Anaheim Union High School District unveiled at Sycamore Junior High School on Thursday, Sept. 1, the first of 13 community resource centers planned for campuses around the district to provide a variety of support services to students and their families. 

Sycamore’s new Community Schools Resource Center is a product of a seven-year, $4 billion state initiative to promote more holistic educational practices – particularly in lower-income, under-served schools. California’s State Board of Education approved the initiative in 2021 and launched it in May. 

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond made an appearance at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, sharing about the critical role public programs like the resource centers played in his early life. 

Thurmond said he was 6 years old when his mother died of cancer and he and his siblings were taken in by his cousin. He grew up on food stamps and free school lunches. 

“My tia was always saying, ‘God will provide.’ God did, and schools did, and public programs did,” he said, using the Spanish word for aunt. “Those public programs helped my family overcome poverty, and the most important public program was getting a great education. Community schools help our kids get that great education.”

The state recently awarded the Anaheim Union High School District $24 million to transform 13 of its 21 junior high campuses into “community schools,” which the district described as “public schools that provide services and support that focus on what students in the community truly need to succeed.” 

The resource center at Sycamore Junior High School is the first visible result of that funding.

Sycamore’s Community School Coordinator Araceli Huerta said the addition resource centers will open within the next couple years. 

“It’s a bit of a slow process because we really believe in doing it the way it should be done,” she said. That includes surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews to gauge what each school and its surrounding community needs. 

“Wrap-around services” offered at the Sycamore center will include a free monthly farmers market, a community fridge program, adult English as a Second Language classes, a mobile dental clinic, community health education, and case management service, officials said. 

Huerta estimates the resource center will serve more than 600 families, many of which were in attendance Thursday and expressed their gratitude for a space committed to serving parents as well as their students.  

“We told you we wanted a seat at the table, and now we have it,” parent Maritza Bermudez, also a member of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, said. 

AUHSD officials affirmed the district’s commitment to involving families in future decisions regarding the resource centers, emphasizing the importance of “shared power” and “equal partnership” in shaping meaningful community spaces. 

Superintendent Michael Matsuda praised the community schools’ commitment to teaching their students to be socially conscious, generous and empathetic leaders. 

Sycamore is now one step closer, he added in his remarks to the gathered crowd, to Martin Luther King’s dream of education as a means for students to develop their character as well as their intelligence. 

“Ladies and gentleman, a new school is now in session, welcome.”

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