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In a culmination of two years of visioning and planning by several of the Sisters of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in San Francisco, California, the Learning and Loving Education center opened its doors to immigrant women in Morgan Hill , Gilroy and San Martin on March 25th 1994 with 20 women as the first students.
The concept for the center was born in a group setting in 1992. A group of Presentation sisters, who called themselves the "Dream Team" began to meet, pray, vision and reflect on what their foundress would have wanted the Sisters to do in the next 20 years. The group explored what other communities were doing in direct service to the poor. They visited soup kitchens, a drop in center for street women and a hotel for mothers with AIDS and their children, among others. Several visited Puente Center, a large literacy center in East Los Angeles. The Puente Center was truly an inspiration, and a program that the Sisters decided they wanted to emulate. Sr. Pat Davis (who is now the executive director of the Learning and Loving Education Center) visited the staffs of two parishes in the San Jose area in an attempt to find space to start a literacy center. One of the parishes, St. Mary's in Gilroy was already involved in outreach to the poor, but St. Catherine's parish in Morgan Hill was interested in donating the use of their parish hall for a few English classes. Sr. Pat was still working full time when she met with the leadership team of the Sisters of the Presentation to discuss her dream of teaching English to immigrant women and providing childcare during the classes. She asked the Ministry Subsidy Committee of the Sisters of the Presentation for a small subsidy for teaching materials and to rent a more permanent class site than the parish hall. She was given a subsidy of $5,000 in addition to seed money from the Catholic Campaign of Human Development.
The Sisters of the Presentation who were working in the school and parish of St. Catherine's, Morgan Hill, spread the word about the new center. On March 25th, 20 women arrived with their children for the first class, which was held on Friday mornings for ten weeks. In September of 1994, an affordable site was found and rented. Classes were expanded to two days a week.
In 1995, Sister Judy Romero began teaching at the Center for another two days. Volunteers, mostly women from St. Catherine's parish helped with small groups and with babysitting. The first two paid staff (neither of the sisters working there got any pay from the center) were hired to oversee the childcare program. The curriculum was expanded to include computer classes, on a small scale because of space constraints, as well as English. The Center also organized some closet space and began accepting clothing donations, which were made available to the students. By the end of the year, the Center's student body had expanded to 60, and it was clear that they'd outgrown their space.
In 1996, the Center moved to a 2,200 square foot building. With the increased space came increased rent, and the Center was also responsible for operational and salary expenses. It was clear that the business side of the Center needed to be developed. Sr. Pat stopped working outside of the center, and she hired a development director. By 1998, the student body had expanded to 80 women and the curriculum included English, computer, nutrition, and monthly enrichment and self esteem classes.
Between 1994 and 2001, the Center has welcomed over 650 immigrant women ranging in age from a 16 year old new mother to a 70 year old grandmother. In 1999, they offered four levels of English classes, two levels of computer classes, sewing, quilting, aerobics, nutrition and miscellaneous monthly enrichment classes. Seven people were on the payroll, and four of them had health and retirement benefits. The stipends for the two sisters at the center. Sr. Pat (full time) and Sr. Judy Romero (3 days a week) continued to be sponsored by the Sisters of the Presentation. They are again growing out of their building and are actively seeking a larger space. They are also again expanding their curriculum to offer business training classes for interested students so that they can start a small business on their own.