SANTA ANA : Service Center Finds a Permanent Home

After a summer of uncertainty, the Neighborhood Service Center, which serves one of the poorest areas of Santa Ana, has finally found a permanent home--less than a block away from its former location.

In June, the center was forced to vacate the church it had been renting when church officials said they needed the site for a new congregation. The center then moved into some vacant portable classrooms owned by the Santa Ana Unified School District until a permanent site could be found.

The new location, at 1141 E. Chestnut St., is a county-owned building that was once used for paramedic training. At 4,300 square feet, it is considerably smaller than the center’s former location.

But Maryann Salamida, the center’s executive director, said it is ideal because it is very accessible to those in the neighborhood.

“This summer has been hard on people because they didn’t know where we were or where to go for help,” Salamida said.

Residents near the center in the Minnie Street neighborhood, a 22-block area in the southeast section of the city, have come to rely on the center for emergency food, clothing, counseling, medical referrals and paralegal services.

The center also provides literacy, English as a Second Language and prenatal classes to the estimated 12,000 Latinos and Cambodians in the area.

Salamida said the center will continue to provide the basic services and classes that it always has, but there will be more of an emphasis on helping people to improve their self-image.