When José Vallejo started attending the Barrio Logan College Institute (BLCI) 16 years, along with a group of children from Logan Heights and surrounding areas, used to meet after school at the Perkins Elementary School Library to receive help with their homework and studying skills, and equally important they would receive encouragement.

“I remember we used to sit on a thin carpet in a circle and conduct reading workshops and at the end of every workshop we would be asked the question that drove me to Yale University: ‘Who wants to go to college?’” said Vallejo, who was 11 years old when he started attending BLCI.

Vallejo graduated from Yale in 2007, and is now a board member for BLCI, a non-profit founded in 1996 that helps students from low-income families make attending and graduating from college the first priority through afterschool college-prep programs.

In 2000, BLCI moved from the Perkins Elementary library to a nearby building that became a more permanent home for the program. There was no air conditioner, and pretty much it was just a big warehouse divided into smaller rooms.

Now, 13 years later, the non-profit is celebrating another milestone: On Nov. 1 it moved to a state-of-the-art facility on Newtown Ave., where it is renting the second floor of The Monarch School for five years.

“The first time I walked up the staircase to our new facility, time stopped for me and I was taken back to much more humble place just a block away… the Perkins Elementary library,” Vallejo said. “Now 16 years later, it gives me great joy to be part of giving our children what they deserve and providing with a safe and state of the art learning facility they can call their own.”

BLCI had a grand opening celebration on Thursday, Nov. 14th. There, the community gathered to celebrate an institution that has helped hundreds of disadvantaged students enroll and graduate from college.

The new facilities will give BLCI more room to grow, said Executive Director Jose Cruz.

“This is a great opportunity, especially in the evolution of the program,” Cruz said. “It will provide things that the kids never had, like an activity room, a parent multipurpose room, and, best of all, something as basic as air conditioner.”

BLCI currently serves 200 students a year, and around 100 parents. The program now has the space to increase the number of students it serves, maybe up to 50 students more each year, Cruz said.

Lucila Hernandez is mother to three BLCI students. Her oldest daughter graduated from California State University Channel Islands last year, and her younger daughters are currently enrolled in BLCI’s afterschool programs.

Hernandez, who serves in the BLCI board, said that the institution has become a second home for many families in Barrio Logan.

“Having a new building is a bittersweet emotion for many of us,” she said. “We’re glad we have a brand new building, but passing by the old building brings back a lot of memories. That’s where our children grew up, and where they were able to accomplish a lot of things.”

In addition to the new location, BLCI is also celebrating that it is expanding into Chula Vista, where it will start a pilot program at Castle Park Elementary.

More than 65 students from the Castle Park neighborhood will benefit from the new program, Cruz said, who added that this is part of the Promise Neighborhood grant that the federal government is giving to improve the Castle Park area.

BLCI has become an important part of students in Barrio Logan, and surrounding areas. It not only offers tutoring, but a holistic approach to students’ education.

“With full confidence I can say that the future will continue to have great things in store for BLCI,” Vallejo said.

“Inevitably one day BLCI will be able to purchase or develop a headquarters within our community of Barrio Logan.”

To learn more about the Barrio Logan College Institute, please visit www.blci.org.