New learning centers planned for Westside

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- A nonprofit announced plans Thursday morning to use the

Shalimar Learning Center model to develop a chain of centers blanketing

the city’s Westside.

“There are a lot of opportunities on the Westside to do what we want,”

said Randy Barth, founder of Think Together, the organization that runs

Shalimar and eight other learning centers in the county. “We’re strongest

here at Shalimar. The model works best here, where the resources and the

need are close together.”

As long as grant and donation money comes through, Think Together,

which in April opened a new learning center at Pomona Elementary School,

expects to open two new centers in September and two more in October,

Barth said at a Latino Community Network meeting Thursday.

The group has not yet decided on any locations and is surveying the

schools to find out where a learning center would enhance the community,

he said.

“We’re trying to throw out our idea and drive people to it,” Barth

said. “We’re going to identify what’s in place and fill in the gaps.”

Think Together will work to enhance existing programs at Westside

schools and to set up learning centers in neighborhoods farther away from

the schools that don’t already have homework and tutoring assistance, he

said.

While it took Think Together six months to open Shalimar, Barth said

he thinks the organization now has the ability to open new Westside

learning centers in about two weeks because of a strong, established

volunteer base.

Think Together also has been in Shalimar for more than six years,

giving it a solid foundation to build on, he said.

“We don’t have the network in, say, Tustin or Santa Ana that we do

here in Costa Mesa,” he said. “Things are brewing here, such as the UCI

outreach center and churches’ activities, that make this community a

tremendous opportunity.

“At [Shalimar and Pomona], volunteers are getting their feet wet so

they’ll be ready to go when it is time to take on a new learning center

of their own. And while we open more centers here, we can still work on

other places at the same time.”

Hank Panian, a longtime Costa Mesa resident, said learning centers are

needed throughout the city.

“I think any assistance is positive and necessary,” he said. “All you

have to do is look at the Stanford 9 scores for Estancia and Costa Mesa

high schools to see that. We seem to focus primarily on the Westside, and

obviously a need is being met there with Shalimar and the decision of

Think Together to expand their offering. I’m just hoping that, in the

process, we don’t lose sight of the needs in the whole community,

including the Eastside.

“These learning centers would basically center around students going

to Estancia High School, but Costa Mesa High School demographics

demonstrate a need for learning centers there as well.”

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