What a beautiful event they held here. I love this place is still going strong. I came here as a…read morekid (& I'm old as h#@$) Nice & clean inside. Spacious & friendly staff. Thank you for hosting this mural unveiling! It's gorgeous & a wonderful message.

The following is a shameless plug for a very worthy youth charity that deserves the community's…read morecontinued support. The Boys and Girls Club of Martinez (aka Diablo Valley) is a "home away from home" and a positive place for for kids. It offers various programs including character and leadership development, education and career development, health and life skills, the arts, and sports. My Site Manager and her husband have been personally involved with this very worthy organization for years. My company is also a long time supporter and many of my colleagues volunteer many hours of their own time (including some periodic food bank work). At one time many years ago, I served on their Board of Directors. However, I have had no direct involvement with the Boys and Girls Club of Martinez for several years. I just got busy with other charitable activities closer to home. The Boys and Girls Club of Martinez also organizes various fund-raising events throughout the year. These have included, a Crab Feed, the annual Auction, the Pete Ginocchio Memorial Golf Tournament, Power Lunch, and the Day for Kids. These events are not only enjoyable, but are attended by various interesting and very caring members of the greater Diablo Valley community.

I had a few thousand activity books that I needed to donate so that I stopped using space at home…read more These were brand new activity books and I wanted to find a charity that would give them to people who really couldn't afford them. I found the bay area crisis nursery through a different charity. I called the Bay Area crisis, nursery, and, Gina took my call and asked her manager for what could be donated. they were able to accept less than 100 activity bucks, which is fine because at least they're going to a good charity. I get to the bay area, crisis, nursery and park my car in one of the two parking spots. I rang the doorbell and wait you must be patient when you're coming here because the staff could be taking care of children. When the door opened, I was pleasantly greeted by Quinntasha who was very helpful! by the way, if you have new or gently used clothing and toys for children, this is a great charity to bring things that people need and can use.

A wonderful, local resource for families in need of extra support in extenuating circumstances.read more

Where the hungry, the homeless and immigrants are treated with decency and respect in a clean,…read moreopen, welcoming environment. They provide food, books, classes, wealth of resources, diapers, wipes, gas cards at times, toiletries, pet food at times. People will also bring in small items for free/donate and display them on the tables--first come, first serve. I have left entertainment, clothes, shoes, hygiene care items, luggage totes, blankets, kitchen wares, pet supplies over the years on the tables--things are gone almost instantly. They have a lovely children's waiting room. They host events, fundraisers, drives, social activities for donors and clients throughout the year, especially treating clients well on holidays and back to school. They have an indoor library and outdoor book library stand--take books, leave books. Free to take. ***Please donate pet food! Diapers! Wipes! Tampons and pads!***

This is an amazing, community centered organization. They focus not only on those who need help,…read morebut also those that want to help. They provide food and support services to thousands of local individuals and families. Located near Costco, they have many programs and volunteer opportunities including food box assembly and distribution. This is a great volunteer activity to do as a family or with a small group of friends.

Absolutely trust KinderCare with my baby. She started at 6 months old and now 1 year old. We have…read moreto commute for work so had to find a center that was available from 7am - 6 pm. My daughter loves Kahina, Teresa and the Directors at KinderCare. There is no better peace than knowing your kid is in good hands and getting updates and pictures of them all day. All the children are separated in different classes by age. The Directors have made us feel very welcome and approachable.

There is an amazing group of people working here! My kids have loved Concord KinderCare for almost…read more10 years and our experience has been consistently awesome. We are so lucky to have found them and for them to have welcomed us in.

We've been going to Childtime for the last 3 months, and are extremely pleased with our daughter's…read moreexperience. Stephanie is very professional and handles our requests and inquiries very promptly, and also spends time recognizing the teachers and helping to ensure a positive, strong culture. We view retention and teacher longevity as paramount, and it's clear she does as well. Our daughter is well taken care of in her classroom. Kinza, Hailey, Jermena, Gigi and all the infant teachers are lovely. They clearly care deeply for the kids and their experience at Childtime. We give Childtime our full endorsement, and are deeply thankful that they're here for us in the Martinez community.

We have been going here for a little over a year and love the teachers!…read more Our daughter is currently in Ms Marjely's preschool class and she's excited everyday to go to school. It's been very exciting to watch our daughter become more social, curious, and learn her alphabet and numbers! We really love having Ms Marjely as her teacher and every teacher so far has been great, our kid still talks about them every day. Special shout out to Ms Cynthia, Ms Katie, Ms Zoe and Ms Rosa. She also likes being greeted at the front by Ms Chantel, Ms Jackie, Ms Jessie and Ms Stephanie.

Excellent childcare center. My son attended for 2 years, and my daughter now attends. They both…read morelove school, and I can see them via camera whenever I want. The staff have always been lovely and greet us with smiles. Difficult kids can be difficult. Parents need to appreciate that. I'm exceedingly grateful for the energy and devotion I've seen from my childrens' teachers at the school.

We love La Petite! Our daughter has been attending since she was 3 months old. She loves her…read moreteachers (Ms. Tori & Ms. Jamila), hits her milestones early and is always happy to be there. All of the staff are friendly and supportive. Director Jamie and Ms. Kim are incredibly thoughtful, always going above and beyond to accommodate parents. Just a gem of a school and we are so grateful for this center.

I joined AFS as a foster parent and was initially given 3 children who were a part of a family of 9…read morekids. Shortly after we were asked to take a fourth child. A few months later the parents of the 9 gave birth to a tenth child and we were asked to take him at 8 days old. My wife and I had the kids for 22 months. When the initial 3 arrived, the 2 elder ones were 11 and 9 years old while the third was 7. That 7 year old could sing the alphabet song but could no recognize A from B. When he left my home 22 months later he was reading at a Fourth Grade level. During our time one of the kids therapists (Katera) told us that she'd been in this field for 25 years and my wife and I were easily the best foster parents she'd ever worked with. Not only were we involved in every aspect of their lives which included participating in school activities. We were fierce advocates for their education and wellbeing. Bearing in mind that this was a family of 10 and we lived close to Discovery Kingdom I bought at my expense season tickets for all eligible children to that they could attend the park as a family. That meant the other foster parents dropping them off at the park and we took responsibility for the entire group. It was urging Tim's like these that we could see the love these children had for each other. My wife and I discussed it at length and decided we wanted to adopt the 7 youngest children as the older 3 were above the age of 12 and chose not to be adopted. At this point within the Child Protection Services the case was transferred from Foster Care to Adoption Care. Our home was visited maybe on 3 occasions by a Ms.Shipe who turned out to the a**hole of all a**holes. After her third visit she contacted AFS and asked them remove the children immediately from my home. I assume that the agency knowing that the children were at my home for 22 months without any problems waited for about 5 days before taking action then removing them on the sixth day. I tried to prevent this by asking AFS the reason for this, as was told they were removed because Shipe said "she knows there is a problem in that house but she just doesn't know what". Made a follow up attempt to meet with the VP of AFS with no results. Given the emotional investment we had in the kids being our family both my wife and I went into a state of depression and crazy thing is after 1 1/2 years AFS had the verbosity to call and ask us to take 3 more kids. They found no problems with our care for these children but did not defend us from Shipe leading me to believe they are in business not to help children but to make money. It remains to be seen if this is just the way THE SYSTEM WORKS or whether this was just a case that slipped through the cracks. I have sat on this for almost 5 years but it has always bothered me and I feel I need to get it off my chest.

Would not recommend working with this agency if you are a working parent. My partner and I filled…read moreout a form inquiring about the fost-adopt program and registered for orientation. Almost immediately we got a call from a woman named Lisa. Her first question was "so who is quitting their job to take care of the child?" I explained that we had good parental leave at our jobs (almost a year), and then we'd look into licensed childcare providers. She responded "foster kids can't go to daycare, because their brains are damaged! Anyway, NO child should be put in day care, even bio kids." Yikes! Definitely trauma affects brain development, but calling all foster kids "brain damaged" is misleading and creates stigma. I was also surprised about the daycare-for-bio-kids comments. That kind of shaming is bad for all families (bio, foster, and adoptive) - makes you wonder how they treat the parents trying to reunify! This woman also asked "why haven't you already arranged parental leave from your jobs?" It seems bizarre to expect that prospective foster parents have parental leave arranged before attending an info session. Most foster parents we know start talking to their workplace about leave as they complete training and can accept placements. The experience put us off applying to be foster parents for a while. We eventually did identify another agency that seemed a little more professional.

My experience with this organization has been extremely disappointing and, in my opinion, reflects…read morea system that prioritizes billing over meaningful support for families. I was ordered by the court to participate in co-parenting counseling through COPE, which effectively left me with no practical alternative provider. Prior to beginning services, I was informed by Megan that the cost would be approximately $45 per session. I was later surprised to discover that I was being charged approximately $160 per session instead. When I raised this concern, Megan Van Carpels advised me that she would investigate the discrepancy and recommended that I request reimbursement. Despite multiple communications, I never received a follow-up or resolution. I was ultimately directed to contact Headway on my own, leaving me to navigate the issue without any meaningful assistance from the organization. I was equally disappointed with the quality of the counseling services provided. My sessions with Isabel often lacked structure, guidance, and actionable feedback. Rather than facilitating productive communication, identifying areas for improvement, or helping develop effective co-parenting strategies, many sessions consisted primarily of passive observation. As a result, I found myself questioning the value being provided relative to the substantial fees being charged. For a service that is frequently court-ordered and intended to support families during challenging circumstances, I expected greater transparency, accountability, professionalism, and therapeutic value. Instead, I was left frustrated by the billing practices, lack of follow-through, and overall quality of the services received. Based on my experience, I cannot recommend this organization.

I don't have enough bad words to say about this company. After finishing and completing the…read moremandatory six week group course on zoom, where the teacher was constantly being interrupted by her kids that she was babysitting, we got put on a waiting list for over eight months to see an individual counselor. When we finally did get our individual therapist, it's someone who doesn't even have their license, but just a trainee. She was so miserable to talk to, she had the worst attitude, and I wonder why she's even working in therapy? This company sucks, I pray to God I never have to go through them again, and I would give them zero stars if I could. They do not actually care about making situations better, they care about court ordered therapy so that they can get their check. That's all I have to say about this joke of a company.