A new resource hub in East San Jose's Capitol Park neighborhood is already doing more than connecting families to childcare referrals and parent workshops — it recently helped a homeless man with an open wound on his leg get an ambulance ride to the hospital after he had walked for 10 days without knowing where to go. The East San Jose Navigation Center, which opened in late September, brings together San Jose, Santa Clara County and nonprofit partners under one roof at 800 Peter Pan Ave.
According to San José Spotlight, the center is designed to connect East San Jose families with services and support, and it is operated by Grail Family Services. When a homeless man entered the Grail Family Services navigation center in Capitol Park, staff asked for his permission to call 911 so an ambulance could take him to Regional Medical Center, the outlet reported. Veronica Goei said the center also provided the man with referrals and information on where to get a shower and food.
Case Management, Mentoring and a University Partnership
Beyond crisis moments, the center's everyday mission centers on case management, referrals to social services, parent workshops, after-school programming and math and reading mentorship, per the same report. Grail Family Services separately describes its case management work as helping parents access additional resources and achieve family goals, and its family resource center programs include mentors who promote children's literacy and math skill development, according to Grail Family Services.
The nonprofit is also working with San Jose State University to create an internship program that would provide mentors and additional after-school support, the station's report notes. Jessica Camacho, strategic manager for San Jose's Children Youth Service Master Plan, said the navigation center fills community service gaps.
Who Built and Who Runs the Capitol Park Site
San Jose owns the navigation center facility, and San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services chose Grail Family Services to operate it. San Jose Public Works helped redevelop the space, while the San Jose Housing Department provided financial resources for the renovations, per the same account. Andrea Flores Shelton is assistant director of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services, and Grail Family Services holds a Children Youth Master Plan grant as a demonstration site partner.
San Jose and Santa Clara County describe their approach as a “no wrong door” model, connecting residents to services through a personal transfer of care rather than leaving people to navigate bureaucracy alone. The center plans to host county outreach workers and eventually include a satellite branch of the San José Public Library.
Local Officials Weigh In
Santa Clara County Supervisor Betty Duong said the county is working toward having community workers, more services and social workers present in the neighborhood. San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz, whose district includes the navigation center, said the center gives East San Jose families a trusted place in their own neighborhood.
The Capitol Park site fits into a broader push across San Jose to build neighborhood-based family resource models. Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services, the San José Public Library, Grail Family Services and SOMOS Mayfair have been partnering to implement the city's Children and Youth Master Plan in East San Jose, according to the Sí Se Puede Collective, which separately identifies its own Mayfair site as one of two demonstration locations developing a neighborhood-level system of care that could eventually scale citywide and countywide. The master plan itself is meant to support pathways for children and young adults from birth through age 24, as described by the City of San José.
Funding for this kind of family-support work is also flowing through county channels. FIRST 5 Santa Clara County's Stronger Systems, Stronger Families Initiative, a three-year effort running from 2024 through 2027, provides flexible funding to 22 local organizations, and the agency notes that Grail proposed bringing its existing programs for families with young children together at a single Family Resource Center site, according to FIRST 5 Santa Clara County. Similar one-stop models exist elsewhere in California, including Los Angeles's FamilySource Centers, which the city's Community Investment for Families Department describes as neighborhood hubs for social, educational, work and family support services across 19 locations.
