-Samantha, age 17
Healy-Murphy Center is a 501(c)3 non-profit organi
zation that has been impacting youth in San Antonio for over 120 years. Students who have had difficulty succeeding in a traditional school environment can find the one-on-one attention, individualized curriculum, counseling, childcare, and health services they need to succeed in school and in life.
Healy-Murphy Center offers:
The mission of Healy-Murphy Center is to provide compassionate service to opportunity youth by focusing on individualized education in a non-traditional setting, early childhood development and essential support services.
Healy-Murphy Center holds a unique place in the history of education not just in San Antonio but the entire state of Texas. In 1888, Margaret Mary Healy Murphy, an Irish immigrant and widow, decided to use her own money to impact the lives of some of the state’s most underserved residents: African American children. She used her personal funds to build St. Peter Claver Academy, the first privately funded school for African Americans in the state. She also constructed a chapel on the campus which was the first Catholic parish for African Americans in the state. Shortly after the school opened, Mrs. Murphy and her teachers were threatened by bigotry from members of the community including the Ku Klux Klan who objected to the school’s mission. In response, she founded the Sisters of the Holy Ghost (now known as the Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate) to run the school in 1893. This was another historic first as the first Catholic community of religious women founded in Texas.
The Sisters of the Holy Spirit ran St. Peter Claver until 1970 when the mission was expanded to serve the needs of a new generation of underserved children: opportunity youth. Like Mother Margaret Mary Healy Murphy nearly a century early, Sr. Mary Boniface pioneered the right for all children to receive a free high quality education by creating Healy-Murphy Center, a non-profit learning center that provided the social and emotional support troubled teens needed to succeed in school and in life. Healy-Murphy Center’s holistic, individualized approach to education earned it the distinction of being the first accredited alternative education program in the state.
Healy-Murphy Center Executive Staff
Gustavo Cordova
Chief Executive Officer
gcordova@healymurphy.org
Abigail Salazar
Principal
asalazar@healymurphy.org
Leticia Guerra-Trujillo
Assistant Principal
lgtrujillo@healymurphy.org
Child Development Center Director
mdonato@healymurphy.org
Healy-Murphy Center Board of Directors
Sister Bernadette Barrett, SHSp, Board President
Sister Veronica Cahill, SHSp, Secretary
Marcus Valenciano, Board Vice President
Dr. Cindy Sickora, Board Treasurer
Gustavo Cordova
Joe Lerma
Dr. Henrietta Munoz
David Ojeda
Ana O’Connor De Hoyos
Hanna Dawson
Bobby Sims
Lowell Tacker
Dr. Joan Duncan
Letecia George
Christina Cassiano
Argonaut Group
Baptist Health Foundation
Capital One Bank
Charity Ball Association
Cowden Foundation
Dimmit Garrison Foundation
Dollar General Literacy Foundation
Gorman Foundation
Greehey Family Foundation
Herbalife Family Foundation
John G. and Marie Stella Kenedy Foundation
McClure Charitable Foundation
Methodist Healthcare Ministries
Harvey E. Najim Family Foundation
Genevieve and Ward Orsinger Foundation
Shield-Ayres Foundation
Sisters of the Holy Spirit and Mary Immaculate
St. Luke’s Lutheran Health Ministries
Valero Energy Foundation
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It is the policy of Healy-Murphy Center, Inc. to recruit, hire, train and promote employees in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, disability, creed, political affiliation or citizenship, unless exempted by state or federal law, or as otherwise established herein.
