An East Los Angeles nonprofit that combines skateboarding and academic mentorship to at-risk kids is on the brink of shutting down.
As government and corporate grant funding dries up for The Garage Board Shop’s nonprofit educational program, 14-year-old Prisilla Ulloa wonders where she will go.
“There’s a lot of good things,” Prisilla says as she rolls through the shop’s skate zone. There’s retail in front of the South Atlantic Boulevard shop, a classroom in the middle, and a skatepark in the back.
Prisilla Ulloa and friends at The Garage Board Shop.
CBS LA
“My dream, my mission, my goal is to help the community,” owner Maria Patty Ramblas said.
Grants primarily fund the shop’s nonprofit Urban Warehouse Skate 4 Education after-school program. The funds pay for free skateboarding lessons and college student tutors, but that money isn’t being renewed.
Prisilla said that since coming to the shop at the beginning of the school year, she’s made many friends and her homework seems to be easier. “There’s many subjects that I got better at, like math, English, and science,” she said.
Parents say having a safe place like the shop has been a blessing, and they’re seeing a big difference in their kids. Ana Ulloa says her daughter Prisilla’s homework is getting harder every year. “My English isn’t sufficient enough to help her,” she says.
Ramblas says she’s been trying to secure more funding and that she’s applied to over 30 different grants over the last few months – but with no success.
She’s been using the profits from the skate shop to fund the program, but that isn’t sustainable. Much of the community has been affected by ICE raids, and money is tighter than ever for most families.
“We lost, I would say, 70% of the customers,” Ramblas said.
Last month, she sadly began turning students away – it was a shock to the Ulloas. “We know what happens when kids aren’t occupied,” Ana Ulloa said. “I’m worried about Prisilla’s future without the program, which I hoped would make her college-ready.”
According to a recent LA County study, youth from East Los Angeles have higher-than-average school dropout and juvenile incarceration rates.
That’s why Ramblas is asking for community support, while scrounging up whatever she has left to host kids like Prisilla at least for a few days a month. “My hope is that more kids sign up,” Prisilla said.
“I’m not going to give up because these kids, they need help and guidance. So, if I leave, how are they going to get the support?” Ramblas said.