The East San Jose Navigation Center, which opened in late September, has begun connecting residents to vital services and support from its Capitol Park neighborhood location at 800 Peter Pan Ave. The center brings together resources from San Jose, Santa Clara County, and nonprofit partners.
Immediately demonstrating its purpose, the center recently assisted a homeless man with a leg wound. After he had walked for 10 days without knowing where to go, staff at the Grail Family Services-operated center asked for his permission to call 911, arranging an ambulance ride to Regional Medical Center. Veronica Goei stated the center also provided the man with referrals and information on where to get a shower and food.
Beyond crisis intervention, the center's daily mission includes case management, referrals to social services, parent workshops, after-school programming, and math and reading mentorship. Grail Family Services describes its case management work as supporting parents in accessing additional resources and achieving family goals. Its family resource center programs involve mentors who promote children's literacy and math skill development.
Grail Family Services is also collaborating with San Jose State University to establish an internship program. This program would provide mentors and additional after-school support for local children. Jessica Camacho, strategic manager for San Jose's Children Youth Service Master Plan, noted that the navigation center addresses existing community service gaps.
The City of San Jose owns the navigation center facility. San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services selected Grail Family Services to manage its operations. The San Jose Public Works Department contributed to redeveloping the space, while the San Jose Housing Department supplied financial resources for the renovations. Andrea Flores Shelton serves as assistant director of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services. Grail Family Services holds a Children Youth Master Plan grant, functioning as a demonstration site partner for the city's broader initiative.
San Jose and Santa Clara County describe their approach as a “no wrong door” model. This model aims to connect residents to necessary services through a personal transfer of care, ensuring individuals are not left to navigate bureaucratic systems alone. The center plans to host county outreach workers and will eventually incorporate a satellite branch of the San José Public Library.
Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong confirmed that the county is working toward increasing the presence of community workers, services, and social workers in the neighborhood. San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz, whose district encompasses the navigation center, highlighted that the center offers East San Jose families a trusted local place for support.
The Capitol Park site is part of a larger citywide effort in San Jose to develop neighborhood-based family resource models. Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services, the San José Public Library, Grail Family Services, and SOMOS Mayfair have partnered to implement the city's Children and Youth Master Plan in East San Jose. The Sí Se Puede Collective identifies its Mayfair site as one of two demonstration locations developing a neighborhood-level system of care intended to scale citywide and countywide. The Children and Youth Master Plan itself is designed to support pathways for children and young adults from birth through age 24.
Funding for this type of family-support work is also channeled through county initiatives. FIRST 5 Santa Clara County's Stronger Systems, Stronger Families Initiative, a three-year effort from 2024 through 2027, provides flexible funding to 22 local organizations. According to FIRST 5 Santa Clara County, Grail proposed consolidating its existing programs for families with young children at a single Family Resource Center site. Similar one-stop models are implemented elsewhere in California, such as Los Angeles's FamilySource Centers, which are described by the city's Community Investment for Families Department as neighborhood hubs providing social, educational, work, and family support services across 19 locations.
