{"id":785,"date":"2026-05-29T23:11:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:11:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=785"},"modified":"2026-05-29T23:11:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T23:11:49","slug":"beloved-east-san-jose-youth-center-could-rise-again-after-school-board-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=785","title":{"rendered":"Beloved East San Jose youth center could rise again after school board vote"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN JOSE \u2014 After watching a beloved former East San Jose youth center burn down in the dark morning hours nearly a year ago, advocates successfully lobbied the Alum Rock Unified School Board to agree to work with them to rebuild it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re here. We\u2019re finally here,\u201d Victor Vasquez, co-executive director of neighborhood advocacy organization SOMOS Mayfair, said outside district offices Thursday evening. \u201cWe are starting a new chapter, where we believe that youth deserve better than they\u2019re getting now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mexican American Community Services Agency (MACSA) building, which sat closed and blighted for more than a decade, erupted in a blaze around 1 a.m. Aug. 29, 2025. It was reduced to rubble.<\/p>\n

Advocates with Mexican Heritage Plaza, SOMOS Mayfair, and Si Se Puede Collective watched the building burn and wept. For years, they tried to get the district to preserve and reopen the center. A month after the fire, the district demolished what was left.<\/p>\n

Alum Rock school board officials Thursday gave the advocates 540 days to figure out how to design, fund, and build a new youth center and gymnasium at the former MACSA site.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite how the meeting kind of looked at the end, at the end of the day we\u2019ve got four board members that said, \u2018We want to see this happen and we\u2019re going to try,\u2019\u201d Vasquez told this news organization. \u201cWe feel like we\u2019ve got the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n

MACSA, which had a gymnasium, previously provided classes for youth, after-school programs, gang violence prevention, a community health clinic, and immigration services to residents during its peak in the 1990s and 2000s. It was adorned with indigenous Mexican and Meso-American architecture and art that reflected the predominantly immigrant and Latino neighborhoods nearby.<\/p>\n

Advocates, citing recent school closures and rising costs of living, argue that East San Jose residents now need another centralized hub for community services at the former site.<\/p>\n

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The board voted 4-1 to approve the new agreement, which temporarily gives the advocates exclusive negotiating rights with the district on MACSA\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs much as this sounds like a hypothetical, really nice movement, vision and dream, that money is not there right now because I know that you have to secure all of the money,\u201d Board President Linda Chavez said Thursday night before casting her lone opposition vote. \u201cAt this time, it\u2019s a beautiful plan. But because the money right now isn\u2019t there, it changes things.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vasquez said Chavez was the only board member to not meet with his organization to discuss MACSA\u2019s future prior to Thursday\u2019s meeting. He said Chavez voted based on what he called \u201cmisconceptions\u201d about the project, and the advocates\u2019 ability to fund it.<\/p>\n

Vasquez said the exclusive agreement will allow them to start opening doors to fundraising opportunities, which he said was important for its potential success. He estimated a full rebuild and the cost to operate could be between $25 to $30 million.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut that money is not going to flow in officially until we have the board say, \u2018Here\u2019s a 50 year lease, here\u2019s a 100-year lease,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cNobody\u2019s going to give you $30 million without securing a place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to the meeting, dancers in Indigenous garments blessed organizers and local students, who led a procession from the nearby Alum Rock Youth Center on White Road to the district\u2019s offices around the corner.<\/p>\n

A San Jose artist, Alfonso Enrique Salazar, carried a small art sculpture titled \u201cWe Will Find A Way\u201d to the meeting, which depicted a hummingbird, a flower, and MACSA\u2019s former arches, which were stylistically built to resemble early Meso-American architecture.<\/p>\n

San Jose City Councilman Peter Ortiz, a vocal supporter of the campaign to rebuild MACSA, walked in the procession. He told this news organization that the board\u2019s decision Thursday was \u201ccrucial\u201d to the project\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Ortiz helped secure $500,000 in grant funding to rehabilitate the former MACSA facility. Ortiz said the city could potentially allocate more funding to rebuild it in the future, especially with more commitments from the district.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up to our local government to build up our Latino community, to build up our immigrant community,\u201d Ortiz said. \u201cYou can see the MACSA vision is clearly still needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

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East San Jose advocates are one step closer to rebuilding beloved former MACSA building, which burned down in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news"],"yoast_head":"\nBeloved East San Jose youth center could rise again after school board vote - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=785\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beloved East San Jose youth center could rise again after school board vote - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"East San Jose advocates are one step closer to rebuilding beloved former MACSA building, which burned down in 2025.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=785\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T23:11:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"Beloved East San Jose youth center could rise again after school board vote\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T23:11:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785\"},\"wordCount\":757,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e9333f69b9a7557b03e2700db2f388be.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Local News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=785\",\"name\":\"Beloved East San Jose youth center could rise again after school board vote - 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