November 30, 2007

Rose Herrera, a doer with a passion for getting things done

By Bill Highlander
Editor

Very often in the morning, Rose Herrera walks a little more than a mile from her home to the Evergreen Village Square. There she joins the Tai Chi class at 7:30, stretching and bending to the instructions of the Chinese masters. Afterwards it’s to Java Junction for coffee and conversation with her friends before starting her day of organizing, consulting and volunteering.

She used to shop often at Lunardi’s. That’s no longer possible since Lunardi’s closed its doors in the Square and a replacement has not yet been found. Herrera thought the closing was unfortunate and might even damage the vision for Evergreen Village Square. Without an anchor store, the plans for more stores and restaurants slowed.

Rose Herrera

So now Herrera, 54, has become a community activist. First, she organized a petition drive, urging San Jose City Council to find another grocery and more businesses to locate around the Square. With more than 3,000 signatures, she then decided to form Involved Evergreen, a Web-based online community to share information, gain ideas for more involvement, and plan ways to bring the diverse community together. Its immediate focus is to advocate for a new grocery store.

Herrera is a doer, talking with passion about getting things done. She played a large role in getting the Farmers’ Market moved from the Evergreen Library site to the Evergreen Village Square. Now crowds are learning the value of the Square to the community as they come to purchase fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers. Herrera wants the Square to be a place where locals hangout, getting to know each other and appreciating the various cultural richness in Evergreen.

Involved Evergreen plans to have a booth at each Farmers’ Market day and offer information about events and sell tickets to local arts performances. Herrera is also sponsoring a meeting of storeowners, hoping to create an Evergreen Village Square Business Owners Association.

She says she “sensed a leadership vacuum” on this issue and decided to try bringing people together and build a connection to the community. Her interest for community and human relations stems from her educational background – bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Santa Clara University – and military experience.

Enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, she was one of the first females selected for duty in a classified security/intelligence position. Later, she trained at the Defense Race Relations Institute and helped give seminars and workshops throughout the Air Force. She wrote the course material for “Women in the Air Force.”

While stationed in Okinawa, her son, David, was born. He is now a principal of Cesar Chavez Middle School in East Palo Alto.

She is a San Jose native, a graduate of Overfelt High School, and has lived in Evergreen for 30 years. Herrera has founded a PTA, and worked for the county’s Human Relations Commis-sion, counseling at-risk youth. She also had her own successful software manufacturing company, Cinn-amon Software, for nine years, building it into a $10 million company with 150 employees. Currently, she is a consultant to a high-tech start-up.

A volunteer as a certified family support group leader at Sunrise in Silver Creek Senior Living facility, she counsels caregivers. Herrera helps raise money for the study of Alzheimer’s disease, volunteers at Matsumoto Elementary School and is a member of District 8 Round Table.

Rose Herrera fervently seeks to focus on Evergreen as a cohesive community that shares an understanding of its cultural richness and supports the Evergreen Village Square as a center for that focus.

Rose Herrera is a BEACON in the community due to her desire to build a spirit of unity. The Evergreen community appreciates her commitment.

BEACON

A country song says “you can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine.”

The Evergreen Times would like for the lights of interesting Evergreen residents to shine through a profile on such persons. Our community has educators, activists, business people, inventors, sportsmen, hobbyists, public safety persons – a plethora of fascinating people who should be recognized by their neighbors as a beacon for community involvement. If you know a person who should be recognized as a BEACON, contact highlander@timesmediainc.com and they will be considered for future issues.