{"id":113152,"date":"2025-08-02T14:12:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113152\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T14:12:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T14:12:12","slug":"south-side-community-center-to-stay-open-under-local-nonprofit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/113152\/","title":{"rendered":"South Side community center to stay open under local nonprofit"},"content":{"rendered":"

After coming dangerously close to shutting its doors earlier this year, the Presa Community Center on the South Side has gotten a second wind under new management.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Operating since the 1970s, the community center has served the city\u2019s South Central community through programs for older adults, food pantries and youth programs. Originally run out of local church basements, the center eventually found its home at 3721 S. Presa St. in the 1990s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At one point, the center had more than 30 employees and offered a robust list of programs, but money ran dry and a brief stint of revolving-door leadership followed. By January, the center had a bare-bones staff of four and several cut services, said longtime employee Regina Aguirre. <\/p>\n

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The center\u2019s biggest supporters, United Way and the Alamo Area Council of Governments, had to find someone else to take up the mantle, and despite being hesitant at first, the longstanding and local nonprofit Family Service agreed to take it on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Family Service Chief Operating Officer Richard Davidson said the Presa Community Center was previously being funded through private and government \u201cpass-through funding,\u201d or grants. \u00a0Now, Family Service is working to keep those funding channels alive while \u201cmaximizing\u201d their own contracts to address social determinants of health needs in the Presa center neighborhoods, he added. <\/p>\n

As of July 10, the center is officially known as the Family Service Presa Community Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Family Service will offer a new Head Start program out of a portable building behind the Presa Community Center on the South Side. Credit: Xochilt Garcia \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Aguirre has managed the center\u2019s emergency food pantry for 14 years, and now she\u2019s a coordinator under the new management. Having Family Service take over was a huge blessing, she said.<\/p>\n

Recalling the months before the nonprofit took over, Aguirre said the center was \u201cso quiet.\u201d Now, the parking lot is full and the pantry no longer closes for lunch \u2014 it\u2019s open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., a change not yet reflected on the center\u2019s website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a new chapter for Presa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Early education expands on South Side<\/p>\n

Perhaps the biggest change to the center under Family Service is the opening of a new Head Start program on the South Side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The federally funded Head Start program<\/a> provides free early education and child care services for low-income families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Operating out of a portable classroom behind the Presa center\u2019s main building, the center will now offer two Head Start classes with a total of approximately 40 seats. To launch a Head Start program at the Presa Community Center, Family Service moved slots from locations where enrollment was declining.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Family Service President and CEO Mary Garr said moving those unused spots to the city\u2019s South Central community, where fewer quality early childhood programs are available, made sense.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An advocacy group that researches child care deserts called Children at Risk found that there are about 46 child care seats available per 100 children of working parents in San Antonio\u2019s District 3<\/a>, where the Presa center is located.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Presa center will be Family Service\u2019s 24th and southernmost Head Start location.<\/p>\n

While the portable is undergoing renovations, Family Service is accepting applications for students and Garr expects the new Head Start site to open by the end of August.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Senior, pantry and youth services continue<\/p>\n

Part of the reason Family Service agreed to take on this new project was to ensure services that had been provided by the Presa center for years continued, like programming for older adults and food pantries \u2014 resources Family Service hasn\u2019t traditionally offered before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even though Family Service officially took over in July, the nonprofit stepped in earlier to save the center\u2019s summer youth program, a free camp where families could enroll their children while school is out.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s unclear how many clients the center serves, because records were either lost or not kept previously, the center\u2019s most-used resources are probably those offered to older residents in the area.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Camerino Ramirez, 91, drops by the center almost every day with his wife during senior social hours. He\u2019s been a patron of the senior center since 1991.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ramirez and his wife have gotten to know the staff and other patrons of the center pretty well, describing them as a family. Had the Presa center closed, Ramirez said he wouldn\u2019t have gone to a different senior center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Camerino Ramirez, 91, visits the Presa Community Center almost every day for senior social hour. A patron of the center for 26 years, he and his wife would not go to a different center if the Presa location closed. Credit: Xochilt Garcia \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re happy here,\u201d Ramirez, an Air Force veteran, said in Spanish while sitting in a corner of the senior center. He and his wife especially enjoy the social aspect of the center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Presa\u2019s senior center also provides free groceries for low-income older adults through city programs like Project HOPE (Healthy Options Program for the Elderly) and the national Commodity Supplemental Food Program.<\/p>\n

For Garr, the center\u2019s legacy as a resource for the community\u2019s oldest and youngest members was a selling point when considering whether Family Service should take over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to see those services lost when the need is still here,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By securing grant funding, Garr hopes Family Service can bring back resources once offered through the Presa center, such as volunteer income tax services and free transportation for older residents. She also envisions bringing on a financial adviser who could drop by the center a few days a week to offer their services to the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, the center\u2019s staff is focused on getting the word out that they\u2019re still serving the community. A longtime employee of the center, Aguirre cried when she first saw the new, colorful marquee marking the center\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really didn\u2019t know what was going to happen. I\u2019m glad we were able to stay here for the neighborhood and the families that I\u2019ve met over the years, who\u2019ve learned to trust us,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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