As 2025 comes to a close, Encompass Community Services is calling on the Santa Cruz community to help sustain its life-saving programs—and expand access to care for the individuals and families who need it most.
For more than 50 years, Encompass has remained committed to providing children, youth, teens, adults, and families in Santa Cruz County with access to the high-quality services they need to have a long, healthy life. From early education to substance use recovery, mental health counseling, and housing support, Encompass delivers vital services that not only stabilize lives but help people truly thrive.
And now, with cuts to Medicaid and other federal grants on the horizon, we need your help now more than ever. A donation to Encompass helps us continue delivering essential health and human services to those who need them most. Because every person deserves a chance, every donation makes a difference.
Showing Up for Our Santa Cruz County Community
Behind every program is a story of transformation: a child gaining confidence in the classroom, a parent breaking the cycle of addiction, a youth finding direction, or a family rebuilding their future. These programs don’t just change lives—they save them.
ASCEND Youth Diversion Program
In partnership with the Santa Cruz County Office of Education and the Santa Cruz Police Department, we launched ASCEND, a diversion program for youth ages 12–17 that provides an alternative to the juvenile justice system. Instead of incarceration, these youth receive family counseling, substance use and mental health support, mentoring, and life skills training—giving them a chance to heal and redirect their future.
Peer Support: Recovery, by Example
We have expanded our Peer Specialist team—individuals in sustained recovery who now coach others just beginning their journeys. Our peer specialists don’t just offer encouragement; they drive clients to appointments, lead support groups, and model what long-term recovery can look like. This kind of support changes lives—and saves them.
Whole-Person Healing: Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT) + Therapeutic Counseling
This year, we successfully integrated our MAT services into our mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) counseling programs in both North and South County. Clients now receive holistic care that addresses substance use, mental health, and trauma—reducing relapse and rebuilding lives with dignity and compassion.
ReTurn: Reentry Support Inside Jail Walls
Our ReTurn Project brings group therapy, substance use treatment, and MAT services directly into the jail system, helping justice-involved individuals recover, reconnect with the community, and reduce their chances of returning to incarceration. It’s reentry support that starts on the inside—and follows them home.
Families Together: Healing Households
Through group counseling and wraparound services, our Families Together program helps parents struggling with substance use or justice system involvement reconnect with their children, learn healthy parenting strategies, and break generational cycles of trauma. When families heal together, everyone wins.
Sí Se Puede: A Promise Taking Shape
Construction is on schedule for the new Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center—a state-of-the-art residential and outpatient facility in South County that will dramatically expand access to culturally responsive recovery services for adults and teens. The facility will open in 2026—and we are looking for donor support to help us with the finishing touches – furniture, fixtures, and more.
Why Your Donation Matters
None of this would be possible without our supporters. Your gift to Encompass today directly helps us:
- Helps ensure uninterrupted services for children, adults, and families in crisis
- Reach more people with trauma-informed, culturally competent care
- Provide supportive services for youth and families in need
- Protect the future of vital programs in a time of policy uncertainty
We believe everyone deserves access to high-quality care—regardless of income, background, or circumstances. Your gift fuels our work. Whether it’s a group therapy session, a bus pass, or a lifeline during recovery, your support creates real change and saves lives. Because every person deserves a chance, every donation makes a difference:
- $25 provides menstrual care kits for our residential and youth programs
- $50 purchases art supplies for a therapy room
- $65 funds a bus pass for clients to reach vital appointments
- $75 equips a youth with a new backpack and shoes
- $100 supplies a coat and blanket for unhoused clients
- $150 builds a complete hygiene kit with essentials and dignity
- $500 stocks the pantry at our Thrive Hive drop-in center for a week
- $1,000 furnishes new bedding at a residential recovery program
This season, we invite you to make a year-end gift to Encompass and help us continue providing safety, healing, and hope in 2026 and beyond.
Donate today at https://www.encompasscs.org/donate_today or mail your gift to: Encompass Community Services, 380 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Have an old vehicle you’re looking to donate? We can also accept car donations through Charitable Adult Rides & Services (CARS), a non-profit that helps donors turn their vehicles into a donation. They will sell it at auction, and the proceeds will be designated for Encompass. Click to view our CARS profile and get started.
Thank you for helping us build a brighter 2026 for our community members who need it most. Together, we will make a difference.
