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About Us
Gloria Morris founded Harvest Park Educational Center (HPEC) in October 2008 after heading up several educational ministries (summer camps for kids, 2000-2008) to support the needs of their children and others who were elementary/middle school age. During the early years she discovered the large number of elementary and middle school students who were nearly failing. Mrs. Morris wanted to help prevent those students from failing and to make a difference in their life. HPEC, a non-profit under the parent organization, Valley Harvest Church, was launched as an afterschool homework tutorial project to help students close their academic gaps and at-risk behavioral challenges. After nearly nearly 20 years of volunteer service working to improve the lives of students with socio-economic, educational and health inequities, Mrs. Morris was selected as one of Merced County’s “Volunteer of the Year” awardees in 2018. She is the author of “The Next Step...Principle-Based Lifestyle Training Ⓒ” (All Copyrights Reserved 1994-2021), which consists of both a faith-based reader and a series of non-sectarian educational workbooks and other PBLT related curriculum. Mrs. Morris received Merced County’s First Five, “Hands-On Heroes, Denard Davis Memorial Lifetime Community Leader Award”, in 2019. She is certificated by the California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA).
Paster Morris and Mrs. Morris are both very involved in Valley Harvest Church (VHC) of Merced. Mr. Morris retired from Merced County, in 2017 after 22 years of service as a Department Head. He served as the Director of WorkForce Development and Worknet prior to retirement. Robert Morris is the Founding Senior Pastor of Valley Harvest Church. The Morris’s planted the Valley Harvest Church nearly 20 years ago. Supporting, encouraging, and preparing today’s youth for tomorrow's workforce and a brighter future is their shared passion.
Community Connections
Harvest Park Educational Center (HPEC) is a Community-Based Organization (CBO) that is fully staffed by university, college, and high school volunteers & staff members.
We are connected and engaged with the Merced community. Our purpose is to encourage, promote and reach into the lives of the most under-represented children and families who suffer from education and achievements inequities resulting in many social and emotional behavioral challenges.
HPEC opens the door for establishing creative solutions for inspiring students to build up their character, self-esteem and wellness to become champions of their own education and future career pathways. Thus, HPEC students avoid falling into the proverbial "school house to jail house prison pipeline".
“We cannot always build a future for our youth, but we can always build our youth for the future.” - Teddy Roosevelt
Help Our Cause
$20.00
Your investment and contributions will support HPEC's goals to transform the lives of students with academic gaps and suffering from ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences, CDC, Kaiser-Permanente Study, 1995-1997). The program requires enrolling new students into a "foundations in reading" tutorial designed for students who are scoring below the 70% state standard. Your generous contribution will fund our mission to enroll new students in the program. Our cost per student ranges from $300-$500 per month. HPEC enrolls students year-round, including our UCM Summer Prep Academy.