Hilton Head nonprofit supporters fear future of Cordillo Court without program

Gloria Mina sometimes works until midnight to pay rent on her Cordillo Court apartment on Hilton Head Island, at times making it impossible for her to do homework with her two young sons.

An after-school program managed by Neighborhood Outreach Connection in the complex is possibly Mina’s only solution to giving her sons the education she thinks they deserve.

“My son was having issues with writing,” Mina, a widow, said. “Now he is getting better. They (Neighborhood Connection) get him to see numbers, letters and words.”

Mina expressed concerns after hearing that the Cordilla Courts board is looking at a proposal to end the program at the complex.

James Ackerman, Cordilla Courts board president, said he supports the program but he doesn’t think it is right for the complex. He said the master deed and bylaws for the complex say that the units are only for residential use.

“I think if you make exceptions for one, then you have to make exceptions for something else,” Ackerman said.

Eighty children in the complex’s parking lot, along with using the facility, could be a safety concern, he said.

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.

Gretchen Keefner, principal of Hilton Head School for the Creative Arts and a supporter of the nonprofit, said Mina is not alone her story.

Keefner said data repeatedly shows children in the program perform as well if not better than other students at the school.

“It is probably the most amazing program I have ever seen,” she said Wednesday.

Certified teachers help the children continue classroom learning after school lets out, she said.

“They use the strategies we use at school,” Keefner said. “They talk to the schools and work with them.”

The program works because the community is invested in it, Keefner said. It brings together parents, children and community leaders who work together to educate the children, she said.

Neighborhood Outreach Connection has grown to six locations in Beaufort County since it started in 2008.

It runs after-school programs, preschools and community events such as health screenings in Beaufort, Bluffton and on Hilton Head.

Currently the nonprofit serves about 60 children ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade at three units located at the Cordillo complex. Another 12 children are served in a preschool program.

Roy Plekenpol, former state board president of the Boys and Girls Club, is one of the program’s avid supporters.

“It sounds like there are a handful of homeowners (at Cordillo Court) who want to push out the low income,” Plekenpol said. “It is not in the best interest for us in the community who are trying to help these Hispanic and African-American families who need help.”

Without the nonprofit there, the island would be missing a gap in services, Plekenpol said. He said not only does the education of the children show improvement, but crime is down in the region.

Nonprofit literature claims that crime has been reduced by up to 50 percent in the communities in which the program operates.

“I look for outcomes,” Plekenpol said. “and in business you have to look for outcomes.”

This story was originally published September 7, 2016 at 8:03 PM with the headline "Hilton Head nonprofit supporters fear future of Cordillo Court without program."