CHISPA's Community Services department provides services to rental properties managed by CHISPA Housing Management, Inc. (CHMI) throughout Monterey County and portions of Santa Cruz County. The purpose of CHISPA's Community Services department is to implement activities in the rental developments in an effort to improve health and educational outcomes for families, adults, adolescents, and children living in these rental properties. The activities provided include computer access for children and adults, computer literacy, after school programs, health education and screenings for adults, children and seniors, youth sports programs, Girl Scouts, YMCA, leadership skills training, arts and crafts, guitar and music classes, dance classes, and English as a Second Language classes.

Some rental developments also include story time, puppet shows, movie nights, and arts and crafts for infants, toddlers and their caretakers. Programs are offered during different times of the year depending on the organization providing the services. Most programs for youth and children are operated on a school year calendar running from September though May. During summer break, some sites offer a summer academy or other summer programs during the day in place of after school programs. Seasonal programs offered include youth soccer league, hiking, water sports, softball, arts and crafts, and other outdoor activities.

Parenting workshops are also offered throughout the year covering topics such as health, safety, parental guidance, nutrition and healthy eating habits, violence and crime prevention, and first-time homebuyer information.

Community partners throughout the Central Coast run these programs. Most of these providers are nonprofit organizations working toward the well being and betterment of the community they serve. While these are only a few services, we are always looking for new community partnerships. For more information on how you or your organization can help, click on the How You Can Help link.



The Community Services department also works in collaboration with other community organizations on special events. We take pride in participating in special events such as the National Steinbeck Center Annual Kids Festival. We also host annual holiday events at each of our rental properties.

As research clearly shows, children are subject to becoming victims or perpetrators of violence during after school hours. This is one of the reasons that we strive to provide after school programs for residents in our rental developments in order to create a safer, healthier community. The commitment to providing community services is part of our belief that we need to build healthy neighborhoods and communities. We believe that it is vitally important to provide these educational opportunities and services to our residents so that they can become empowered to improve the lives of their children, advocate for themselves, and take an interest in their neighborhoods and communities.

For more information on special events and activities, click on the Calendar of Events. You can also request to be added to our mailing list for our trimester newsletter by sending an e-mail to the Community Services Coordinator.