Confetti flew, tears flowed and brows were wiped in the sweltering heat as staff, volunteers, students, parents and community partners gathered to cut the ribbon on the new Neighborhood Church Community Center Saturday morning, Aug. 8, in Visalia, California.
Neighborhood Church built the Community Center in the Houston neighborhood, four miles from the church campus and in one of Visalia’s lower-income communities. It is strategically placed just over the playground fence from Houston Elementary School, where for 20 years the church has partnered with teachers, administrators and families to strengthen the school and open doors of opportunity for students.
The Center will serve as the home for Neighborhood Degree, a nonprofit that Neighborhood Church established in 2023, expanding its neighborhood ministry to extend support to Visalia’s junior high and high school students and their families with a goal of breaking cycles of generational poverty.
In her remarks at the ribbon cutting, Neighborhood Degree CEO Stephanie Benthin summarized the trajectory of the organization this way: “What started 20 years ago as painting over graffiti and giving away backpacks has turned into a community of support that surrounds kids and families from kindergarten to college and career.”
Neighborhood Church Lead Pastor Forrest Jenan pointed to the Community Center as a sign of the church’s long-term commitment.
“We want to be a church that shows up, that listens, a church willing to be there for the long haul,” Jenan says. “We want students to know that we believe in their future and they are not walking toward their future alone. They will always have a partner with Neighborhood Church.”
Visalia Vice Mayor Liz Wynn says the Community Center is “a prime example of a public-private partnership that works to serve our community. I’d love to see these replicated in every single school.”
One of the ceremony emcees, Elaine Carrasco, executive director of the local Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, was among those who shed a tear of joy. She had to take a moment to compose herself, explaining that she herself was a “first-generation,” the first in her own family to graduate from college.
Kandice Bernal, a college sophomore and Neighborhood Degree volunteer, is on that same path. After the ceremony she explains her excitement.
“I’ve been in all of the programs since I was about 6 years old,” Bernal says. “Now, I go to College of the Sequoias and am going to transfer out to Fresno State University soon. My goal is to come back and teach here. I want to make sure I’m always giving back to the people that gave me so much in life.”
She envisions the many new possibilities that the Community Center will bring.
“Kids will have a place to study and to hang out if they need a place away from home,” Bernal says. “Our little cheerleaders are going to be able to practice in here instead of in that big old field out in the heat.”
Hundreds of people endured the August heat, gathering in the Center’s parking lot for the celebration. After the ribbon was cut, visitors toured the spacious auditorium and classrooms filled with natural light, envisioning the Center’s impact as it becomes a site for connections in the community including peer support, training for students, parents and volunteers, and cultural exchanges.
Did you know…
MB Foundation helped with the financing of this project! Read more about the partnership of Neighborhood Church and MB Foundation as well as photos from the journey.
Kathy Heinrichs Wiest is a freelance writer who loves the smell of whole wheat bread in the oven, the feel of an orange being plucked from the tree and the view from her front porch in Kingsburg, California. She and her husband, Steve, own Dovetail Remodeling. They have two grown daughters, one son-in-law and a precious granddaughter.
