commitment to keeping residents informed and strengthening community ties.

“It’s really nice to be acknowledged,” said Active Claremont Board of Directors President John Scott. “Active Claremont acknowledges other groups and people, so the community reciprocating that is very kind.”

The group meets on the third Thursday of each month at the Alexander Hughes Community Center to hear community updates, learn about local issues, and connect with fellow residents. Meetings typically feature presentations from local leaders, historians, and educators, while also recognizing students and community members for their achievements and service.

Active Claremont was founded in the early 1990s to serve as a bridge between residents, businesses and city hall. Scott describes meetings as a blend of information, education, and entertainment featuring a variety of speakers and topics. Earlier this year it hosted leaders from the Claremont Colleges, including two presidents who shared updates on their institutions.

More recently, Active Claremont welcomed speakers discussing the history and impact of Route 66, including National Geographic contributor Brian Brown and Claremont Heritage Board of Directors President and resident historian John Nieuber. Brown visited from Kansas City in collaboration with the City of Claremont to install a new monument at the northwest corner of Indian Hill and Foothill boulevards as part of the largest widespread comprehensive art monument across the U.S. in honor of Route 66.

During election years, Active Claremont also hosts candidate forums for City Council hopefuls and other candidate and issue-focused events, where residents engage directly with local leaders to ask questions and learn more about issues affecting the community.

Members of Active Claremont’s Board of Directors (L-R) Joe Porreca, Vickie Noble, John Scott, Bill Buehler, and Jennifer Deal. Courier photo/Peter Weinberger

While the organization has focused primarily on civic engagement, one of its recent goals has been recognizing and encouraging younger generations to become more involved in the community through Active Claremont.

“One of the objectives when we started the year was to grow our numbers,” Scott said. “So we started doing acknowledgements of volunteerism especially with regards to youth in our local schools.” At the beginning of each meeting, the group honors students and young people with certificates signed by Scott and the mayor of Claremont.

That strategy has proven effective.

Like many community organizations, Active Claremont suffered a decline during the COVID-19 pandemic. Membership and attendance dropped and Scott said the group was at one point “hanging by a thread.” Since then, attendance has nearly tripled reaching as many as 125 members.

“It’s kind of reenergizing what Active Claremont is and what it always could have been,” Scott said.

For Scott, who was first introduced to the organization four years ago through volunteer work alongside his wife and daughter, that renewed energy reflects the organization’s enduring purpose: helping residents stay connected to their community and to one another. Scott is motivated to continue his work with Active Claremont because of the relationships he has established with his fellow board members.

“You can make changes positively in your own community,” Scott said. “That’s what I like about Active Claremont. I can’t tell you enough about how good the people are.”

Scott attributed much of Active Claremont’s recent success this year to former member-at-large, Daryl McCance, who died earlier this year.

“We’re all kind of stunned and a little bit melancholy over the loss of this gentleman. He’s very well known in the community,” Scott said. “Everything I’m doing throughout the rest of the year is going to be in tribute and dedication to him, for what he meant to the organization.”

Scott and other Active Claremont board members will take part in the city’s annual Fourth of July parade in honor of McCance. The one-mile parade kicks off at 1 p.m. at Memorial Park, travels south on Indian Hill Boulevard, west on Harrison Avenue, terminating at Larkin Park.

Visit activeclaremont.org for more information.

Kristine Pascual is a Cal Poly Pomona graduate and journalist from Pasadena who is dedicated to engaging communities through thoughtful reporting.