{"id":15503,"date":"2012-08-01T21:49:21","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T04:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=15503"},"modified":"2012-08-01T21:52:43","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T04:52:43","slug":"financial-service-center-comes-to-the-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/financial-service-center-comes-to-the-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial service center comes to the Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Zenaida Merlin during the launch of Sparkpoint San Francisco beside her partner Luis Estrada with whom she started the business \u201cMerlin Catering\u201d. Photo Deanna Jones, MEDA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A new service center to help low-income, Mission District residents tackle financial concerns is now underway.<\/p>\n

The Sparkpoint Center, located inside Plaza Adelante at the corner of Mission and 19th streets, is one of five organizations sponsored by United Way.<\/p>\n

The new center opened its doors on June 22 following a grand opening celebration. It is the 10th such center erected in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a way that families can gain self sufficiency and get ahead in the world,\u201d said Myrna Melgar, deputy director at the Mission Economic Development Agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cSparkpoint centers are a one-stop-shopping place so that people don\u2019t have to shuttle around town and waste time and gasoline or energy and effort to get the services that they need,\u201d Melgar said.<\/p>\n

Those services include advice on how to increase your income, manage your credit and build your assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Mission District is a very exciting place to be for one, because you have a strong vibrant immigrant community. And when we\u2019re talking about can-do, innovative spirit, who possesses that more than our immigrant community?\u201d said Ed Center, a United Way representative.<\/p>\n

Center said the goal for the United Way of the Bay Area is to cut poverty in half by 2020 and they couldn\u2019t do it alone, which is why they partnered up with MEDA.<\/p>\n

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, wrote in a letter relayed via a representative, that Sparkpoint will \u201cprovide the community with wrap around social services to meet financial, employment, housing and educational needs for the underserved members of our community … Sparkpoint shares this commitment to building an economy that brings quality and opportunity for all Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zenaida Merlin, a Sparkpoint client, praised the center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came here because we wanted to start a business,\u201d Merlin said. \u201cOur dream was a food catering service, but we couldn\u2019t do it without Sparkpoint because I have a child that is three-and-a-half years old.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the help of Sparkpoint, Merlin was able to jumpstart her business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like I found everything here,\u201d Merlin said. \u201cWe can continue with our dream.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new service center to help low-income, Mission District residents tackle financial concerns is now underway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1740,1738,1739],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-15503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-mission-economic-development-agency","tag-sparkpoint-center","tag-united-way","entry"],"yoast_head":"\nFinancial service center comes to the Mission - El Tecolote<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A new service center to help low-income, Mission District residents tackle financial concerns is now underway.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/financial-service-center-comes-to-the-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Financial service center comes to the Mission - 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