About Us
In The News
History
Diversity
Statement
Board of
Directors
Management-Staff
Job
Opportunities
Click below to download pdf files of
our latest reports
~
Audit ~
(2.3MB)
~ Annual Report ~
(800kb)
~
Strategic Plan ~
(154kb) |
History
1970: The Beginning
Founded as a ministry of the First Christian Church in 1970, Davis
Street Community Center (DSCC) became a 501(c)(3) in 1990. The
Reverend Homer Richardson joined a group of church leaders in
Alameda County and together secured the first State Department of
Education childcare subsidies. He added this program to the food
pantry and the recycling center that was the hallmark of the
ministry. San Leandro in the 1960's and even into the 1970's was
home to a sizeable migrant population and to a growing two-parent
working poor household. Homer added a licensed childcare center
serving 24 children and a thrift store, rounding out the support
services to the community. By the mid 1980's the Church made the
decision to spin off the community center, and the
incorporation was completed in May 1990.
1991: Rebirth
Rose Padilla Johnson came on board in 1991 to a program that
consisted of 65 subsidized childcare slots, a small thrift shop and
food pantry. Her vision was to grow the agency in the area of
family support services, and together with a board of nine community
members began the process.
1992 - 2002: Building the Village
1992
Dr. Irv Herman, a retired physician came to DSCC with the idea of
starting a "free" medical clinic to serve the poorest and uninsured
residents of San Leandro. Embracing the concept, the Executive
Director took the idea to the local Rotary Club who took it on as a
club project.
1994
We opened our first off site licensed childcare center at the
Garfield School campus. This was a critical point for both DSCC and
the community because for the first time, the community recognized
that there was indeed a need for below-market-rate, quality, and
licensed childcare.
1995
With San Leandro Rotary’s support, City Manger Dick Randal, Ivan
Cornelius and Marty Capron we built the RotaCare Free Medical Clinic.
The 450-square-foot space was transformed by the Rotarians into two
exam rooms, a tiny pharmacy and a small reception area.
Patients waited outside, often for up to 2 hours, to see a doctor
and used the church restrooms because the clinic had none.
Nonetheless, the clinic was a huge success. Opened on June 21, 1995
the clinic quickly became the jewel of the community. Over 95% of
the original volunteers are still with us today!
1996
we opened the Joaquin Infant/Toddler/Preschool subsidized program. The center, licensed for 40 children,
was the only fully subsidized infant and toddler program in San Leandro and the Eden Area. Also in 1996, we opened our second child
development program at the Jefferson School site. This subsidized
center is a preschool through 5th grade program and
serves up to 75 low-income children.
In 1998
We opened our 4th before-and after-school enrichment
program at Roosevelt School. This center is the only market-rate
program we operate and its surplus has helped offset the cost of
providing affordable care to low-income families.
We launched San Leandro Works! While the early and mid 90's were
set in a strong and growing economy, the poor were getting poorer
and those on the margin, including seniors, would be hardest hit by the
end of the decade. Supervisor Wilma Chan provided small seed grant
used to launch this endeavor. Our vision was to create a
collaborative partnership that could address the needs people
transitioning off welfare.
The program has changed over the years to accommodate the dwindling
public resources. In fact, we modified the scope of the program to
include the working poor, so that the first wave of Cal Works
clients timing out in January, 2002 would have access to help. It
is important to note that we have clients who have purchased
vehicles, started businesses, bought homes and moved into safer
housing because of the savings accounts. We truly feel that this is
one of the most critical services we can offer families.
In 2001
We
opened a satellite office in the unincorporated area of San Leandro
to meet the needs of another area that is extremely underserved.
Sharing space with a county office, we offered limited basic needs
like food and clothing, with the goal of getting the clients to come
to DSCC for ongoing services. Today, we deliver emergency food
and utility assistance services to the Ashland community and
continue to encourage Ashland residents to visit the FRC for the
myriad programs. Over 85% of the clients that we initially had
contact with have come to the family resource center, confirming the
outcomes of the program.
In 2002
We completed the merger of a local non-profit community-counseling
agency that would have closed its doors after 30 years of service to
the community - the San Leandro Community Counseling (SLCC). We felt very strongly that the addition of vital
mental health services both in the schools and on site, parent
education and domestic violence prevention programs would greatly
enhance the services of the family resource center and move us
forward toward the goal of offering a holistic range of family
support services. We took over the operations, made the merger
official, and complete when we moved into the Family Resource
Center.
The Family Resource Center is the culmination of dreams, vision and
commitment of everyone involved with Davis Street. We were on a
track to build a family resource center, without even knowing it at
first. We knew that we wanted to offer an array of services designed
to help a person improve or maintain their quality of life. We knew
we had outgrown the space at the Church and we knew that we could
grow and strengthen the services.
We Looked and Looked
Reynolds & Brown began looking for our space. We needed space that was at least
20,000 square feet, near a bus stop and affordable! One day it
happened. A high tech firm. that had been recently been bought out,
occupied the ideal space. The tenants needed to move, the owner needed new
tenants and the rest is history. R & B donated thousands of
dollars in the form of architects, space planners and facilitated
the transfer of assets from the tenant to us. We designed the space
working with Family Support California for two years and having visited
the Fremont Family Resource Center.
On October 11, 2002 we officially celebrated the move into our
Family Resource Center. The site is 22,500 square feet. It houses
the administrative functions, the alternative payment program
(subsidized childcare voucher program), SLCC (the mental health
services) the RotaCare free medical clinic, the clothing and food programs, SLWork's (now the LFTS collaborative), the computer lab, and the
dress for success closet and soon the Dr. Jack Goodrich free dental
clinic. Today, Seniors Services Home Visiting
program and Peacemakers are housed here; the East Bay Legal Aid
clinic is offered weekly. Several groups meet here as well they
include: the Homelessness Interfaith Network and the San Leandro Youth
Collaborative.
The design also included the opportunity to add additional services
like our newest program: income tax assistance. We started offering
this service last year focusing on the Earned Income Tax Credit and
the Child Care Tax Credit and were so incredibly successful that we
have since institutionalized it. This year we have added the
financial component, bringing a bank to our site to offer savings
accounts to clients and financial literacy classes as well. We will
also add the enhanced tax assistance to enable clients to amend
prior year returns to recoup more
of
the credit. Over 200 clients
collectively received nearly $186,000 dollars in the first year!
Completing the existing services offered at the FRC are: the utility
assistance program through PG&E, the Homeless voice mail project,
and the emergency shelter vouchers offered by the Salvation Army.
2005: Today is The Future
Today our vision
of a holistic model of
delivering supportive services to the low-income community has come
to fruition with the Family Resource Center. With 68 full/part-time
employees and a budget of
$6+ million, we serve thousands of
individuals each year. Davis
Street is governed by a 21-member volunteer board of
directors. The board has five
standing committees and has become more actively involved in the
plans for long-term sustainability. Our numerous volunteers 80 plus
another 200 for special projects helps keep our services accessible
and augment our ability to serve our clients efficiently.
All our services are integrated by the client services component
that uses family advocates to ensure that a client coming in for one
service is connected with all programs for which they might be
eligible. This "seamless" system mitigates the challenges that
clients face each time they seek help.
Consistent with our philosophy:"
If you give someone a fish, he'll eat for a day, if you teach him
how to fish, he'll eat for a lifetime."
all of our programs are designed to engage the client
and give him or her the tools they need to improve their quality of
life. |
