BY PAUL NELSON, Times Union

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – If charity starts at home, then William Rivas is in the right place.

Rivas, executive director of the C.O.C.O.A. House, located at 869 Stanley St., said the group is poised to transform the property next door, at 867 Stanley, into a new state-of-the-art teen center that will include a nice-looking wooden porch to connect the two properties.

The project has special significance for Rivas whose childhood home was at 867 Stanley St. The property was empty for more than 15 years before C.O.C.O.A. (Children of Our Community Open to Achievement) House, a nonprofit mentoring and after-school program celebrating its 25th anniversary, acquired it.

Rivas, who just turned 40, said as a youngster he was once arrested at his residence and then later was one of  C.O.C.O.A. House’s first students when it opened in 1996.

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