Related organizations/useful links

ADA Home Page - ada.gov - Information and Technical Assistance on the Americans with Disabilities Act

Provides access to Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations for businesses and State and local governments, technical assistance materials, ADA Standards for Accessible Design, links to federal agencies with ADA responsibilities and information, updates on new ADA requirements, information about Department of Justice ADA settlement agreements and enforcement activities and access to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) ADA material.

AIDS Project East Bay (APEB)

Committed to the prevention of the spread of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and to the provision of culturally sensitive and effective services to all persons and communities infected with and affected by HIV in Alameda County. APEB serves those in Alameda County who need HIV Positive services, education and prevention messages and primary medical care the most: Communities of color, gay and bisexual men, transgenders, youth, the poor, the indigent and the disenfranchised.

Alameda County Behavioral Health Care Services

Provides a comprehensive network of integrated programs and services for all people with serious psychiatric disabilities, regardless of age, ethnicity, language or geographic location; in order to minimize hospitalization, stabilize and manage psychiatric symptoms, and help them achieve the highest possible level of successful functioning in their community of choice.

Alameda County Community Food Bank

In addition to food distribution to 300 community based organizations, the Alameda County Community Food Bank educates the general public and policymakers about hunger and poverty in Alameda County. The Food Bank encourages community members to get involved in the fight against hunger. Through education and advocacy the Food Bank works to create a hunger-free and healthy community.

Alameda County Public Health Department

Works to improve the health and safety of its residents and the neighborhoods they live in. Traditional public health concerns such as disease outbreaks, environmental hazards and access to health care have been joined by contemporary concerns: bioterrorism, crime, violence, and substance abuse. Each of these poses a threat to public health and wellness, and each calls for short and long-term solutions that lie well outside traditional public health boundaries.

Alameda County Social Services Agency

Provides services through five departments: Agency Administration and Finance, Adult and Aging Services, Children and Family Services, Workforce and Benefit Administration and Policy Office.

Baker Places

Nonprofit corporation providing an array of community based services to the residents of San Francisco with mental health, substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDS related issues. The agency assists individuals in learning and regaining the skills to live their lives fully and productively in the community. This social rehabilitation approach guides and unifies all Baker Places’ programs. Services are aimed at being accessible, flexible, consumer driven and culturally competent.

Bay Area Community Services

Provides services to nearly 4,000 people each year in 40 locations. They provide appropriate, cost-effective alternatives to help adults with mental illness and the elderly, helping them avoid institutionalization and improve their quality of life. Their service area encompasses the East Bay County of Alameda.

Berkeley Food and Housing Project

Serves homeless men, women and children in Berkeley, California. Clients represent the range of needs in the homeless community. Most clients suffer from multiple disabilities, including mental or physical illnesses, substance abuse, and/or developmental disabilities. The Berkeley Food and Housing Project also serves women and their families fleeing domestic violence.

Berkeley Free Clinic

Founded in 1969 as a street medicine clinic that quickly found a niche and a permanent home in the Berkeley community. It has become an icon in the area, and has served countless thousands in a variety of ways during its history.

Bonita House

Offers intensive residential treatment, supported independent living and case management services for adults dually diagnosed with severe and persistent psychiatric disabilities and substance use disorders. Bonita House also offers a day socialization program for people living with a serious mental illness.

Cal Justice

Statewide grassroots organization that organizes youth, immigrants, low-income people, and communities of color in order to improve their social, economic and political conditions.

California Non Profits

Protects, strengthens and promotes California nonprofits through advocacy, membership, conferences and workshops, information and referrals, tools and resources and much more.

Cancerlinks.org

Contains international links in many languages providing comprehensive information about cancer, its effects and treatment.

Center for Independent Living

The original pioneering agency for the independent living movement for persons with disabilities.
Based in Berkeley, California.

Coalition on Homelessness, San Francisco

Works to alleviate poverty by taking a multi-faceted strategy, attacking the forces that cause poverty from all sides. The strategy combines making sure homeless and poor people know their rights with involving homeless people in the shaping and formulating of public policy.

Welcome to Community Connections - CPD’s Information Clearinghouse

Information center for the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Coping.org, 15 free online books for coping with life’s stressors

14 free online self-help books: 9 about adults in recovery & 5 focused on parents.

Corporation for Supportive Housing

Makes supportive housing understood, available, and effective through providing high-quality advice and development expertise; by making loans and grants to supportive housing sponsors; by strengthening the supportive housing industry; and by reforming public policy to make it easier to create and operate supportive housing.

Crisis Support Services of Alameda County

Offers support to people of all ages and backgrounds during times of crisis. They work to prevent suicide and offer hope and caring during times of hopelessness. Crisis Support Services operates a 24-hour telephone service (in Alameda County: 1-800-309-2131, Nationwide: 1-800-SUICIDE) and responds to more than 50,000 calls each year. Crisis Support Services helps community members in times of grief and stress.

East Bay Community Recovery Project

Nonprofit drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, providing substance abuse treatment and relapse prevention programs in Alameda County since 1989.

Eden I&R

Nonprofit agency serving as a link between Alameda County families and individuals, and the full range of community resources available to them. Eden I&R is the source of information on, and referral to, low-cost housing, emergency shelter, and social service agencies for Alameda County residents.

Emergency Housing Consortium

Since 1980, Emergency Housing Consortium, EHC, has helped homeless Silicon Valley residents find housing and long term stability, with the help of corporations, community groups, and individuals. EHC can provide more than 1,000 beds a night — more than any other agency in the Valley. State-of-the-art shelters, transitional housing programs — with employment services, life skills training, family support and follow up services are just a few elements in a unique continuum of care.

Fred Finch Youth Center

Founded in 1891, provides a wide range of residential, mental health, special education and community-based services for severely emotionally disturbed children, adolescents and young adults.

First Place Fund for Youth

An Oakland-based nonprofit organization founded to remedy the lack of services available to youth who are making the difficult transition from foster care to independent living. First Place targets its services to 17- 21-year-olds who are preparing to “age out” or who have recently aged out of foster care. Once discharged from care, the vast majority of these young adults stop receiving county-funded foster care services.

Homeless Action Center

Providing legal services to homeless and low-income residents of Alameda County since 1990. The Center’s primary service is Supplemental Security Income (SSI) advocacy for mentally disabled members of the community who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The Center also provides free legal advice and referral at off-site legal clinics open to low-income or homeless individuals.

Hospitality House

Serving the homeless community in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district since 1967- through. a shelter for homeless adults, a drop-in self help center, an employment program, and a community arts studio program. The programs use a holistic approach to enhance the economic, mental, physical and social health of the homeless community with services ranging from housing to high school education, substance abuse counseling to HIV education and creative expression to job creation.

California Housing

Nonprofit organization dedicated to meeting the housing needs of California by increasing the supply and variety of homes being built. A leading statewide advocate for affordable housing in California.

International Early Psychosis Association

An international network for people involved in the study and treatment of early psychosis. It provides a forum for members around the world who wish to promote and facilitate best practice in education, research and treatment.

La Clinica de La Raza

Delivers affordable, culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services to thousands of Alameda County residents. Dedicated to serving the entire needs of the family, La Clinica provides a full range of services, such as medical, mental health, health education and dentistry. Financial support from public and private sources makes it possible for La Clinica to serve any person or family, regardless of ability to pay.

LifeLong Medical Care

The primary safety net provider of medical services to the uninsured and those with complex needs in Berkeley, North Oakland, Albany and Emeryville. It also provides services to the elderly and homeless in the broader East Bay area with a special presence in East Oakland.

Motivational Interviewing

Client-centered, directive method for enhancing intrinsic motivation to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. This site has resources for clinicians, researchers and trainers.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill

. The nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of people with serious mental illness and their families. This site highlights their public education, support and information activities together with their advocacy efforts.

National Alliance to End Homelessness

Nonprofit organization whose mission is to mobilize the nonprofit, public and private sectors of society in an alliance to end homelessness.

National Coalition for the Homeless

Focus our work in the following 4 areas: housing justice, economic justice, health care justice, and civil rights.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Home Page

Web site provides information from the federal agency that conducts and supports research on mental illnesses.

National Low Income Housing Coalition

Dedicated to ending America’s affordable housing crisis.Whilecrisis. While concerned about the housing circumstances of all low income people, they focus their advocacy on those with the most serious housing problems, the lowest income households.

New Bridge Foundation

Founded in 1968, provides addiction treatment programs and support in the San Francisco Bay Area, offering substance abuse treatment programs in both residential and outpatient settings.

Pacific Center for Human Growth

One of the premier lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community service centers in Northern California, offering a safe place and a wide range of drop-in peer support groups, information and referral, sliding-scale counseling for individuals, couples and groups, HIV services, a youth program, educational community outreach, and a Community Resource Center.

Resources for Community Development

Nonprofit housing development corporation with the mission of creating and preserving affordable housing for people with the fewest options in Northern California. RCD currently has a portfolio of over 970 affordable housing units and emergency shelter beds it has developed or owns in the cities of Alameda, Albany, Antioch, Bay Point, Berkeley, Concord, Emeryville, Hayward, Oakland, and Pacheco. RCD’s developments serve very low and low-income households and special needs groups, including the homeless, people with disabilities, survivors of domestic violence, seniors and people living with HIV/AIDS.

Rubicon Programs

Operates affordable housing and provides employment, job training, mental health, and other supportive services to individuals who have disabilities, are homeless, or are otherwise economically disadvantaged. Based in Richmond, California, Rubicon offers service throughout Contra Costa County and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Section 508: The Road to Accessibility

Resource for information on Section 508 of the Disabilities Act. The website also contains a searchable database of accessible products by supporting vendors. This portion of the site, called Buy Accessible, offers an online resource for vendors to post information on accessible products and for buyers to research accessible products.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration

Works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services. Includes links to support groups, information resources, events and articles.

Volunteer Match

Nonprofit organization with a mission to help everyone find a great place to volunteer, and offers a variety of online services to support a community of nonprofit, volunteer and business leaders committed to civic engagement. Interested volunteers can enter their ZIP code on the VolunteerMatch home page to quickly find local volunteer opportunities posted by nonprofit organizations throughout the United States.

Walden House

Engages, heals, teaches, trains, houses, clothes and feeds people with alcohol and other drug addictions in San Francisco and throughout California. Often these people are the most difficult to reach: the mentally ill, people with AIDS, emotionally disturbed and abused adolescents, the socio-economically deprived and the homeless.