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.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.