Community United San Jose

At certain points in a person's life they are faced with a choice. And the decisions they make can shape their future forever.

Community United San Jose delivers after-school and summer programming to youth who are at-risk of gang involvement, drug use and crime.

We started as volunteers, working in our local community centers alongside San Jose City staff to provide services to youth and parents living in at-risk communities. We formed our organization with the exciting development of the How to Make Good Choices program. What began as a summer program six years ago has evolved into a partnership with the City of San Jose to operate two San Jose City Youth Centers. We now deliver services to youth year-round at the Starbird Youth Center and the Alma Youth Center. Youth in these low-income communities who would otherwise be idle and on the streets after school or during the summer have a safe place to go to learn, be creative, play and just be kids away from the socio and economic pressures existing in their neighborhoods.  

In the beginning only a handful of youth came to the centers regularly, now we service 35-40 youth at each site daily. It's been our great pleasure to see our youth raise their reading and comprehension skills though our Literacy and Tutoring programs, express their creative sides through our Arts and Digital Media programs and gain real understanding about making choices to get on a path to a bright and happy future through our mainstay How to Make Good Choices program.  

Community United San Jose staff and volunteers are dedicated. Whether it's providing youth with healthy food and snacks, giving a smile by arranging donated dental work for a child with missing teeth, tutoring a pre-teen to be able to read, serving holiday meals through youth center events or helping provide the means for a family to move into a new home, our staff show that they care. We have formed fantastic partnerships with many caring youth-serving groups and individuals as well.

Together we can provide opportunities for youth to see their own capabilities and that they can make the choices to build a better family, community and future.