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Printed
on Thursday, September 29, 2005
San Jose Mercury News
Safe
Haven for Youths is Hoping to Expand
By Michael Cronk
The Bill Wilson Center -- a source of counseling, housing and educational services to troubled, runaway and homeless teens for more than 30 years -- wants to increase the capacity of its emergency shelter on The Alameda in Santa Clara.
"We're licensed by the state to house 16 children, and there has never been enough money to support more than that," said Sparky Harlan, the center's executive director since 1983.
"It'll take about $200,000 a year to reach the capacity of 20 that the shelter was built for," she said. "There are a lot of kids that could be served by the center if we had the space."
The non-profit Bill Wilson Center had a budget of $5.8 million for 2003-2004, the last year for which information is available. It is funded primarily through government grants. But there's never a guarantee that those funds will continue or increase to meet the needs of more youths. So, center officials continually seek individual and corporate donations, Harlan said.
"We've got a lot of ideas on how to help kids and families, and expanding the shelter is one of them," said Judy Whittier, the center's director of community resources, although the center doesn't have a specific fundraising plan in place.
The center serves more than 10,000 clients annually through a variety of programs that include family and individual counseling, a homeless youth drop-in center in downtown San Jose and transitional housing sites throughout the county. The Center for Living with Dying and Contact Cares, a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week telephone hotline, merged with the Bill Wilson Center last year.
The center is named after a former Santa Clara mayor who died unexpectedly at age 43 in 1977. Wilson had helped start a youth counseling center in donated space at Buchser Middle School. That was expanded in 1977 to include a shelter for as many as six runaways at a house on Lafayette Street.
The 16,000-square-foot Bill Wilson Center on The Alameda opened in July 1993, allowing a counseling center and shelter to be located under one roof. The center has seven licensed therapists and 47 interns who counsel families and individuals.
"The kids who turn to us for help include those who have run away, are homeless, are being diverted from the juvenile justice system, or are dealing with abuse at home," Whittier said. "We give them a safe haven where they can receive help and support for themselves, and for their families."
The center includes a large kitchen where meals are prepared for homeless kids who don't live in the shelter. There's also a lounge area with a pool table.
"A lot of counseling happens at the pool table," Whittier said. "Face-to-face, the kids will clam up. But, play pool or take a walk with them and they'll talk."
Over the years, the cities of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and San Jose have provided financial support to the center. Santa Clara provided $900,000 of redevelopment funds toward the $3 million cost of the center in 1993. San Jose gave $275,000 -- the first time it helped fund a construction project in another city -- and Sunnyvale contributed $48,500. This fiscal year, Santa Clara is allocating $71,000 in federal Housing and Community Development Block grant funds for the center's family therapy and school outreach program.
Next spring, the city will administer $275,000 in federal Housing and Urban Development funds to renovate the Quetzal House, according to Jeff Pedersen, Santa Clara's housing and community services manager.
"The Bill Wilson Center has a good track record in serving the local community and special needs populations," Pedersen said.