Valencia County Resource Center: A place for everyone in the community who needs help

BELEN — It’s a place for everyone with a need.

Whether you need a little extra food, a pair of shoes to get you through the winter, a shower, help getting your birth certificate or finding housing, the Valencia County Resource Center in Belen can help.

“There’s no income requirement. We don’t look at IDs, never request financial backgrounds,” said Holly Chavez, co-CEO and co-founder of H2 Academic Solutions, the company that partners with the nonprofit Community Resource Fund to provide free case management services at the resource center.

“We’ve had people who drive up in very nice cars and drop off as much as they pick up, and we’ve had people in what you’d call a beater give donations. We serve whoever comes in.”

The Valencia County Resource Center, 129 S. Third St., Belen, is a response to the needs in the community, Chavez said.

After handing out food and clothing at H2’s previous location on Becker Avenue, the company pursued a contract for adult resource assessment case managers and the nonprofit, Community Resource Fund, houses that service at the resource center.

“Think of the business — H2 — as the hand that does all the stuff and provides the staff. The non-profit provides the glove, the soft touch,” she said. “We’re meeting people where they’re at. When we saw the amount of need, we were able to increase the contract to six caseworkers.”

The goal of the contract is to minimize police contact with anyone who’s involved, or potentially involved, in the criminal justice system. While about half of the clientele using the center is experiencing homelessness, Chavez said, there are many people in the community who come for assistance and to connect to resources.

“Yesterday, we had a client come in who was referred to us by FEMA because their house had burned down,” she said. “We’ve had other community members in that same position who weren’t referred by FEMA. We will find ways to help them. Sometimes we’re not exactly sure how we can help, or how fast, but we can help.”

Using their own network of resources, and the county’s Community Wellness Council’s resource guide the staff can help with everything from connecting people to mental health services, to helping them apply for housing.

“We can get them donated furniture and clothing, housewares,” Chavez said. “It’s not just the unhoused we help. Some people are right on the verge of losing their house, so we help them apply for energy assistance or mortgage relief. We work with whoever we can to help them get what they need.”

Staff at the resource center can also help people get their driver’s license or state ID, secure documents, such as birth certificates, and fill out a myriad of paperwork to access benefits and services.

“We do not provide any legal advice,” Chavez emphasized. “We can help with transportation to get to a court hearing, with clothes that are appropriate, but we don’t assist with any legal matters.”

About 500 people a month visit the center, between individual and repeat clients. Chavez estimated in December the center logged about 4,000 contacts between new and repeat clients.

“Some people come in daily for food, or to get warm or cool off,” she said. “Some come in regularly to visit their case managers, and not everyone wants a case manager or that level of assistance. They are more than welcome to come too. That’s not required.”

Veronica Romero, Community Resource Fund board member, said piecing together resources for people is a huge challenge.

“I want to be out in the community to see where there’s a need. Sure, you can imagine it sitting in your comfortable little home, but when you get out and see what the real need is, it has opened my eyes in a lot of ways,” Romero said. “I’m just glad to be a part of this.”

How to help

Chavez said the center has received a “wonderful amount of community support” when it has put out the call for specific needs, such as winter coats, blankets, baby diapers and more.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “One example that’s a little outside the resource center but still affects our clientele, is the Angel Tree Project. Last year, there were 283 kids who received Christmas gifts from the community.”

In addition, the center accepts donations of clothes, household items, food and toiletries, as well as cash. Chavez said that money is used for services, such as securing state IDs and copies of other official documents.

“We had a community member who gave us a donation to help pay for (rental) deposits to keep people housed,” she said.

Chavez said volunteers are always welcome at the center.

The resource center is “maturing into what we want it to be,” she said. “We would like to broaden the impact on the greater community and we would like people to start seeing it as an important part of the resources that are available. If they see someone with a need, send them. We’re here.”

In terms of people who are unhoused, Chavez said the center is sometimes viewed as part of the problem by drawing in a population of people some deem undesirable.

“When you see what’s available in larger city areas, I don’t believe anyone would come to Belen for this,” she aid. “Most of the people who are here are from here. We do have some that live a more transient life, who travel through, but most of our folks have a connection to the area — Los Chavez, Belen, Veguita. This is their home, their community. They were born and raised here, but often people would rather look the other direction than to recognize them on the street.”

Since the resource center opened, Chavez said staff has had to call law enforcement only once, and that was in regards to a dog belonging to a client being aggressive towards people at the site.

There are rules and guidelines anyone coming to the center has to comply with, she said, and staff members are trained in de-escalation techniques to make sure situations don’t become physical.

“The coolest thing I think that happened here was kind of accidental. We saw a physical need — food, clothing, showers — and we ended up building a community. Our clients have ownership of this place. They help clean up, police the grounds and pick up trash,” Chavez said. “When you have someone who comes in who’s unhoused and they bring a brand new pair of underwear, still taped up in the packaging, because they know we run on donations, you’re just kind of dumbfounded.”

The Valencia County Resource Center, 129 S. Third St., Belen, is open from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Fridays, and 12:30-5:30 p.m., on Sundays. The center is closed on Saturdays.

For more information about the center, call 505-453-3621 or 505-475-2120, or visit h2academicsolutions.net, under the Adult Services tab.