Our Stories

Overview

Our Clients, Families and Staff tell the rest of the story.

If you are a client or family member of a client, and are interested in sharing your story, please reach out to your Service Coordinator. No achievement is too small, and we would love to celebrate you!

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Margaret

Proud Mother

Margaret is a proud stay-at-home mother to two children, Lyrik and Keyshia. As a client, Margaret recognized her life goals and knew she wanted to live independently with her two children. Lyrik and Keyshia also receive services from Alta California Regional Center and Margaret can apply her first-hand experience as a client to help her children.

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Ye

Service Coordinator

Ye has worked as a Service Coordinator at Alta California Regional Center for over a year. As a bilingual Service Coordinator, she can communicate with Mandarin speaking clients to help them better understand services. She enjoys working at ACRC because of the supportive team and overall positive working environment, along with helping the families and clients on her caseload.

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Darren

Artist and Business Owner

Six years ago, Darren began painting ornaments when a non-profit organization recognized his talent for painting on canvas and asked him if he could paint ornaments as presents. Darren was willing to try, but being a perfectionist, he did not like the first batch of ornaments he painted and so he tried again. From then on, Darren turned what seemed like a simple one-time request into a successful business.

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Asya

Service Coordinator

Asya is a highly educated person who has obtained multiple degrees including an MBA, in Healthcare Administration, Bachelor’s in Science, and Associates in Arts. She intended to become a nurse while she was studying but found that life took her on the path of entrepreneurship with the goal in mind to help people. While living in Chicago, Asya started a cleaning company, and a personal Assistant company with a goal to hire those in need of employment facing homelessness, and home aids who support the elderly in their homes.

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Love

Business Owner

Love is a student and business owner. She started in Fall 2022 at Consumnes River College and has especially enjoyed classes where she learns about diversity and other cultures. Love is majoring in Introduction to Business and plans to use her education to continue to develop her two businesses, Tea-Time Honey Flavors and Opulent Soaps.

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Wayne and Chrissy

A Love Story

Wayne met the love of his life, Chrissy, in junior high school and it was love at first sight. Since then, they have been inseparable. They have a date night once a week to go see a movie, go out to dinner, or take a leisurely stroll in the park. When they are not physically together, they connect virtually by texting or calling throughout the day. Chrissy also enjoys writing Wayne daily love letters and he is always happy to receive them.

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Michael

Ballroom Dancer

Michael has been a ballroom dancer for 17 and a half years. He began dancing following graduation from Sacramento State and immediately fell in love with ballroom dancing as he found something he is passionate about.

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Tiffany

Service Coordinator

Tiffany’s path as Service Coordinator at Alta California Regional Center wasn’t direct but was fated after her son was diagnosed with autism. She attended California State University, Sacramento and received a Bachelor’s in English Literature. After Tiffany had her son, Sam, he was diagnosed with autism at three years old and was nonverbal, and they struggled to get help for the things they needed. Tiffany sought the help of Lucee Phan, Service Coordinator, and Jennifer Bloom, the now Director of Client Services, and received so much help.

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Robert

Overcoming Homelessness

Robert was determined eligible for regional center services in 1990 but didn’t access them due to a “wild youth” when he struggled with addiction and negative influences from friends. On a path that was wrong for him, it led him to being homeless for 10 years. Prior to being homeless, Robert lived with his mother, but she unfortunately passed away two years ago while living in a skilled nursing facility. But now, at 62 years old, Robert is housed and enjoys living in a care home.

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Kellen

Taekwondo Student

Kellen struggled with managing emotions, socialization, and being disciplined but he and his parents were intent on finding an option that could help him. Then in 2021, purchase of social recreation services was restored after over a decade of regional centers being prohibited from purchasing it for clients. With this option available again, they decided it would be great for Kellen to try a social recreation activity.

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Ethan

Native American Heritage Month

Ethan is proud to have graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 2019. Afterwards, he attended a day program for three years and recently he got a job at Story Winery. At the winery, Ethan has various responsibilities that allow him to work heavy machinery like the forklift and tractor. During harvest season, when the winery harvests the grapes from the vineyard, Ethan works full time hours. Working has given him independence which he values greatly.

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Aileen

Native American Heritage Month

Aileen celebrates her heritage daily as a member of the Hoopa Tribe in Burney Falls. At two years old, she was adopted after her biological parents had to renounce their care for Aileen. She was separated from her culture for many years after being adopted as her adoptive parents are White, but through her aunt, Aileen learned about where she came from.

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Elizabeth

Service Coordinator

 Elizabeth has almost 20 years of experience in social work and has been dedicated to helping people all her life. She attended San Francisco State University and received a Bachelor’s in Psychology, and then a Masters in Marriage and Family Counseling after being encouraged by her parents to pursue higher education. With that encouragement, she was the first in her family to receive a college education.

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Peter and the Signing of the ADA

Peter and the Signing of the ADA

Peter Mendoza, Community Program Specialist with the State Council of Developmental Disabilities and client of the Alta California Regional Center, shares his story on witnessing the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act and how he got there.

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Elijah

Service Coordinator

Elijah (who uses any pronouns and likes to use them interchangeably) attended Sierra College and American River College in 1993 but would eventually get married and have children, leading him to drop out to attend to his familial responsibilities. But Elijah still wanted to pursue an education, and in 2009, they received a bachelor’s in social psychology from Park University.

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Jason

Jason began his career serving emotionally disturbed adolescents in 2001. He then attended a job fair and met a residential care provider and decided to transition to serving the developmentally disabled population in 2005. He continued his career and served in a role as a Community Support Facilitator, until 2016 when he became a Service Coordinator at Alta California Regional Center (ACRC).

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Benjamin

Writer

Benjamin, who uses any pronouns, is a talented writer who is working on 10 different web series. Each one is unique; one of them is based off of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), along with several video game related series. Benjamin plans to produce the series himself through her own production company, which is a goal for him to start. As she creates each episode, he will launch them on YouTube and hopes to monetize his platform in the future when she has built an audience for the series.

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Dad-vocates

Led by Raymond

Raymond felt isolated when he learned of his son, Richard’s, developmental disabilities. He didn’t have a community to turn to, and he felt like he was missing out on the role of a father because he found that mothers managed so much of the caregiving for developmentally disabled children. Wanting to remedy that, Raymond learned of a support group for father’s and has been a part of it for 25 years. Almost 10 years ago, he took over as the facilitator of the group and re-branded it as Dad-vocates.

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Tarra

Qualified Intellectual Disabilities Professional - Federal Programs

Tarra attended Mills College in Oakland and received a Bachelor’s in Environmental Studies in 2010, and then went on to receive a Master’s from American Public University in Environmental Management in 2015. During her time in school, Tarra worked for Creative Living Options as a Care Provider for five years. She had a long-time interest in serving the developmentally disabled population, and as a child she wanted to be a special education teacher.

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Tommy

Business Owner

Tommy works at Ruhstaller Farm, where he is a proud bus boy. He loves his job  because he enjoys interacting with people, seeing the celebrations that take place (like birthdays and anniversaries), and the lively atmosphere. He also enjoys partaking in the beers they have available during his time off and appreciates that they frequently have live music performers.