Boys, Girls Club Opens Family Campus

A new family resource and support center opened over the weekend. The Girls and Boys Club of Garden Grove, which has been operating eight smaller support centers in the city since 1956, unveiled its $2-million Family Campus, housed in the refurbished FHP Medical Center on Chapman Avenue.

Born from public demand for more preschool programs, according to club officials, the Family Campus could serve as a model for future resource centers in Orange County.

The center will provide early-childhood education programs, preschool day care, a family resource library, after-school tutoring programs, family workshops and parent education classes.

“With all of these resources under one roof, it may be the first [center] of its kind in the nation,” said Pat Halberstadt, chief professional officer with the club.

When the club’s board of directors decided to open a comprehensive family center, they initially wanted to build a new center from the ground up. But Halberstadt said a new building would have cost the club twice as much and taken twice as long to open.

As it is, the club has taken out a mortgage, the first in the club’s 44 years, to open the center.

“We’re taking an educated risk,” Halberstadt said. “We’re hoping that funding can continue to come through.”

Halberstadt said the club has raised about a third of the funds for the project from private donors. Now that the center is open, it will be eligible for state funding, she said.

The club is partnering with a number of community agencies to provide support programs for area families. One partner, the Junior League of Orange County, organized the family resource library and will provide mentors for students at the center. The Garden Grove Police Department will work with the club to provide truancy reduction and juvenile delinquency diversion programs.

Most important, the Garden Grove Unified School District will work to provide kindergarten readiness programs and English as a second language classes for parents.

“If a child’s parents don’t read or write [English], then they can’t help them with homework,” Halberstadt said. “All children need to be read to. When that happens, they’re better prepared to read themselves.”

“You pretty much have to serve the whole family to make sure that the child gets everything that they need,” she says. “We expect to have families from everywhere in Orange County. This is a resource, not just for day care, but for parents to raise their children better.”

Chris Ceballos can be reached at (714) 966-7440.