Five-year-old Noel Villapando stood before more than 50 people gathered to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Safe Passage in Fort Bragg and appeared too shy to speak.
But when reminded he was to say what had happened to him at Safe Passage, he burst out of his reverie and breached a wide smile.
“When I came to Safe Passage, I couldn”t talk. Now I talk two languages,” he beamed.
Last Tuesday, Safe Passage offered an open house with snacks, nonalcoholic sparkly juice in champagne glasses and lots of information about an agency devoted to whole family learning outside the classroom.
Noel”s family is an example of how Safe Passage can uplift parents and kids together. While Noel was enrolled in Early Start, a program for kids age 0-3 that offers speech therapy among other services, his sister was at Camp Mendocino and his mother was taking a family nurturing class.
The once speechless little Noel has achieved top test scores and demonstrates a colorful and talkative personality. He told this reporter, with great fascination, how his name looked and sounded different in Spanish. He invented a third jabber language at the event when he discovered everyone was pleased that he spoke two languages, said Irene Malone, who works with the Early Start program.
While those in the program need a little extra help, some like Noel can accelerate to the top of the glass in school skills by kindergarten. Meanwhile, mom is working on her General Equivalency Diploma (GED) at Safe Passage, another benefit to the quality of life and thus education, the young students will have.
The crowd at last week”s event, which included Fort Bragg City Councilwoman Meg Courtney and Councilman Doug Hammerstrom, along with Fourth District Supervisor Kendall Smith and district attorney candidate Meredith Lintott, heard the still-evolving history of family resource centers from Safe Passage Executive Director Laura Welter.
The first family resource center was started in Chicago in 1889 to assimilate immigrant families into the American experience, making it easier for their kids at school, Welter said. Midwestern and Southeastern states, such as Kentucky and Tennessee, pioneered the idea in the 1970s and 1980s, provoking interest in California. When Safe Passage opened in Fort Bragg in 1996, the Pete Wilson administration was promoting and funding the centers all over the state and the concept has had bipartisan support.
“No two are alike,” said Welter. She and board President Barbara Durigan recently toured family resource centers in other cities.
Family resource centers can be found in hospitals, in apartment complexes, in YMCAs and recreation centers and, quite often, in schools. Welter said there are some centers based in state social services, some community-based centers and others associated with school districts.
Safe Passage is a blending of all three ingredients. Located just north of Fort Bragg High School, the Mendocino County Office of Education administers its grant, Fort Bragg Unified School District its local finances and North Coast Opportunities hires employees and manages the programs.
“This one is kind of a hybrid. It took me quite a while to figure that out,” Welter said.
On the educational side, Safe Passage offers classes such as anger management and family empowerment. Rita Hurley facilitates a “discipline with confidence” class, which is often court-ordered and referred by social service programs.
Another example of how social services can play into the educational experience is Safe Passage helps people hook up with the agencies needed to get on the path to health insurance. Studies show kids do better in school after their family gets health insurance, Welter said.
A priority for 2007 at Safe Passage is for more after-school programs for middle and high school students.
“There isn”t a lot for young people who are not involved in athletics to do after school,” Welter said.
A favorite mentoring program is the Lunch Bunch — Fort Bragg High School students who come to Safe Passage for food, fun, mentoring and discussion of an important topic to teens.
“About a dozen students meet here weekly for lunch and discuss ways to learn more about an issue of importance to them. This year the group is focusing on binge drinking among teenagers. They will do research and hope to produce a video,” Welter said.
Safe Passage priorities include goals as broad as gang resistance, breast feeding awareness, literacy promotion and expanded GED and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. In 2005-06, Safe Passage assisted 1,734 individuals in 550 families, Welter said.
There is a newly resumed Spanish language GED program and efforts spent on money management. All these efforts are designed to help kids do better in school.
“As an adult you have to first get your own act together,” Welter said.
A new idea is for a “Big Mammas” program in which an older experienced mother would volunteer to mentor younger mothers, especially those without their own mother present or interested.
“We have Big Brothers Big Sisters, it is a good time for a Big Mamas program,” said Welter. While the idea got approval from the crowd, some thought the name might deter some volunteers.
An urgent need is for someone to volunteer to build a Website for Safe Passage.
“It”s getting to the point that people don”t look in the Yellow Pages at all, they just Google to find something,” said Welter.
Safe Passage”s other volunteer needs were also described in a PowerPoint show, including the need for a new Safe Passage brochure, to answer the phone in the office, to spiff up landscaping at the center, to organize a fund-raiser or to teach an after-school class.
The board of directors, which includes Barbara Durigan, Paula Cohen, Lura Damiano, Fayne Leventhal and Deborah Moody, seeks new people to serve as board members.
The local Kiwanis Club, which meets every Tuesday at noon at the senior center, has adopted Safe Passage this year.
“Safe Passage has already received a check from the Fort Bragg Kiwanis to be used toward the construction of a fence on the west side of our building. This will create a safe outdoor play area for our kids who are here while their parents attend our classes. Also, the Key Club (a high school club sponsored by Kiwanis) will help us paint the child care room this spring,” said Welter.
Other community partners include the Fort Bragg Unified School District, Mendocino County Youth Project, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mendocino Coast Recreation and Park District, the Coalition for Gang Awareness and Prevention and Noyo Food Forest.
Safe Passage”s first employee ever, Charlene Leonard, was among those on hand for the celebration. Welter recognized the entire staff and all the teachers involved by name, describing their work.
Safe Passage began in 1996 with a vision from Sally Bates who believed that for children to experience success as they move through school, the entire family unit needs to be supported.
A Healthy Start grant provided start-up funds in 1996, and Safe Passage was on its way, with an answering machine-phone purchased by Soroptimists, and office and classroom space provided by the school district.
Early members of the “Safe Passage Council” included Allen Peterson, Camille Ranker, Patti Campbell, Jim Hurst, Norb Olbrantz, Liz Henry, Joanne Frazer, Becky Mikesell, Bella Davidson, Dan Porter and Holly Guggenheim.
Safe Passage is located at 208 Dana St., Fort Bragg For more information, call 964-3077.
