Hilton Head after-school program serving immigrants ordered to leave

Anxiety is building for immigrant families living in Cordillo Courts Villas as the regime’s board is taking action, including fines, to remove an after-school program serving their children, the program’s director said Friday.

Neighborhood Outreach Connection received notice from the board in November that it must terminate operation in three units it owns in the Hilton Head Island condominium complex, said Dr. Narendra P. Sharma, program director.

The letter was followed up in December with another requiring the organization pay a $500 fine for each unit along with a daily $25 fine for each day it continues operating.

“If tomorrow NOC closes here, it will cause irreparable harm to this community,” Sharma said. “What other options do these children have? There is no community center here for them.”

Sharma said the organization has yet to pay any of the fines, but instead filed a lawsuit last month seeking an injunction against the Cordillo Courts Property Owners Association.

Contacted recently by The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, James Ackerman, Cordillo Courts board president, said he and other board members were unable to comment pending the litigation.

About 60 children in kindergarten through the eighth grade receive after-school help from certified teachers for free through the program. The program serves all low-income families in the area, but the population at Cordillo Courts is primarily made up of Hispanic immigrants.

In previous stories, Ackerman said he supported the program but not at Cordilla Courts. He said the master deed and bylaws for the complex restrict the condominium units to residential use.

Ackerman doesn’t live at Cordillo Courts but is a co-owner of MidAtlantic Rentals, which owns five units in the complex. He said the company hopes to raise property values at the complex.

Margie Tomczak said Friday she doesn’t want to see NOC shut down at Cordillo Courts. She runs the Society of St. Vincent de Paul out of the island’s Holy Family Catholic Church on Pope Avenue, a program that offers meals and scholarships to families in the area.

“I work with a lot of these families that live in Cordillo Courts,” she said. “A lot are parishioners who come to our church. We have 250 children who come to our Holy Family religious education program.”

NOC provides extra school help to children who sometimes speak more advanced English than their parents, Tomczak said.

“We have driven a lot of low-income people out of Hilton Head Island, and we have this issue about not having enough workers,” she said.

Sharma said NOC was invited in 2013 to operate in Cordillo Courts. He said the regime’s board at that time offered a reduced rent to operate there. Over time, the organization was able to purchase its own units, he said.

It is important that low-income families, including immigrants, have programs that continue to help them to succeed on Hilton Head, Sharma said.

“These people provide valuable labor to our economy,” he said. “Without these people here, economic development will be impacted.”

Those wanting to sign a petition in support of NOC can visit “Be the Change for our Children - Save NOC” at change.org.

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 4:35 PM with the headline "Hilton Head after-school program serving immigrants ordered to leave."