After nearly 50 years, Jack Shaw finally had time; time to think, time to worry about what was next and time to find a new purpose.

He didn’t want retirement to mean leisurely days exploring new hobbies or taking vacations to a bucket list of exotic destinations.

Instead, it brought him to what is referred to by some as the “Slater Slums” in Huntington Beach – a densely populated community of mostly Hispanic residents with multiple families living in cramped apartments or small homes and a fair amount living under the poverty line.

It was here in Oak View that he found his new purpose – founding nonprofits and starting programs with the help of others in the community that would empower the neighborhood to make great strides in improving health and education.

Shaw chronicles this journey in his recently-released book, “One Square Mile.” The book looks at issues in the neighborhood of a square mile – bound by Slater and Warner avenues, Beach Boulevard and Gothard Street – a stark contrast from the city’s world-famous beaches, surfing and high-end shopping and dining just a few miles away.

“Up until 1995, Oak View was a very bad place,” Shaw writes in his book.

Many of the area’s residents are undocumented. Shaw says that explains why the 2010 U.S. Census lists the area as being home to about 7,000 residents instead of the 10,000 people Shaw believes live there.

He writes that before 1995, the area was plagued with drug activity and gang violence. Residents did not want to leave their homes at night and graffiti covered the walls and fences.

Compared to the county average, the high school drop out rate was high, as was the crime rate. The median family income was drastically below the county average and unemployment plagued many.

But there was a solidarity in the community that drew Shaw and inspired him to start transforming Oak View.

“Some families have lived there for generations,” said Shaw, a Corona del Mar resident and retired vice chairman at Deloitte. “They love their community.”

He and his wife, Ellen Shockro, were introduced to the neighborhood about 16 years ago. They wanted to help those in need and they wanted their efforts to be focused on education.

“After I retired I had the time to think about something besides raising a family and keeping a job,” Shaw said. “Now I had time and resources to go to other things but I had never done other things.”

“We wanted to help poor Hispanic kids go to college. We knew we needed to start small and to be focused.”

They approached leaders at Golden West College who introduced the Corona Del Mar couple to the neighborhood in desperate need of some attention. They told the Shaws that to help kids go to college, they needed to start with 4th graders.

“If you wait until high school, (the students) are so far behind, that they’ll never get to college,” Shaw said. “They will never graduate from high school.”

In 1997, the couple founded El Viento, an educational program that fosters students with the drive to go to college. The program, which is still successful today, follows students through high school and college and offers academic and moral support as they move through the educational system.

Since the program started, of the 375 students who enrolled, 50 are currently in college and eight have graduated so far. Participants in the program include students in elementary and middle school as well as high school and college.

The focus on education became the catalyst for a mission to improve the whole community.

“Can we narrow the gap between Oak View and the rest of Orange County?” Shaw said. “I think we are moving the needle and we have to continue to do it.”

Shaw brought Healthy Smiles for Kids of Orange County to the community in 2003 to give free dental care to young children and in 2005, founded the Oak View Renewal Partnership to put more resources in play.

Since then, volunteers have stepped forward to help run programs in the community. A youth soccer league was started along with a job assist program for the community’s adults. A farmer’s market was launched weekly at nearby Ocean View High School and neighborhood cleanups and community gardens were started in the area.

Sherri Medrano, community liaison for Oak View Elementary School, said the changes in the community she’s been involved in for more than 30 years have been significant.

“For me, Jack is like an angel sent to our community,” she said. “Jack’s presence in the community has made tremendous change for the better and has empowered the community to just to move forward.”

“The whole community has changed. The culture is still deep but the (residents) have a lot of pride in their community.”

Seeing the positive changes in the area’s residents, the nonprofit Oak View Renewal Partnership started tracking their progress and a community index maintained by the organization shows the neighborhood is on an upswing.

Test scores have improved at Oak View Elementary and there has been in an increase in the number of residents who graduate from high school. Childhood obesity is down as well as the unemployment rate.

The neighborhood has seen an uptick in crime and property damage since 2007, but Shaw said not all positive results are achieved overnight. Learning to keep working and be patient has been one of Shaw’s biggest lessons learned in his years at Oak View.

“People are really working hard and with minimum resources,” he said. “It takes a lot longer to get things done than I’m used to having them take.”

Overall, Shaw said he believes in the mission to help Oak View and hopes their work will one day serve as a model for enhancing and improving other low-income and at-risk neighborhoods.

“In a way, Oak View is a test of this whole idea of place-based community empowerment and renewal,” Shaw said. “I think we have to put the lessons learned in another community.”

Contact the writer: 714-796-7953 or jfletcher@ocregister.com