SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Bonta honors Alameda Family Services as the 2023 California Nonprofit of the Year. AFS’ work and contributions to Alameda and to the greater Assembly District 18 were highlighted and uplifted at a ceremony in Sacramento on Wednesday, June 7.
Alameda Family Services (AFS) began in 1969 as The Love—In Switchboard, a teen hotline born of a mother’s desire to ease the many adversities burdening the young people of her community. AFS has broadened into a well-established agency fostering healing, resiliency, and growth through the delivery of progressive and comprehensive mental health, early childhood education, and family support services to individuals and families at all ages and stages of life.
This is the eighth year of the California Nonprofit of the Year initiative, a state-wide effort honoring the critical role nonprofit organizations play in California. 
“Alameda Family Services encapsulates community. Their intentional work for newborns, childcare assistance, and promoting successful student outcomes. Additionally, Alameda Family Services understands the needs for individual and family wellness by offering holistic services to address mental health, housing, and workforce referrals, and working with Alameda Fire Department with their CARE response program to address mental health crisis,” explained Assemblymember Bonta. “That is the type of community care all deserve,” she concluded.
“When anyone talks about delivering meals to seniors, inspiring with music, protecting fresh water, educating children, championing the disadvantaged, speaking out for human rights, caring for animals . . . they are talking about work that nonprofits do,” noted Jan Masaoka, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), which serves as a partner for this awards program. “California Nonprofit of the Year gives elected leaders the opportunity to shine a light on what nonprofits are accomplishing for the people in their districts and for everyone to appreciate the collective impact of nonprofits across our state.”
“It is an honor for Alameda Family Services to be recognized by Assemblymember Mia Bonta for our work by, and for, City of Alameda residents” said Katherine Schwartz, Executive Director of Alameda Family Services. “Being selected through the California State Legislature as the District 18 Nonprofit of the Year, Alameda Family Services' focus on the wellbeing of the community as a whole is elevated as an important California value. Alameda Family Services operates at the nexus of family, health, education, and partnerships in our pursuit of fostering healing resiliency, and growth through the delivery of progressive and comprehensive services to individuals and families at all stages in life. We are deeply grateful to Assemblymember Mia Bonta for this distinction.”
“For nearly 55 years, AFS has been deeply rooted in the City of Alameda and continues to be a safe, inclusive, compassionate, and respectful resource for those seeking greater emotional, psychological, and physical wellbeing in Alameda and beyond,” concluded Assemblymember Bonta.