Carter Calhoun is Director of Development of Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro. He grew up in San Pedro and attended local schools. His life passion has been community service. He had a computer business for 5 years and then sold it. He spent one year with the Masai tribe in Kenya, and was fascinated by their rich culture and interesting lifestyle. He met his wife in Palos Verdes and settled down in this area, and has been with Toberman for about 2 years.
 
 
Toberman Neighborhood Center was founded in Los Angeles in 1903 (as Toberman Settlement House), and moved to San Pedro in 1937. It focuses on low-income family services to enable children and families to escape poverty, gang affiliation, and educational failures. It provides individualized problem-solving using mostly volunteers and limited resources. Many parents are single, and children often encounter dangerous neighborhoods going to school. It serves 7500 people per year with 35 staff members, and has become a national model in fighting poverty.
 
100 children are seen every day, where they start with individualized academic instruction and then enriched activities, usually followed by an evening meal. There is a food pantry for food insecurity, a major problem now. Los Angeles Police Department workers are on site to help with intervention, prevention, and rumor control to improve neighborhood safety.  Parents are helped to be engaged in raising their children, and other adult relationships with children are promoted for mentorship. (Successful citizenship in adulthood is more correlated with the parents’ engagement and time with their children than with family income.)
 
Toberman receives some government funds for gang intervention, but most funding is from private individual donations. More volunteers and donations are needed to help with a growing waiting list. Visitors are invited to visit on Thursdays at 3 PM to see the Toberman facilities at 131 North Grand Ave in San Pedro. The website is www.Toberman.org.