Community resources for Rodriguez Elementary

Here are some resources around the area. Hope this helps

Group: Christiana, Nikki, Tania, Zach and Eddie

Young Women Christian Association

503 Castroville Rd.

Donna Harris 433-9922

This is a community outreach center who focus not just on women, but families themselves. They have twelve progrems to help the community, and also have a child development center that has up to seventy-five students on any given day. They have programs such as: kinder readiness, positive youth development, sports programs for children, Mi Carrera (go into schools and discuss abstinence with young women), teen volunteer program, young women's enterprise. There is also a program called La Familia which focuses on teaching on realtionship family skills. There is also a senior connection program they have things to do such as: yoga, dance, and water aerobics. Teachers could use this center as a way to connect families with their students. Also if the teacher was teaching older kids they could let them know to volunteer. Student volunteers at the YWCA get to go on trips to the coast and other fun things to get repaid for their service.

The Benavides Learning and Leadership Development Center

Richard DeLeon

435-2352

This center focuses on adults in the area around Rodriguez Elementary. It provides free services and teachers classes in reading and writing, english as a second language, G.E.D. preparation, adult basic education, financial literacy, classes to help people obtain citizenship, and computer technology. The classes range in enrollment from 20-40. This center also offers tutors for the main courses in case the students need extra help. They also help to teach english to immigrants. This is an important center for people in and around San Antonio, and it also benefits teachers to have this option if parents come to the teacher and ask for help because they want to better themselves and their families with an education.

Las Palmas Library

434-6394

This library is located a mile away from Rodriguez Elementary. This branch circulates Spanish language periodicals, and also has staff that is bi-lingual to assist everyone. With over 68 thousand volumes there is much to choose from. As a teacher, a field trip to a large library would be beneficial to chidren. Even though Rodriguez Elementary has a library, a change of scenary to a different location would be interesting to young children.

Communicare Health Center

Nimet

431-6117

Communicare provides comprehensive, affordable quality health care while respecting the dignity, values, and culture of the individual. This center is federally funded as a non-profit community health center. The center focues on primary health care services, including medical, dental, behavioral health, and health education. The center helps people who have insurance, but also the uninsured. This center is beneficial to teachers because they know of a place that will take anyone who is sick, no matter their income.

Southwestern Research Institute

Dan Bates

(210) 522-2257.

6220 Culebra Road. San Antonio, TX 78238

Southwestern Research Institute is not only a company for engineers; they also have programs that are educational for students and the community around it. Since 1994, SwRI engineers have served as volunteers and mentors for the annual SA BEST (San Antonio Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology) competition, in which area high school students and mentors from local businesses team for six weeks to design and build remote-controlled robots that compete in a robot-to-robot competition. SwRI is a proud sponsor of the event. Students also receive a tour of the Institute and an opportunity to meet with scientists and engineers in his/her field of interest. They also scout students and promote being engineers when going to college. They also have members actively participate in various community activities in San Antonio usually volunteers to help refurbish facilities such as Joseph Children's Home in 2006.

Our Lady of the Lake University

411 S.W. 24th St., San Antonio

Tessa Martinez Pollack

Tele: 210-434-6711

Almost directly next to Rodriguez Elementary School is Our Lady of the Lake University. Our Lady of the Lake University was the first San Antonio institution of higher education to receive regional accreditation. It has been accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools since 1923. In 1927 it became the third Texas school to be approved by the American Association of Universities. Aside from the obvious fact that it’s a university which sets an immediate example for the students to look up academically, it also sets a very religious tone for the entire area. OLLU is a catholic-based university which can be seen from very far away. It’s not surprising to see several other religious references in the area around the school, including several other primary schools. The university also has a rich Hispanic history and that also feeds into the surrounding area, as many of the community resources seemed to be of Hispanic influence.

Las Palmas Square

803 Castroville Rd San Antonio tx 78237

210-431-9758

Las Palmas Square is located about half a mile away from Rodriguez Elementary School, and within it is a plethora of community resources available to its occupants. Inside the square, there was a Dollar General, an Easy Pawn, a Subway along with several other restaurants, and several beauty salons, among other things. Las Palmas Square is definitely a place where a person can generally find something that suits them.

La Fiesta supermarket

(210) 432-8844

448 Castroville Rd, San Antonio

A few blocks from Rodriguez Elementary School, and on the same street as the H-E-B, is the La Fiesta supermarket. It is substantially smaller in the H-E-B, and due to its proximity, seemed unusual. It blended in well with the culture of the area however, and did seem to have plenty of customers. It appeared that customers chose to shop at La Fiesta if they only needed a specific ingredients that are rare in mainstream grocery stores.

Calderon Branch Boys and Girls Club:

Branch Director: Sebrina Ornelas and her number is 434-4383

600 SW 19th San Antonio, TX 78207

Boys and Girls Club provides services to disadvantaged youth living within the communities of the east and west sides of San Antonio since 1939. They serve over 6,300 members ages 6-18 years old. 97 percent of club members are minorities; and more than 50% are from single parent families. 90% of members' families untilize jsome form of federal assistance. The annual dues is $50 per member. The major programs include sports & recreation activities, academic assistance, career and leadership activies, arts & crafts, substance abuse prevention services, enviromental awareness, counseling, individual and neighborhood safety, adult mentoring, and outreach for Hispanic families and referral services as needed.

Avance Child Development Center:

2642 Castroville Rd
San Antonio, TX 78237

The person I spoke to was Cathy Guerrero but the head of that branch is Priscilla Ponce. The number is 735-9155. Only allows children from 0-3 years. Starting at 30 months they start the transition for the child to a school district of a PCI. This center is for low income families below the poverty line and for the parents to recieve help they either have to be working or attending school. The program is free and they are open Monday thru Friday 8-5. The center only has 32 children with four classrooms. That is 8 children to a classroom with 2 teachers in each. While there the children get free diapers, wipes, formula, and baby food. If the parents income happens to become higher than the poverty line while the kids are still attending, the children are allowed to stay until they reach the age of 3. There are a total of 4 of these centers in San Antonio.

San Antonio Fire Station 8

David Valero

(210) 207-8422.

600 S. Hamilton St. San Antonio, TX 78207

San Antonio Fire Station 8 is one of the older fire stations in San Antonio. They go out and give guest lectures to the near by schools helping them become more aware of fire safety. They have the children go through a simulated fire to educate the students how to be safe. Because the increasing problem of children causing fire hazards in 1994 they also created a program called the Juvenile Firesetters Intervention. The program teaches a system to educate and referral children who have set fires or display firesetting behaviors. This program is mainly focused on children.

Bazan Library

2200 W. Commerce St. San Antonio, TX 78207

(210) 225-1614

Laurie Gruenbeck

This Library serves approximately 60,000+ persons: 95% Hispanic, 1% African-American, 4% Other. They opened in 1977 being the only library in this area. They provide all the resources that the children need to work with and does joint business with the schools surrounding it. They have a large activist Spanish book collections and a small Latino collection. Their purpose is to “To promote public use of the San Antonio Public Library and appreciation of its value as a cultural and educational asset to the community, and to encourage the extension and improvement of its services.” They have multicultural events that happen every month.