A new Family Resource Center opened Wednesday on the East Side inside a two-bedroom loft at The Andy rental community and shared workspace for families seeking financial and community support.
The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County and Houston-based nonprofit adoption agency DePelchin Children’s Center opened the center to serve the 78219 and 78220 zip codes, but welcomes any parent in San Antonio who needs it, organizers said.
“The center [creates] co-located resources and support for parents of young children at the neighborhood level,” said Chris Martin, CEO of the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County at an event Wednesday celebrating the opening. “This is really about how we work in this neighborhood to strengthen the people in this community, but also strengthen the neighborhood itself.”
The 2,500-square-foot center on the East Side is the first such opening, with plans for more to come in San Antonio, according to the United Way. This center was funded by the MacKenzie Scott Foundation that the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County received in 2021.
At the East Side location, across from the Frost Bank Center, two rooms upstairs serve as counseling rooms and have a free toy closet for children in need. Downstairs, a big open lobby welcomes families: A play center with children’s books in a corner, a computer workspace equipped with four laptops, four desktops and a printer, plus a cozy seating area.
Near the kitchen, a basic necessities closet holds things like diapers, baby formula, safeguard home sets and digital thermometers, accessible for families who need them.
“Whatever you’re looking for— be it family engagement activities, finding a way to access affordable child care, family support services or any other critical issues that members of this community are facing, it will be here,” Martin said.
A small number of tenants at The Andy attended Wednesday’s event celebrating the new space and seemed excited to welcome their new neighbor.
While people toured the new space inside, some neighboring small businesses were open for business like Oasis Water Solutions and House of RoyalT Beauty Bar and Lounge.
A bulletin board with big letters that spelled RESOURCES greeted every person walking in for the first time. On that board, 14 flyers shared information about local food pantries, community closets, affordable child care programs, Ready To Work and mental health resources.
A table underneath it shared more information with guides on how to brush your child’s teeth, how to create a safe sleep environment, child safety and more.
Mayor Ron Nirenberg said the East Side Family Resource Center will work because it’s being guided by people who live in the community: The United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County is recruiting a parent advisory council made up of four to six community members who will guide the work and focus of the nonprofit at the center.
“It takes a village to raise a child, and in this city, like most other cities, families need help,” Nirenberg said. “It’s one thing for us to create policy and good programs and to fund those. … But it’s another thing to make sure we have boots on the ground to make sure those services are delivered appropriately to the families in need.”
The DePelchin Children’s Center will run the day-to-day: Two bilingual family resource specialists help families navigate resources for parenting and financial literacy, a supervisor, and about four more people will provide counseling to families who need it at no cost.
Kevin Shandy, program manager for YouthBuild of San Antonio by 100 Black Men of San Antonio, Inc., a second-chance program for high school drop outs under 24, visited the center on Wednesday with a number of teens from his program.
“In our neighborhood, we have a lot of young adults who are parents who probably haven’t received any type of guidance on how to become a parent, so young adults, even in my program who are parents, [they’re] going to have a resource to go get the help they need,” Shandy said.
The United Way has opened other Family Resource Centers in other parts of the state, and says the neighborhood model works, “improving economic stability and strengthening families” through peer support, the nonprofit said.
When looking at potential areas to put a resource center, the United Way study the risk factors of each area and limited assets like local nonprofits and childcare centers, said Alejandra Maia, family resource center network director for the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.
“They’re all unique and very specific to the needs of the neighborhoods,” she said. “Some are specific for workforce development, some are specific for reducing poverty.”
Maia said she believes the new resource center will quickly outgrow the space because of the goal to expand the basic needs pantry.
The DePelchin Children’s Center is no stranger to resource center programs like this one — it runs a state-funded resource center in Houston.
Marilu Watkins, project coordinator for the DePelchin Children’s Center, said it measures successful outcomes in Houston by the personal testimonies from families who receive help.
The center gets families that are “overwhelmed and stressed out,” and the approach, Watkins said, is, “What can we do to support you? What can we do to take stress off your load?” That includes things like food, child care and even workforce development.
“We’re here to help them. We’re here to provide wraparound support to them. When they feel they can’t go anywhere else, we’re here to link them to community services,” Watkins said.
As they prepare to open the future resource centers like the East Side location, the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County will identify an advisory council of neighborhood families to help determine what each community needs.
“What we don’t want to is come in and say ‘We know what you need,'” Maia said.
The East Side center will be open Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and will hold community events for families, like parent cafes in the evenings and seminars on parenting.
Evening hours are available by appointment.
