F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E
CASA PACIFICA CENTERS FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
A California Non-profit 501(C)(3)
Contact: Carrie Hughes
Phone: 805-366-4011
Email: chughes@casapacifica.org
For: Assignment Editor
Ronald McDonald House Charities Southern California Grants $35,000 to Casa Pacifica’s Building New Foundations of Hope Capital Campaign
Camarillo, CA – Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families is proud to announce Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California (RMHCSC) has awarded a generous grant of $35,000 to support the agency’s “Building New Foundations of Hope” Capital Campaign to improve and expand facilities on its Camarillo campus. The funds will specifically support the construction of a Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) suite – two playrooms and an observation room. This gift is the second time McDonald’s has supported a Casa Pacifica capital project. The first supported the original capital campaign to build Casa Pacifica and focused on construction of the McDonalds Cottage of its emergency shelter.
The RMHCSC grants to agencies with programs that support children and families in need – a perfect fit for Casa Pacifica’s PCIT program. PCIT is a skill-based intervention for parents/caregivers of children ages 2-7 diagnosed with challenging behavior issues and its goal is to heal, enhance, or to create (often for the first time), a secure parent-child relationship. This is done by first building the parent-child relationship through trust, respect, and focusing on a child’s natural inclination to please, and second by teaching parents various behavioral support and management techniques. Families come to the PCIT center where they play together in a room that features a one way mirror. Clinicians watch the interaction from behind the mirror and coach parents through a bug-in-the-ear system how to approach different relationship building and behavioral situations that arise. The program also provides in-home support to ensure what is learned at the center is carrying over to the family’s everyday life.
Casa Pacifica’s $21 Million “Building New Foundations of Hope” Capital Campaign is close to reaching its Phase 1 goal of $16.6 million, 85% of which is the milestone to break ground on the project. The first phase will include construction of two substance abuse treatment cottages for teenaged foster youth, repurposing the current administration building for outpatient services (including the PCIT center), and building a new administration/training/vocational education building. The second phase of the project will expand and improve the campus’ clinical services and recreational therapy programs, which are currently housed in temporary buildings, with new state-of-the-art permanent structures.
About Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California
For more than 35 years, Ronald McDonald House Charities® (RMHC) of Southern California has been dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and families across Inyo, Kern, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. RMHC of Southern California helps families with critically-ill children stay together, connecting them with others facing similar challenges through its six Ronald McDonald Houses® in Bakersfield, Loma Linda, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Orange and Pasadena and two Ronald McDonald Family Rooms®. One of the few chapters to operate a cost-free, medically supervised Camp Ronald McDonald For Good Times®, RMHC of Southern California helps children with cancer and their siblings rediscover childhood and develop the self-esteem and self-efficacy often lost as a result of the disease. The organization also provides funding through its Community Grants Board to deserving non-profits that improve the lives of children and funds four college scholarship programs that help exemplary high school students pursue the education of their dreams. More information about RMHC of Southern California and its programs can be found at www.rmhcsc.org or on www.Facebook.com/RMHCSoCal and www.Twitter.com/rmhc_socal.
About Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families
Casa Pacifica Centers for Children and Families is a crisis-care and residential treatment facility for abused, neglected, or at-risk children in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. The agency is the largest non-profit provider of children’s mental health services in both counties and along with its campus-based programs administers a number of community-based programs which are designed with the intent to strengthen families and keep children in their homes. For more information about Casa Pacifica or to learn about its “Building New Foundations of Hope” Capital Campaign that is underway, please visit its website www.casapacifica.org or call the Development Department at (805) 445-7800.