SCAP in Santa Cruz Weekly The Santa Cruz AIDS Project ( SCAP ) serves men, women and children who are HIV positive living in Santa Cruz County. Our mission is to promote and participate in a comprehensive and compassionate response to HIV and AIDS through education, advocacy, and supportive services. All care services are free, confidential and offered within a non-judgmental environment. Care services include case management, access to medical care, financial assistance, food bank, volunteer support, support groups, and pro bono professional support services. SCAP is a welcoming place. We celebrate and value each person entering our doors for services regardless of age, race, culture, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, lifestyle, background, religion, ability, or income. The Santa Cruz AIDS Project was founded in 1985 by a group of dedicated volunteers with the mission to lead a community response to the ever-changing HIV/AIDS pandemic, to enhance the quality of life through powerful support programs, to advocate effectively for the health and dignity of those living with HIV, and to reduce the spreads of HIV through results-oriented and measured education and prevention programs that are tailored to specific at-risk community groups and focused on the health of Santa Cruz County.
Operational for more than 25 years, the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center recruits and orients volunteers for placement in various nonprofit agencies. It offers Adopt-A-Family, a program where businesses and individuals can adopt a family of any size. The adopters in the program provide family packages that include food gift certificates, clothing, toys children and household items, such as blankets, towels and sheets. The agency also offers the File of Life, which is a national program that provides an individual's medical information on a card inserted in a magnet that attaches to the front of the refrigerator. In addition, the Santa Cruz Volunteer Center provides the Helping Hands program, which includes home repair services for low-income senior citizens. It is located in Santa Cruz, Calif.
Community Support Services, also known as CSS, is a service unit of the Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center. It serves individuals with poverty and stigma associated with the diagnosis of mental illnesses. The unit offers dual diagnosis treatment, mental health counseling, residential treatment, emergency shelter, case management, permanent supported housing, peer support, money management and independent living support services. Community Support Services provides outpatient and residential solutions. In addition, it offers an independent living program. The Santa Cruz Community Counseling Center is a nonprofit corporation that has been serving Santa Cruz County in California since 1973. It provides youth services and child and family development programs.
