First in a two-part series

By Brian Denitzio
News Editor

(San Diego, CA) Brett Ryan laced up a pair of ice skates for the first time in December 2002. He enrolled in a "Learn to Skate" class at the Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in San Diego, and by June of the next year, he'd won the Western Regional Championship in Level Seven of recreational skaters. Now 16 years old, he's competing nationally.

"The truth is, his whole life changed," says Major Cindy Foley, administrator of the Kroc Center.

The skating rink is a perfect lens for viewing the Kroc Center's mission and the vision of Joan Kroc, the center's benefactor. Seven-hundred forty-five kids of all ages and backgrounds currently participate in learn-to-skate programs at the Kroc Center. On the same ice, a kid like Brett Ryan discovered his gift, and can stay at the center as he follows it as far as it would take him.

"Mrs. Kroc wanted no neighborhood kid to outgrow these facilities," says Foley.

Above, right: San Diego's year-round sunshine makes outdoor amenities- like this rock-climbing feature- a big part of the Salvation Army's Kroc Center. But, Dudley Street can expect world class features, too, frthrough a planning process that is just now taking form.

And indeed it is hard to imagine that they would. Opened in June 2002, the Kroc Center was built and endowed through an $87 million gift from Joan Kroc, the wife of McDonald's founder, Ray Kroc. Built on 12-plus acres of land in San Diego's Rolando area, the Kroc Center is a state-of-the-art facility that includes professional quality athletic and performance spaces, as well as a library, computer lab, and conference rooms. The San Diego center is the flagship and model for future community centers that The Salvation Army will build across the country. In January of this year, a site on Dudley Street in Uphams Corner was selected to receive funding for a Kroc Center here in Dorchester. The project is still in the planning stages, with the community meeting and discussing what amenities are needed to best serve the Dudley Street neighborhood. If benchmarks are met, up to $80 million in funding will be available to build and endow a Kroc Center in Dorchester. A look at the transformation that came about in one San Diego neighborhood in the wake of the massive center moving in reveals that Joan Kroc's vision will likely mean a very bright future for Dudley Street.

The Kroc Center Way

The phrase, "the Kroc Center way" comes up often during a two-hour tour of the Kroc Center's sprawling facilities on University Ave. in San Diego. Major Cindy Foley, who along with her husband, Tim, serves as the center's administrator, uses the words often as she recounts the center's commitment to providing young people world class opportunities.

Last winter for instance, when a troupe of kids at the Kroc Center performed "The Wizard of Oz" in its $14 million, 600-seat theater, special effects experts created a real tornado on the stage, and Dorothy and the witch actually flew through the air. It is illustrative of the center's underlying theme.

"We offer the highest instruction we can provide, in a world class facility, to everyone without discrimination," says Foley.

Later, she puts it more simply.

The Kroc Community Center outdoor pool in San Diego.

"If it's the Kroc Center, it should look like Broadway with eight-year olds in front."

The Kroc Center's theater, like everything at the center, is built to the highest possible standards. Foley points out the individual heating and cooling vents under each of the theater's seats. Large ducts affect the acoustics, she says. The sound and lighting systems are all Broadway-quality, meaning that the stage on which eight-year olds from the neighborhood perform "The Wizard of Oz" can also comfortably host Tony Bennett&emdash;which it has.

The Kroc Center Way means providing opportunities and nurturing potential, Foley says. The swimming pools at the Kroc Center are Olympic size and quality. In fact, local college teams rent the pools regularly, and each year the U.S. Olympic team spends two weeks training in the same pool that also houses "Mommy and Me" learn to swim classes. The pool provides an opportunity for kids to learn, and for the gifted few, a top-flight facility in which to chase down their dreams.

The same principles apply to everything the Kroc Center does, not just athletics. In the center's art classes, children are provided the highest quality instruction with professional materials.

"We're putting everyday kids on canvas. Some say you have to earn the right to be on canvas. At the Kroc Center, you're eight years old, you go on a canvas," says Foley.

While the spotlight at the Kroc Center is clearly on the kids, people of all ages have found the resources valuable. One example is the heated therapeutic pool. That pool has been designated as an arthritis center, and local seniors and people with chronic injuries come to the pool for treatment.

A Valued Partner

The Kroc Center's annual operating budget is $7.4 million. A maximum of $1.8 million can be drawn from the center's endowment, but that still leaves $5.6 million in revenue that must be generated.

To keep the Kroc Center viable, The Salvation Army charges fees for membership and many of its classes and programs. For a child living in the immediate surrounding neighborhood, membership is $10 a month. Rates vary for adults, families, and seniors, and Foley says that "scholarships" are available to families and children that can't afford to pay the full fees.

But in addition to fees, the center generates a sizeable chunk of its revenue by renting its facilities. The County of San Diego is a frequent user of the Kroc Center's conference rooms and the theater. Local corporations likewise take advantage of the facilities for hosting conferences and other gatherings.

Such spaces are made available to community groups and schools without cost, and provide an opportunity for the center to make inroads into groups that might not find the center on their own.

'Like a Spark'

Prior to being developed by The Salvation Army, the site on which the Kroc Center now stands was a long-abandoned strip mall, empty for more than a dozen years.

"For a long time the site where the Kroc Center is now was a large open lot, just a big open dirt area," says Pat Norris, a community relations officer with the San Diego Police Department. "It became a place for kids to go get into mischief."

"As you trace the rise and demise of the mall, so went the neighborhood," Foley says.

Now, as the Kroc Center has flourished, the community follows.

Foley states that when the Kroc Center opened in June of 2002, strip mall occupancy in the surrounding area was at 30 percent. In fiscal year 2003-04, the rate had risen to 100 percent. She pointed out that Starbucks and NAPA Auto Parts Store have each opened in the area since the wake of the Kroc Center's construction.

This is echoed by Tracy Reed, a project manager with the city of San Diego, overseeing a community development plan for the area around the Kroc Center. Reed reports that before the Kroc Center was built, the stretch of University Ave. it sits on teetered on the brink.

"I think it [the district] was kind of shaky, in terms of which way it was going to go and that kind of pushed it in the right direction, maybe faster," says Reed.

San Diego City Councillor Jim Maddaffer represents the district in which the Kroc Center lies and served on the advisory board as it was being planned, and he has seen a remarkable turnaround in the surrounding community.

He describes the neighborhood as formerly being one of the city's oldest, full of abandoned lots, and almost without hope.

"This was a part of San Diego that some would say was left for dead," says Maddaffer.

In the wake of the Kroc Center, vacant commercial lots have started filling up, and the surrounding neighborhood is on a path towards total revitalization.

"This is kind of like a spark that I see will light a brush fire for success and positive change that really didn't have any hope prior to the Kroc Center coming in," says Maddaffer.

In addition to new businesses moving in, Foley says that she's also seen a number of pre-existing businesses making investments in their infrastructure. The city of San Diego is working on a publicly funded community development project, but that's happened organically, she says, since the center opened.

Some report that that feeling has permeated the residential real estate market as well.

"I think it gave a shot in the arm to the community, where people [before] asked should I invest in my home?" says Reed. The answer now is yes. Once vibrant neighborhood groups that struggled in the area's darker days are now reinvigorated, according to Reed.

"There's just a great feeling in the neighborhood of wanting to work together to improve," says Foley.

Next week: How will the Uphams Corner-Dudley community plan for its own Kroc Center? The Reporter examines the community process in part two.