All services will be consolidated under the roof of spacious
40,000-square-foot office
County social services in Gilroy will consolidate under one roof in coming months so the area’s neediest families no longer have to shuttle between different offices.
Under the current system, the Santa Clara County Social Services Department connects people with food stamps, welfare and other types of assistance through its offices at 150 and 190 Leavesley Road. Many of those same clients have to travel another mile to Arroyo Circle by the old Wal-Mart to get job training and placement services, as well as child care for parents in school.
In December, county supervisors signed off on a 10-year lease for a 40,000-square-foot office at 379 Tomkins Road. The location is less than a mile from the current space on Leavesley, according to facilities manager Barbara Henderson, but has considerably more space to house 70 workers and its various programs.
“It’s just a better building,” she said. “It has more space for staff and allows us to bring back our training element in one place.”
The new office is located on the side street off Murray Avenue, just west of U.S. Highway 101. Henderson said the social services department is negotiating with the Valley Transportation Authority to bring a bus stop closer to the new facility. She hopes to have the arrangement in place by the time the new office opens at the end of May.
