For the Reporter

St. Vincent de Paul (SVdP) of Seattle|King County is launching Centro Rendu, a new service designed to help Hispanic adults and their children break the cycle of poverty through education, computer literacy, counseling and navigation of the labyrinth of services from other social service agencies.

The core component says SVdP is an “educational resource center for the Latino community” in South King County. The service, which is just getting under way, will celebrate its official grand opening on Monday with a special set of activities between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the center, the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store, 310 Central Ave., Kent.

The grand opening includes presentations from, among others, Kent Mayor Suzette Cooke; a formal blessing of Centro Rendu facility by Bishop Eusebio Elizondo; tours of the facility; food; festive music and dancers.

“Our Centro Rendu program is an integral part of our strategy for a new service model for delivering services in King County,” said Ned Delmore, executive director of St. Vincent de Paul. “Our plan is to build upon the trusting relationships we establish in our home visits, and extend that help into more integrated case management services offered in our five neighborhood-based store front locations. We call them Community Social Service Centers.”

“We have started with education because we know it is the key way to help the Hispanic community overcome barriers associated with poverty,” said Mirya Muñoz Roach.

“Since we opened our doors in mid-July … we have served close to 250 people with Spanish literacy, primary and secondary education, GED preparation, conversational English, computer literacy, case management, immigration counseling (twice a month) and a detail assessment process for relevant referrals to other service agencies.”

Centro Rendu also has referred needy individuals to other social service agencies that help Hispanic neighbors find housing, job connections, supportfor domestic violence victims and more.

“The needs are widespread for education support, especially for adults and school parents,” Muñoz Roach said. “The community leaders I have engaged with and agencies we are communicating with believe education is the key for peopleto get out of poverty, and the research supports it.”

Centro Rendu is engaged in outreach and partnership building in South King County. The organization participates in the South King County Human Services Committee and recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kent School District. Centro Rendu is also in conversations with Green River Community College, Highline Community College and Seattle University regardinginternship student programs.

Centro Rendu has created a Hispanic Advisory Team (HAT) to help the program explore ways to respond to the needs, barriers and hopes of Hispanic individuals and families. This includes representatives from a wide range of community service organizations. The group meets once a month to share resources and to support partnerships for more effective means of serving Latinos in KingCounty.

To find out more, go to www.svdpseattle.org or call Centro Rendu at 253-499-4245.