SAN JOSE, Calif.– Excite Credit Union, Latino Business Foundation Silicon Valley (LBFSV), and SOMOS Mayfair are participating in the grand opening of Quetzal Gardens here. The three community-service organizations will be ground floor tenants of the recently completed Quetzal Gardens affordable housing complex in East San Jose.
Quetzal Gardens is a mixed-use development project built by Resources for Community Development, a respected not-for-profit developer committed to creating affordable housing and engaging the community. The development includes 71 affordable housing apartments.
Quetzal Gardens, Excite, LBFSV, and SOMOS have collaborated closely for years and are committed to serving families in Mayfair, Plato Arroyo, Little Portugal, the Alum Rock Corridor, and across East San Jose.
As the ground floor tenants of thw new property, the three organizations will bring resources, programs, and training that reflect the needs and support East San Jose families' strengths, including language-accessible and culturally relevant services to the area’s residents, neighbors, and businesses, the credit union said. The three not-for-profit groups call their ground-floor space La Esquina de Quetzal (corner of Quetzal).
“Coming together for this grand opening is an opportunity to celebrate the neighborhood’s culture and history and to be part of the vibrancy of East San Jose,” said John Hogan, Vice President of Community Relations for Excite Credit Union. “We couldn’t be more excited to open a branch in Quetzal Gardens. The location is perfectly suited to reach families and small businesses that will benefit from a credit union. As a not-for-profit cooperative, Excite can meet the unique needs of this diverse, entrepreneurial community.”
Excite Credit Union’s La Esquina de Quetzal branch will offer a full range of financial services, including checking, saving, personal loans, retirement planning, business services, and more. Excite specializes in serving the unbanked and underbanked and has flexible identification requirements for accounts and loans. It also offers services in Spanish and Vietnamese.
SOMOS’s new offices will serve as the organization’s headquarters, with meeting spaces, workstations, and internal and external programming spaces. San Jose families can access resources, referrals, leadership development workshops, organizing opportunities, and early learning programs.
LBFSV will host a Small Business Resource Center. The brick-and-mortar communal space will provide an easy “one-stop-shop” for local entrepreneurs to gather, create community, and engage with direct business services. As the first of its kind, the Center will be the linchpin for a growing community of East San Jose small businesses, particularly as a space for women and immigrant-owned enterprises to find accessible and relevant support, according to Excite CU.