page_title: Gulfton, Houston
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Gulfton, Houston / Culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center
context_page_description: Gulfton is a community in Southwest Houston, Texas, United States that includes a 3.2 sq mi group of apartment complexes that primarily house refugee and immigrant populations. It is located between the 610 Loop and Beltway 8, west of the City of Bellaire, southeast of Interstate 69/U.S. Highway 59, and north of Bellaire Boulevard.
  In the 1960s and 1970s Gulfton experienced rapid development, with new apartment complexes built for young individuals from the Northeast and Midwest United States. They came to work in the oil industry during the 1970s oil boom.
  In the 1980s, as the economy declined, existing tenants left, resulting in a significant drop in occupancy rates in the apartment complexes and forcing many complexes into bankruptcy and foreclosure. Owners marketed the empty units to newly arrived immigrants and Gulfton became a predominantly immigrant community. Beginning in the 1980s Gulfton's crime rate increased and schools were increasingly overwhelmed with excess students. "Houstonians" nicknamed the community the "Gulfton Ghetto."
context_section_description: Oriana Garcia, a Gulfton-area community developer of Neighborhood Centers Inc., described Gulfton as, "sort of like the Ellis Island of the current time." Residents represent seventy distinct cultures, speak thirty different languages, and live in an area approximately 16,000 square feet (1,500 m²). Garcia refers to the population as, "probably the most dense area in Houston." Adrian Garcia, the anti-gang office director for the Mayor of Houston in 2002, also referred to Gulfton as, "somewhat of an Ellis Island." Susan Rogers of the Rice Design Alliance said that Gulfton's "affordable housing, shops, language, food, and culture all help to provide a familiar environment that eases the residents' transition to life in America." Rogers also said, "In many ways the residents of Gulfton are more connected globally than locally."
  In 1995 GANO activist Francisco Lopez, an El Salvador refugee, said, "Gulfton is what Denver Harbor is to Mexicans. Any recent Latin American immigrant has a relationship to Gulfton." Lopez added that the immigrants mainly remain in the area because of the Fiesta Mart and other businesses that cater to the immigrant population. Lopez explained that many people originally expected Gulfton would provide a transient location for immigrants, who would then leave for other neighborhoods. By 1995 many had stayed in Gulfton and become long term residents even switching apartments but not leaving the area. In 2010 Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press said "Gulfton now possesses such a wide range of ethnic cuisines, restaurants and grocery stores, it can almost be seen as a microcosm of Houston."
  The popularity of soccer (football) in the neighborhood flourished after the Southwest Houston Soccer Association was established in the 1990s. Prior to its establishment, a few adult teams existed, but no youth league. In 1995, Silvia Ramirez, a soccer coach, said in a newspaper article that a lack of confidence in English language abilities and long work hours prevented many area residents from creating soccer leagues. The same article quotes citizens who believe that playing soccer prevented them from joining gangs. In 2007, Diana De La Rose, principal of Jane Long Middle School, said that soccer was popular among Gulfton-area students. In 2010 the Houston Dynamo soccer team proposed the construction of a stadium near Gulfton. Instead the BBVA Compass Stadium began construction in East Downtown.
  Neighborhood Centers Inc. began work in the Gulfton and Sharpstown areas around 30 years before 2011. In 1998 Neighborhood Centers opened El Puente (The Bridge), a privately operated community center on the grounds of the Napoleon Square Apartments, a complex which had a predominantly Spanish-speaking population. El Puente is located in three apartment units that had been converted into office space and play areas. Two of the apartment units are connected to each other. The center's goal is to provide community support to replace the community support that the immigrants had previously received in Latin America. As of 1999, ten different agencies provided services at El Puente and 135 families signed up to receive the services. As of 1999, at the center, the Houston Public Library provided literacy classes, Houston Community College provided English classes, the Houston Independent School District provided preschool services for three- and four-year-olds, the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work arranged assessments for graduate students studying social work, and the Sisters of Charity's Southwest Clinic provided prenatal and preventive medical services. In 2003 the Chrysalis Dance Company provided dance sessions at El Puente, used to teach English to mothers and children. Maricela Grun, the coordinator of the complex, said in 1999 that the center was needed because children had few activities available. She said that "The children have very little to do. They're just confined to their apartments." In 2007, the group announced that it would build the Gulfton Neighborhood Campus at the intersection of Ro
caption: Baker-Ripley Neighborhood Center in the Southwest Management District
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