The ConnectOC Blog is a place for sharing insight, information and examples of how Orange County residents, donors and nonprofits are working to build a brighter, stronger, more vibrant community. We welcome you to share your thoughts by commenting below. For students robbed of their independence by...
ReachOut OC addresses the changing demographics of need in Orange County. Lake Forest resident Price will challenge everything you think you know about hunger in Orange County. A client of South County Outreach, he shops at the nonprofit’s food pantry. He and as many as 3,000...
At the tender age of 7, Amber already had a mouthful of painful cavities and a tooth so decayed that it needed to be pulled. Her mother, Nancy Gama, a mother of two young girls with no dental insurance, felt like she had no options....
A conversation with Pacific Symphony conductor Carl St.Clair While others clamor for influence, Carl St.Clair barely utters a sound. The musical director and conductor of the Pacific Symphony orchestrates musical innovation with a whisper. St.Clair generates the highest sense of creative spirit from the musicians he leads....
Human trafficking is not just an international problem; it is a growing issue right here in O.C. We hear the horror stories about human trafficking in foreign countries. Children kidnapped from families in public marketplaces and smuggled into a terrifying life of abuse and slavery. Though devastating,...
Orange County leaders champion his message of faith and equality. I learned recently that just 19 days before his assassination in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. arrived in Orange County to speak against the war in Vietnam and in support of the Poor People's Campaign,...
No one likes to feel left out, yet we’ve all experienced the sting of being slighted, looked over or ignored at some point in our lives. In most cases, the harm is temporary and we’re able to move on. But other exclusions are more insidious because...
Transforming lives through understanding, kinship and connection. Gang member. Convicted felon. Parolee. That’s what we might see. But not Father Gregory Boyle, founder of L.A.’s Homeboy Industries. Father Boyle—or “G Dog” as he is known to his nearest and dearest—sees a life worth saving, and a soul...
Toy Collaborative doesn't just give children presents to open; it offers a message that they aren't forgotten. Jacqueline Hernandez knows what it’s like to be forgotten at the holidays. In foster care from the age of 3, she was moved from foster homes to group homes,...
Second Harvest Food Bank recognizes 30 years of seeking innovative, sustainable ways to end hunger in Orange County. In 1983, the space shuttle Challenger launched a successful maiden flight, Sally K. Ride emerged as the first U.S. woman astronaut in space, and the Internet, as we...