SBCS, formerly South Bay Community Services, joined local representatives on July 30 in marking a milestone with its “topping off” ceremony, completing the steel framework for its new 61,000 square foot facility expected for completion in May 2025. The new Center is being built by San Diego General Contractor Dempsey Construction and designed by Tucker Sadler Architects, who were also on hand for the ceremony. Attendees were able to sign the last beam, which was placed after the “topping off” ceremony.
Cox Communications presented SBCS with a $100,000 grant from the James M. Cox Foundation for SBCS’s new community engagement center, which will provide critical services for families and individuals in crisis, including those experiencing domestic violence and trauma, food insecurity, housing insecurity, employment, and educational facilities.
Located at 318 Fourth Ave., the neighborhood where SBCS first began its work more than 50 years ago, the facility will serve as the base of all operations for all SBCS services. The new Center for Impact will enable SBCS to expand its community outreach and provide crucial services for mor than 10,000 additional families, children, and youth each year.
“SBCS’ new Center for Impact is a testament to our community’s dedication to supporting one another,” said Chula Vista Mayor John McCann in a statement. “We are proud to see this project well on its way to completion and look forward to the tremendous benefits it will bring to the South Bay’s residents.”
SBCS President and CEO Kathryn Lembo said SBCS has always served South Bay, but over the past 10 years, it has expanded its services in other parts of the county because of its excellent work, funders wanted the organization to expand its services countywide.
“What we do countywide is youth work,” she said. “That work we have subcontractors for, partnering with youth agencies. Like in North County we partner with the youth agency there, so those families have the full array of services. In East County we partner with San Diego Youth Services.”
Lembo said in South County the organization is in five different aging buildings and had purchased this property at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have people who have offices in garages right now,” she said. “In building this building, it is a much-needed central hub for this organization. We will be able to serve more people, able to serve people more often. It is going to be a fabulous building in that it will be the base of our operations, but also a welcoming space for residents. Not only to be able to receive support, but also to connect meaningfully with one another.”
Lembo said there will be a large room to house its Resident Leadership Academy and other training, so the ground floor will have a community engagement and wellness center. There will be a family visitation center for those who might be in a divorce and need a space for the children to visit the other spouse or family exchanges. The top three floors will have meeting spaces with counseling offices, children’s mental health, work it does in the child abuse system, and all the other services the organization provides.
“We are also pretty proud because it is going to be so beautiful,” she said. “Something that serves the community should be something beautiful. We wanted to build a purposeful community center facility, increase our visibility among families in crisis.”
Lembo said SBCS does rental assistance, homeless prevention work, and a lot of rapid rehousing work, with often people just walking into its facility.
“Now people will be able to walk in and have the spaces for them to get the services that they need,” she said. “We serve about 50,000 people a year. We anticipate that this building will be able to increase that by at least 10,000 a year, just because of the additional space. Especially in children’s mental health. Also, I get to get most of our services into one building, which really helps when a family might come in because they are dealing with some issues with their child for counseling or children’s mental health, food insecurity, housing unaffordability, and they will be able to meet with those inefficiency staff.”
Lembo said the actual construction cost of the Center is $26 million. With all the permits, fees, and legal costs, the total cost is $34 million.
“We are not using any government money in this venture,” she said. “We got new market tax credits. As an organization, we have used agency reserves saved over the years, because we knew eventually, we would have to remodel our building, which was our intention, but the building was too poor to remodel. We have a $9 million construction loan that we can pay off when we get our certificate of occupancy without any penalties. So, what we are trying to do is to raise $9 to $10 million.”
Lembo said their first gift was from David and Annie Malcolm for $500,000, the second was from Price Foundation for $1.2 million, and now other grants have come in, one of them being from the Cox Foundation that came in at $100,000.
“SBCS provides life-changing and life-saving services, and as community need grows, we want to support their efforts to reach even more families and individuals who need those services,” said Chanelle Hawken, West Region vice president of government and public affairs for Cox Communications said in a release. “Cox has been a proud supporter of SBCS for more than 15 years, and we’re grateful to the James M. Cox Foundation for this generous $100,000 grant.”
Lembo said SBCS has raised about $2.4 million to date, so it still has a way to go in it capital campaign. Lembo said anyone, or any organization can get involved in the SBCS capital campaign by visiting its website at sbcssandiego.org.
Correction: In the original article, it said the SBCS received $2 million from the Price Foundation. The Price Foundation donated $1.2 million. The Star-News regrets this error.
