Coming from Puerto Rico, Centro’s Executive Director, Maribel Lozada Arzuaga, came to Philadelphia when she was 18 years old. She first joined Centro as a dance instructor of traditional Puerto Rican dances in 2009. Later, as a group leader, and then in Centro’s office.
According to Arzuaga, Centro contributes benefits in three fields.
“One, we employ people from the community. Second, the parents because they know they are leaving their children in a safe place,” she said. “The third facet is that Centro is a place where children can learn from other topics that are not provided in school.”
Culture is also particularly important in the program.
“We focus on the cultures that are represented in the program, whether it is Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Honduras, Colombia, and Panama,” Arzuaga said. “We try to give the children information about those countries where their parents come from.”
As a child after school program, Centro is determined to be as creative as possible for the kid’s sake. If not, children are enthusiastic to come to the program.
“Opportunities to go on field trips such as to the swimming pool, amusement parks, zoo, or museums,” Arzuaga said. “We must give them content.” I put myself in their place and I said, ‘what am I learning here?’
Usmara Torres has volunteered in Centro Nueva Creación for more than 13 years. Liking the safe environment, Torres decided to involve her children, including Adrian Arce, in Centro. But, as a volunteer, she had to be willing to face the organization’s challenges.
“There have been many challenges at Centro. I cannot lie to you, sometimes I do not know how we do it,” she said. “I wish other organizations would collaborate with us to give these children an even better experience.”
Throughout the years, Torres has seen the impact the program has had on children in the community.
“We are small, but that does not mean we are not doing a good cause,” she said. “We’re taking children off the streets to come to a safe place where they can learn and improve themselves.”
However, Arzuaga still fears not giving these services to children.
“Sometimes we get a little overwhelmed by the lack of funds for the things we want to do with the children.” Arzuaga said.
As funds get delayed, Centro is unable to provide cultural instruction through resources that children may not be getting from their schools; like books, visual art, artifacts, among others. Due to this, Centro’s staff organize events like the “empanadillas sale” to maintain the nonprofit.
“So, it is after like two months after summer. That is when the money comes,” Arzuaga said. “We must have money reserved for the summer camp and start the new school year.”
Torres agrees and goes into specific months.
“I would say after summer. Those four months of August, September, October, and November are difficult to get through,” Torres said. “To be honest with you, I wish more organizations would collaborate with us.”
Someone who has witnessed distinct challenges that nonprofit organizations have faced is Marcin Jaroszewicz. For 9 years, Jaroszewicz has worked for the Federation of Neighborhoods Center (FNC). Previously, as Program Manager— now as the Vice President of Programs.
“I think what happens with funding often is that there’s a tendency to give money to organizations that are seen to already have money,” Jaroszewicz said. “That is what creates a problem for smaller nonprofits; nobody wants to give them money or a lesser amount of money.”
According to Jaroszewicz, organizations that provide the funds should contribute to at least some of the expenses of a smaller organization like Centro. The organization obtains funds at a certain time with a certain amount depending on what Arzuaga fills out on Form 990.
“They are like, ‘OK, we will give you the money so you can do the project,’ but not the money to have health care for their staff to grow, to have a phone bill,” Jaroszewicz said. “You know, your grant dictates what you can and can’t spend money on.”
As Centro’s leader, Arzuaga supports this idea.
“We must follow a regulation,” she said. “We are having problems because the government requires certain things in the budget and a certain quantity of money that Centro must pay to the employees; and it cannot be less than that.”
There are still funds for what Arzuaga considers “essential.” However, creativity needs to be on point in this program.
“Maybe to pay for the school bus but then the rest is not enough for a ticket to go to a theater or a museum or anything else,” Arzuaga said. “There cannot be a program where children are always inside 4 walls.”
FNC has worked with Centro Nueva Creación for over 8 years. And as one of FNC’s work sites, Centro has been under their support ever since.
“We, as the provider, bring on smaller organizations and we pay those young people,” Jaroszewicz said. “They [Centro] did like a heat study with our interns where they mapped out like where trees needed to be planted, essentially.”
Adriana Arce was once a young person who needed help to succeed in her studies. Arce found a home at Centro once Torres, her mother, found tutoring for her there.
“They went out of their way to find a tutor for me and my friends who were struggling with math at the time,” Arce said. “I was always a part of it [Centro] in a form where I will help out with activities and stuff.”
While studying in Julia de Burgos Middle School then, Arce never thought she would become an active participant at Centro. Much less that she was going to volunteer as a 9th grader.
“Maribel Lozada was the main mentor that I had because she supported me a lot. She was the first one to fully hire me there because I did work for them as well,” she said. “She just always provided opportunities for me to be a part of Centro.”
Currently, Arce has a life in New Jersey and does not live in Philadelphia. But she comes to visit her mom and takes advantage of the time to visit Centro.
“Some of the alumni, a lot of the kids that I used to teach when I was in Centro, I do see sometimes,” Arce said. “I think it [Centro] has helped shape the positive influence in me where I can always look back on like that positivity that Centro brought to my childhood.”
Today, Arce is a social worker thanks to her studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick where she obtained her master’s degree. But also, thanks to Centro, as she said.
“It [Centro] did influence. I liked working with kids,” Arce said. “I liked helping and just being involved with my community and social work is a big part of that. So, I say it was a stepping stone towards me knowing that I wanted to do something in the helping environment.”
As an adult, Arce also recognizes that Centro does so much for the community with so little and deserves more than what they receive.
“I feel like that’s what Centro is too, you know, helping out their community, like a little light in a community,” she said. “The school knows that they’re a great resource and they have a good linkage with the school [William Cramp Elementary School].”
Centro utilizes the school to host distinct events for children and expand more art and culture into children’s hearts. But to continue exercising their purpose, Centro needs enough funds to survive.
“I wish for their funding to come on time because I feel like that’s also one of the struggles,” Arce said. “I just want consistency and funding when it comes to them.”
Arzuaga said Centro needs, in fact, help from the bank every year.
“For the children’s activities, we need to keep trying to get the funds and do fundraising activities together with the board of directors,” she said. “And try to get other artists to come and do workshops of other cultures. It is hard for me because people say yes to me and then no.”
Arzuaga must worry about several aspects of the nonprofit. One of them being to fulfill all requirements that organizations like the Department of Human Services (DHS), which give the funds to the government institution Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), ask for.
“They [PHMC] are the ones that manage what we are paid, the ones that watch out for assistance, and the ones that are waiting for us to meet all the requirements” Arzuaga said. “We need to have all the clearances and take a lot of training.”
Michael K. Pearson, President and CEO of PHMC, explains the overall struggle of nonprofits and how all sides should work together. Before his current position, Pearson served on PHMC’s board of directors for about 13 years. But, PHMC’s team has also faced challenges.
“Well, it [delayed funding] has strained us, but it’s impacted us financially from the standpoint of typically, we had access to capital through line of credit, which was at a relatively low interest rate,” he said.
As the middle ground between Centro and DHS, PHMC has made it their mission to provide funds on time.
“We’re the ones making sure that the checks go out and they get paid,” Pearson said. “All nonprofits are affected by delayed payments. But far more disastrous and painful to the smaller nonprofits that don’t necessarily have access to working capital.”
Pearson also recognizes the reality of many nonprofits where if funds are not at hand— meaning that they have to shut down.
“They [nonprofits] need to pay their employees, pay for their business expenses,” Pearson said. “And when you have extended payment, that destabilizes their ability to do those things. Hence, the possibility that they are not able to continue and provide those services becomes a reality.”
As Pearson emphasized, this situation can ultimately jeopardize their capacity to continue offering vital services, making it a very real concern for the sustainability of these organizations.
“That is one of the problems and limitations of funding is, you know,” Jaroszewicz said. “You don’t know what you’re going to have next year and what staff you’re going to be able to keep.”
According to Arzuaga, small nonprofit organizations like Centro have had this fear. Because they feel overlooked.
“They think we do not have the potential of doing a good job,” Arzuaga said. “For example, when we employ people from the community, they think these people do not know how to do the job and they do know how to do it.”
Looking at the positive side, Arce thinks that there is no other place like Centro. According to her, this benefits them.
“Centro is just one. So, it is standing on its own,” Arce said. “It is overlooked, but I feel like it stands strong.”
For Centro, being an overlooked organization means there is no point in stopping and resting.
“It is a very sharp job; it is a job that does not end because one is working early and late,” Arzuaga said. “And on Saturdays, I always do something for my job.”
No rest and little pay, but Arzuaga is still determined to fulfill Centro’s purpose—helping children and their community.
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