Community Bridges, which provides dozens of services for children, adults and seniors throughout Santa Cruz County, is moving to Watsonville.
The 41-year-old organization runs family resource centers, nutrition programs and programs for seniors such as Elderday and Meals on Wheels. But it does so from its Aptos headquarters.
Meanwhile, La Manzana Community Resources is centered in Watsonville, offering parenting education, health insurance enrollment assistance and literacy programs. Also at that location is the Women, Infants, and Children program (WIC), which offers services for pregnant and nursing women and infants.
The new center at 517-521 Main St. will house Community Bridges’ administrative offices, in addition to its Child and Adult Care Food program and the administrative offices of Lift Line, which schedules rides for seniors to medical appointments and food sites.
Community Bridges CEO Raymon Cancino said the move will allow the organization to consolidate its services in one location, and save money in monthly rent.
“Our goal has always been to minimize administrative expenses, and through centralization at La Manzana we can become more unified and financially secure, resulting in a stronger agency overall,” he said. “We in the nonprofit sector need to collectively move towards adopting creative ways of controlling our operating expenses. Acquiring property allows an organization to stabilize their costs and invest more in services, and in our most valuable asset – our employees.”
Established in 1977, Community Bridges runs 10 programs, at 20 different sites for 22,000 children, families and seniors annually.
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For information, visit communitybridges.org.
