These services had been in separate buildings, each at least 20 years old, throughout the town of Guadalupe. This partnership adds a new and important dimension to the town. Until September, the Guadalupe Center was housed in small quarters in a nearby marketplace. Today, enrollment has more than doubled to about 400 students. Students often begin degrees at the center and later take additional classes at the main South Mountain Community College campus to complete two-year degrees.
Students attend from throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area.
Meanwhile, the Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley, Guadalupe Branch, is expected to be completed by mid-February. The Town of Guadalupe, measuring about one square mile, is surrounded on three sides by Tempe and borders Phoenix to the west along the I-10 freeway. The majority of the town's 5,600 residents are Hispanic and Yaqui Indian. The Yaquis have inhabited the town since the early 1900s, contributing early on to the development of the Salt River Valley.