The Lori Escobar El Toro Youth Center is in danger of cutting its hours or closing altogether if its supporters can’t find an ongoing source of funding, and that would be devastating for kids like 9-year-old Josh Bojorquez.
Since he started attending the youth center on Crest Avenue after school and on summer afternoons, Bojorquez’ grades at P.A. Walsh Elementary School, where he is in the fourth grade, have improved in every subject – especially math, according to his mother Cecilia Canobbio.
Bojorquez was recently recognized by his teacher for his improvement in math, and was invited to an “advanced” program in that subject in October, Canobbio said.
Also since attending the El Toro Youth Center daily, Bojorquez has been more focused at school due to his academic improvements, and his social skills around grownups have improved, his mother said.
“He was sad when he heard the center was going to close because he would have no one to help with his homework,” Canobbio said in Spanish, with youth center Director Alban Diaz translating. “He doesn’t like missing a day at El Toro (Youth Center).”
Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County, the nonprofit that runs the El Toro Youth Center, is in the midst of a critical fundraising drive to keep the facility open through next year, according to Catholic Charities CEO Greg Kepferle. Even when Catholic Charities took over the youth center from another local organization a couple years ago – also due to that organization’s funding woes – its staff knew they couldn’t fund the center by themselves for the long-term future. Â
The fundraising effort has been a success so far, but the youth center needs a permanent solution.
“It looks very hopeful we will be able to keep the center open for next year, and that will give us some time to work on a sustainability plan,” Kepferle said. “The El Toro Youth Center is really a gem of the community, and it’s really wonderful to see neighbors stepping up to help kids find a safe place to learn, do homework, develop their literacy skills, and have a fun place to be after school.”
The El Toro Youth Center has been in operation serving low-income children for 24 years, according to Diaz. The key services offered there are homework assistance for local students ages 7 to 18. They also play games and sports, go to the movies and develop their computer skills at the youth center when they finish their homework.
During the school year, up to 60 kids per day attend the El Toro Youth Center, Diaz said. During the summer the daily attendance drops off a little bit.
“We want them to get their grades up, and develop good study habits so they can attend a college or university,” Diaz said. “And we do one hour of sports or one hour of arts and crafts – we want them doing something active, or develop their artistic side.”
The youth center has an operating budget of about $130,000 per year, and as of early this week they needed about $19,000 to continue operating at full capacity, said Morgan Hill Mayor Steve Tate, who sits on an informal board of advisors for the youth center known as Los Amigos de El Toro.
“What better way to support kids than to make sure they’re off the streets, doing their homework and hanging out with positive kids who are doing positive things,” Tate said.
Members of that board have spent the last few weeks reaching out to potential donors and thanking those who have pledged donations. And for the first time this year, Catholic Charities had to ask the low-income parents of children who attend the youth center to contribute with user fees of about $60 per month per child, Kepferle said.
The parents have agreed to do so, and Kepferle is encouraged by their support.
“That’s wonderful to see, knowing that many of the families have a challenge of surviving on their income,” he said. “It’s great that they’re committed to funding this as well.”
The Morgan Hill City Council, at a recent budget workshop, agreed to fund the El Toro Youth Center to the tune of $15,000 annually. That’s on top of the City’s already “generous” commitment to donate the use of the youth center’s building, and utilities, at 17620 Crest Ave., Kepferle said.
Catholic Charities is also offering to rent the building to outside groups for special events as another revenue source, Kepferle added.
Tate added that in addition to donations and funding, the Amigos de El Toro board is looking for some volunteers to help secure an ongoing and sustainable source of funding for the facility – an elusive goal that supporters hope to reach before next year.
One recent afternoon – like most – after a reading session, the El Toro Youth Center was a hive of activity with about 20 kids, most between 8 and 12. Some played games on the Nintendo Wii; took advantage of the computers; lined up against some of their peers for a game of air hockey; or enjoyed a game of soccer outside.
About half a dozen of those children who were interviewed briefly by the Times said they started attending the El Toro Youth Center – usually at their parents’ urging – to get help with their homework. All of them reported positive results since they started attending the facility.
“Last trimester, I had one C and the rest B’s and A’s,” said Leo Ruiz, 10, a student at P.A. Walsh Elementary. “And the trimester before that I had all B’s and A’s.”
Ruiz has been a regular attendee at the youth center for the last three years, he said.
Diaz, 25, the youth center director, said most of the daily attendees are residents of nearby neighborhoods on Crest and Wright avenues, where many residents live in below-market-rate housing.
Diaz is himself a product of the El Toro Youth Center, which he attended “off and on” from fourth grade through high school.
When he expressed interest in working at the youth center, former director and El Toro Youth Center founder Lori Escobar, who died in 2011, said he could only do so if he was attending college.
He enrolled at Evergreen Valley College for two years, then transferred to San Jose State University. Diaz is on track to graduate from SJSU in December with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
Diaz added he knows several other former El Toro Youth Center clients who went on to college.
Without the local youth center, Diaz said about 60 kids would have one less positive adult role model in their lives, and nobody to help them with their homework.
“(The youth center) gets kids off the streets,” Diaz said. “And you won’t have kids just sitting at home watching TV.”
To pledge or make donations to the El Toro Youth Center, contact any of the following:
• El Toro Youth Center: (408) 779-6002, 17620 Crest Ave., Morgan Hill, CA 95037-4204
• Mayor Steve Tate: (408) 621-7377
• Or attend the next meeting of Los Amigos de El Toro at 6 p.m. Friday, at the El Toro Youth Center.
