BALANCE4kids is a nonprofit organization that offers a wide range of services to children with severe disabilities. It operates in collaboration with private organizations, parents and public schools. Its offers support in the areas of nutrition, educational therapies and alternative education. The organization provides one-to-one sessions with instructional assistants and respite workers to serve the special needs of students from preschool to high school. BALANCE offers the KidQuest program that is funded by the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities and sponsors extracurricular field trips. The organization has sponsored gymnastics classes, provided gross motor occupational therapy equipment to various schools, purchased adaptive communication devices and undertaken computer modification projects. It has issued computers and supplied sensory-motor materials and fine motor occupational therapy games to children. BALANCE4kids is located in Soquel, Calif.
Rising International is a nonprofit organization that has revolutionized the home party business model to alleviate poverty locally and globally. Think Avon or Tupperware for a social cause. We find the world's most forgotten women (like Fatima) and enable them to change their destinies by selling their handmade crafts at Rising Home and Corporate Parties. We train women and teens, many un-employed or under-employed, (like Susana) to run their own Rising Home Party businesses and sell crafts made by their global sisters. We search the U.S. for party hosts (like Nancy) who invite friends to their homes to shop. Our sustainable model empowers both local and global entrepreneurs to rise above their circumstances.
The Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County promotes volunteerism and offers the File of Life program, which provides an individual's medical information. The organization s Friends Outside program helps to reduce the trauma of incarceration for prisoners and their families. It offers transportation to medical appointments for senior citizens and disabled people. The Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County also manages The Literacy Program, which serves adult learners who want to speak, read and write English. The organization s Retired Senior Volunteer Program connects caring senior citizens with nonprofit agencies. In addition, it provides installation services for grab bars and railings. The Volunteer Centers of Santa Cruz County operates the CitySERVE Volunteer Program.
