A celebration of change

Elise Gee

WEST SIDE -- Five years ago, Maria Alvarez was confronting drug

addicts in abandoned cars on Shalimar Street. Now, she’s helping

7-year-olds with their math and spelling.

Alvarez, a co-director at the Shalimar Learning Center, and dozens of

other community members attended an open house Monday commemorating the

center’s fifth anniversary and the first day of operations for the new

school year. The joyous crowd also celebrated the efforts that have

transformed Shalimar from one of the roughest areas in Costa Mesa to an

after-school refuge for children who need help with their homework or

improving their English skills.

“It surpasses everything we expected,” said Paty Madueno, who as a

longtime member of St. Joaquim’s church in Costa Mesa, helped found

Shalimar.

Today, there are 300 children and teens registered at the center, and

on any given day 160 students pass through its doors, said Peter De Soto,

the center’s executive director. The three converted apartments at 779

Shalimar St. are packed full of students with their noses buried in books

as tutors watch their progress overhead.

Students also wait outside in lines eager for their turn to get in.

Since the center’s founding, a teen center and computer lab have been

added and tutoring times must be staggered to accommodate everyone who

wants help.

It’s a success that founders hoped to, and have, established at other

county locations. Shalimar was formed as an outreach ministry by St.

Andrew’s Presbyterian Church of Newport Beach, along with St. Joaquim’s

church in Costa Mesa and Women of Vision.

St. Andrew’s continues to support the center financially and

contributed more than $100,000 to its operations this year, said Ralph

McCall, missions associate at the church.

Randy Barth, an elder at St. Andrew’s and co-founder of Shalimar, was

inspired by the learning center’s success to found THINK Together as a

springboard for similar learning centers in other communities. There are

now five in the cities of Santa Ana, Orange and Tustin.

“As Shalimar began to unfold and become effective, we thought it was

something that was replicable,” said Pablo R. Diaz, THINK Together’s

executive director.

The learning center has helped send a number of kids to college whose

parents never graduated high school, De Soto said. Two years ago, 13 of

the 14 seniors who graduated from Shalimar went on to college. Last year,

it was three out of four, De Soto said.

At Whittier Elementary, where the student body is 95% Latino, teachers

and staff have formed partnerships with the learning center, Principal

Sharon Blakely said. Last year three staff members from Whittier were

sent to the center to help with English Language Development and teaching

techniques. The funding for that service will be picked up this year

through a grant received by the learning center, Blakely said.

The center also serves as a good link for parents who have limited

Spanish-speaking skills.

Luis Ochoa, a freshman at Newport Harbor High School, has come to the

center nearly everyday since he was in the fourth grade. Ochoa said he

comes for the extra help the tutors offer.

“My parents can’t help me because they don’t speak much English,”

Ochoa said.

And the benefits at Shalimar go beyond education.

“We’ve opted to choose tutoring, homework help and education as the

vehicle to impact the community,” Diaz said.

Those methods have far-reaching effects that touch multiple layers in

the community and in families.

The learning center sparked other efforts in the community, including

a task force that addressed crime, code enforcement and beautification of

the neighborhood.

“There was a time when Maria (Alvarez) had 20 to 30 gang members

standing outside her fence,” Madueno said.

Those days seemed distant Monday night, with families replacing the

gang members and children running in and out of the center. Through THINK

Together, community activists hope to start more centers throughout the

county, and there’s a good chance the effort will be duplicated in Costa

Mesa although that could be a year or more away, Diaz said.

“It would be great if Shalimar could give birth to another center,” he

said.

De Soto agreed.

“There’s still a huge need in Costa Mesa,” he said.