Diamond Learning Center plans to double its current footprint with a move to a 60,000 square-foot building currently occupied by Celebration Church in Clovis. Photo by Ben Hensley

An organization founded as a safe space for individuals with intellectual disabilities to learn and develop is preparing to expand in a big way in Clovis.

By next year, the Diamond Learning Center will have doubled in size at its new home, located at Minnewawa and Ashlan avenues. The center purchased the property currently occupied by the Clovis campus of Celebration Church, At more than 60,000 square feet, the space will more than double the current learning center.

The facility will eventually include a 20,000 square-foot, 1,200-seat event center, a deli and commercial kitchen and 40,000 additional square feet of learning space — opening the door for additional programs, opportunities and, of course, students.

The added space will also allow for the construction of a basketball court and an outdoor eating area.

Back in 2005 when Jami De La Cerda founded the Diamond Learning Center, it was a dream of hers to reach as many lives in the Central Valley as possible.

De La Cerda anticipates the program to more than double in size thanks to the expansion.

“We actually looked into leasing it a few years ago,” De La Cerda said, adding that when the property went on the market, she jumped at the chance to seize the opportunity.

In addition to the extra space and students, De La Cerda hopes to expand the center’s programs to include dementia care and reach more medically vulnerable students.

The current location off Sierra Avenue just east of Highway 168 consists of two floors.

The new facility being all on one floor provides improved accessibility to programs, specifically for students with physical disabilities.

“We’d like to do, at some point, some type of a clinic where we can have physicians come in and really serve our people on a health basis as well,” she said.

The potential addition of several hundred new students also opens up educational and employment opportunities – both of which are encouraged and facilitated by the learning center – to generate more community involvement; De La Cerda hopes to see the event center eventually home to nonprofit functions, as well as performances by students at the center.

Not going it alone

 

Diamond Learning Center and De La Cerda have not been alone in their efforts to make education available to as many as possible; a decade-long partnership between De La Cerda and Clovis Community College Crush Athletic Director James Sewell has brought opportunities to both organizations that neither could have imagined ten years ago.

Sewell formerly served as the associate director of development for The Bulldog Foundation at Fresno State where he met De La Cerda; the two have worked closely together on several projects since.

Clovis Community College Celebrates GivingTuesday with a Surprise Donation

Last year, De La Cerda surprised Clovis Community College on its sixth annual GivingTuesday event with a $200,000 donation.

De La Cerda shared her own experiences growing up in British Columbia, Canada, her close relationship with her mother, and eventually, her attendance at Fresno State, where she received her degree as a first-generation college graduate.

Her donation was made in honor of her mother, Carole May Morrison.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have a personal relationship with Jami and DLC for probably over ten years now,” Sewell said. “It’s been really cool to see them grow through their different facilities.”

Sewell said that the contributions and donations that the center has given the college have been a huge factor in the lives of student athletes.

“Things like that that we wouldn’t have done otherwise that really genuinely benefit our student athletes every day when they’re here but also onto that next step – whether its a four-year, the workforce or back home to work on the farm – whatever it is,” he said. “We’re really able to prepare them a lot better now because of that.”

Clovis Community College was founded in 2007 – two years after Diamond Learning Center – and Sewell said that is proud of the two institutions’ respective success. A large amount of the credit he gives to the success at Clovis rests on the shoulders of Diamond Learning Center and De La Cerda.

“We wouldn’t be what we are, honestly I can say without our relationship with Jami and Diamond Learning Center,” Sewell said.