WAWC in the News
By CATHY KELLY
The Santa Cruz Sentinel
SANTA CRUZ — The Walnut Avenue Women’s Center has returned home after two and a half years of renovation at the group’s historic building.
The $1.1 million project added about 1,100 square feet to the Colonial-style structure at 303 Walnut Ave., allowing more space for youth development and domestic violence programs, as well as the center’s African-American Community Health Group, said Jennifer O’Brien-Rojo, one of the directors.
The center operated out of rented quarters during the remodel, initially at First Congregational Church on High Street and then at a former Social Security Administration office on Walnut Avenue. The center had hoped to return in November, but construction-related delays changed that.
“It feels fabulous to be back,” O’Brien-Rojo said. “That was a larger space, but this feels so much nicer — so much more welcoming and comfy.”
The center will host a housewarming barbecue Aug. 7.
The building began as a YWCA 75 years ago, and the old YWCA sign remains on the side of the two-story blue building at Walnut Avenue and Chestnut Street. The early 1920s structure was originally the home, music studio and perfume factory of Salvadore and Frances Fachutar.
In 1994, the group detached from the YWCA and became the Walnut Avenue Women’s Center. The building has hardwood floors and windows and skylights offering a flood of natural light.
Along with new office space and meeting rooms, the expansion has freed up a large studio-like space with an adjacent kitchen on the second floor to be used for classes and possibly be rented for events to raise money, O’Brien-Rojo said. An elevator was installed and the building is now wheelchair accessible.
The center has added many services to strengthen families over the years, most of which focus on domestic violence prevention, youth development and early childhood education. And to cope with a 800-person waiting list for child care and preschool services, the staff is looking to expand again.
The center has plans for a new $1.5 million Downtown Children’s Center adjacent to the current office that will include classrooms and low-income housing. It will allow the center to serve about 40 more children, O’Brien-Rojo said.
Currently, 30 children are served at the center’s facilities at Santa Cruz High School and Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church. The nonprofit initially planned to build the children’s center at the same time as the main center renovation, but the economy downsized those plans.
The women’s center expects to lose more than 10 percent of its funding this year at a time when “business is booming,” O’Brien-Rojo said. A new federal grant is allowing the group to operate a small food pantry for some clients, and demand for that has doubled. The center served about 3,000 clients last year with a budget of $1.4 million, about 80 percent of which is government funding.
Staci Molitor, a board member, came to the center 10 years ago to attend a domestic violence support group. She found the home-like center a calming and safe place. Now an office manager for a foster parent agency, Molitor said her two daughters also benefitted from youth programs there and call it their home away from home.
“It was a very cozy place to come no matter what your needs,” said Molitor, a Felton resident. “They’re just a really amazing group of folks who have touched the lives of so many and provide a lot of really amazing services. They build families, basically, and that space is a big part of it, and we are just really happy to be home.”
