SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio nonprofit that helps young adults earn their high school diplomas is struggling to keep up with demand as city budget cuts squeeze funding for community organizations.
SA Youth President and CEO Maria Benavidez said the organization received only about 10% of the funding needed this fiscal year to operate its SOAR program, short for “See Our Achievements Rise.”
The cut comes as city leaders work to address a $158 million deficit.
“We are in survival mode constantly,” Benavidez said.
The SOAR program was created in 2021 to serve young adults who are disconnected from school and the workforce.
Benavidez said about 35,000 people ages 16 to 24 in San Antonio fall into that category.
The program started small. “We had 10 students our very first class,” Benavidez said.
Since then, SOAR has grown significantly.
The program now serves cohorts of 40 students at a time, with 120 students graduating each year with a high school diploma.
Benavidez said the program is designed to address more than academics.
“Before we knew it, we started to create this wonderful, beautiful program that I think is all-encompassing,” she said. “It’s comprehensive, it’s robust. We provide case management, mental health services.”
The program is free for students, but demand has outpaced available resources.
SA Youth currently has a waitlist of up to 250 people.
As funding has declined, Benavidez said she has avoided reducing class sizes.
Instead, the organization has cut staff.
After federal American Rescue Plan Act funding through the county ran out, SA Youth’s therapy staff was reduced from four full-time therapists to one part-time therapist working with 40 students at a time.
Benavidez said the organization is looking to private foundations and individual donors to help fill the gap.
“The $10 donors, you know, they add up,” she shared.
Despite the financial pressure, Benavidez said SA Youth does not plan to walk away from the students who need support.
“Absolutely not,” she said. “We will find a way because there is a need and these students need us.”
Interviews for the January cohort are expected to begin in November.
To join the waitlist, applicants must live in Bexar County, be between 16 and 24 years old, and have left school with at least one high school credit.
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