Founded in 2013 to serve a growing Latino population in Pittsburgh, Casa San José has continued to grow alongside that community, serving several thousand community members each year. The organization is now continuing its mission from a new location in Beechview.

In the works since 2019, executive director of Casa San José Monica Ruiz said with its current staff of 35 and more than 100 volunteers, the organization has long outgrown its current property.

‘I’m just so happy,” Ruiz said. “This building was empty for like 30 years. It was dilapidated. There was nothing going on here. And now it’s this beautiful center that’s so welcoming.”

The Urban Redevelopment Authority voted last summer to advance a sale of its long under-used 6,000 square ft. property on Broadway Ave. The building came with an adjacent empty lot, which provided room to expand the existing building’s floorplan to 11,000 square feet, accommodating classrooms and meeting spaces for community organizers, English as a Second Language and technology classes, as well as certified caregiver and after-school programs.

The new three-story community center will allow for more office space as well as a central location for programs and services. The first floor is mostly dedicated to case managers; the second floor is dedicated to mental health, wellness, and community organizer staff; the third floor is made up of administrative office spaces; and the basement has been converted into doctor offices, dental exam rooms, and private therapy spaces.

Ruiz says Casa San José will continue to rent its existing office space to accommodate the organization’s youth team.

“We’re on a corner. Right across the street from us is the Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation, and then right next to us is Las Palmas, which is this huge Latino grocery store.

“This is where we should have always been,” she added.

The organization was able to raise the funds over the last seven years to meet the center’s final $6.6 million price tag. Contributions and support came from the City of Pittsburgh, state sources, as well as donations from community members.

“There were some donors that gave big, and there were many, many donors that gave what they could, and that’s how we got here.”

The organization has begun to move into the space; a ribbon cutting ceremony and grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 15.

“Especially now, it’s a time where we need this,” Ruiz said. “We need to be in a safe space, and that’s what this provides to us.”