Instead, the couple decided to make her neighborhood a nicer place to live. Ramirez-Grace adopted her street -- and its young residents -- and embarked on a campaign to beautify it.

She faced down neighbors who balked at removing an old toilet and debris from their yards, cajoled city inspectors to leave their offices and walk the street with her, threatened apartment owners with city fines until they painted their buildings, got the city to plant trees, and engaged neighborhood kids to clean up and plant flowers.

Along the way, she convinced several young people to continue their education and got them involved in community groups. One is now in his second year at the University of California, Berkeley on a full scholarship.

For her efforts, Ramirez-Grace has been named 2004 Mother of the Year by the city Office of Parks and Recreation.

"When they called me I thought it was a joke. I was ready to hang up on them. It was embarrassing," said Ramirez-Grace, 71, describing her reaction to being told about the honor.

"I didn't know anything about this. I thought this was for women up in the hills."

On Ramirez-Grace's block of Harrington Avenue, which runs off Foothill Boulevard parallel to 35th Avenue, the trees have already grown tall. Although most of the small homes still have security fences, flowers sway behind many of them. Several buildings have bright new paint -- maybe a little too bright for Ramirez-Grace's taste, but at least they are no longer covered with graffiti.

"To me, this is fun. It's not work," said Ramirez-Grace, strolling the street with granddaughter Gabriela Rey, 12, whom she helps home-school and who also helps with her projects. "It feels good to see a neighborhood grow a little."

When she moved in with her first husband and three young children 40 years ago, there were no fences, only lawns and gardens, Ramirez-Grace said. The neighborhood then went through the classic urban decline. Many of the young families who lived there moved to new developments in the suburbs, and their homes became rentals. Fences went up, graffiti appeared, lawns were paved over.

Ramirez-Grace said she was mostly too busy to notice the decline. Always a fighter, she had organized a union for teachers' aides in the school district's child development centers in 1978. She became a union leader, eventually going to work for the Oakland Child Development Paraprofessionals Union full-time.

Her first husband died 22 years ago, and she spent a lot of time traveling for work. It wasn't until she married her current husband, who she met through the union and who lived in Sonoma, that she was spurred to action.

Ramirez-Grace said her three grown children have asked her to stop her work, out of concern for her safety. But her four grandchildren love it and always help out when they are around, she said.

Young people in the neighborhood motivated her work.

"I told them that just because we're poor, we don't have to be messy," she said. "We can still have pride in our neighborhood."

She also became an advocate for them. As a fluent Spanish speaker, she served as a translator for parents at school and got them involved in after-school programs and preschools, many of them at the Unity Council.

The Unity Council nominated Ramirez-Grace for the award, which the city has been giving out for 51 years.

"She's very vocal and very good at doing what she can to make a situation right, whatever that takes in getting action from different city departments or agencies," said Rita Torres of the Unity Council. "But what really stands out is her concern for young people.

"On her own, she has really reached out to kids in her immediate neighborhood. She has been there for them, tutored them, encouraged them to go on to school, done activities with them to keep them occupied, and taught them about the environment and recycling."

Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La Fuente (Fruitvale-Glenview) said he knows Ramirez-Grace well from her work in the neighborhood.

"She helped us clean up liquor stores and close a bar," he said. "She has been doing a lot for a long time. I don't think you could find a better choice."

Estrada will be among those honoring Ramirez-Grace on Saturday during a ceremony at Oakland's Morcom Rose Garden, 700 Jean Street. The ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m.

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
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