The city of Antioch has sold nearly a half-acre piece of land to an educational nonprofit — for one dollar.
Delta Learning Center has leased 0.427 acres at 275 W. Tregallas Road from the city since 1988 to run a tutoring organization for K-12 students, many of whom are low-income and have learning disabilities. The children receive one-on-one support from credentialed teachers.
Kimberly Ahumada, Delta Learning Center executive director, said being able to purchase the land for one dollar allows the center to offer more discounted tuition and scholarships to students.
“Delta Learning Center is something very special and dear to my heart and to the community,” said Ahumada to the City Council during its Aug. 13 meeting. “We know there is a high need of students in our community that do need (educational) help because of the pandemic.”
The history of the center goes back to 1976, when retired school psychologist Julia “Bess” Combs saw a need for tutoring services in the community and started the program out of a garage, rallying other teacher friends to help make it a success, recalled Martha Goralka, secretary of the board for Delta Learning Center and longtime volunteer. The group then spent some time utilizing church classrooms in town before Combs set her sights on an expansion effort.
“As a Soroptimist herself, Bess got the Soroptimists and other groups and members of the community together to build the center in 1989,” Goralka told a reporter.
Public offers two cents on the one-buck sale
During the Aug. 13 City Council meeting, parents and community members spoke in support of the one-dollar land sale.
Cara Begley of Soroptimist International of Antioch said the club — comprising women helping other women — has been a supporter of Delta Learning Center since its start and continues to provide money for scholarships for low-income students.
“Soroptimist International of Antioch wholeheartedly supports the agenda item for the purchase of the land from the city of Antioch for one dollar,” said Begley.
Delta Learning Center board president Antonio Hernandez, who also serves as president of the Antioch Unified School District, said, “Delta Learning Center does a lot of really great work with students here in the school district and students in the community to make sure that they’re getting a high-quality education and that they’re getting the resources that they need to thrive and to be able to pursue the dreams that they have.”
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