Santa Anita Family Service has a simple mission for now and the future: to create healthier families and foster their well being.

To better understand where we are going – it’s important to understand where we’ve been.

In 1951, more than 50 community wide organizations came together and recognized that, as the San Gabriel Valley population was growing, it was important to provide the basics for families in need: welfare aid, food, and clothing. The organization to accomplish this goal was called Monrovia Family Service. The goal was clear: "to restore disadvantaged families or individuals to normal living by offering trained counsel and all of the social resources of our community."

A sister organization called Monrovia League was founded by a group of concerned women to start a Thrift Store operation that would support Monrovia Family Service. To this day, Monrovia League continues to be an important part of our organization.

As the area continued to experience tremendous growth, and more families were in need, the agency was growing as well. Over the past decade, it was also apparent that services needed were changing.

The Federal government was now providing welfare assistance, so typical of an organization that is always looking to the future, the services provided to families would have to meet their needs. Since dignity and self-assistance have always been a hallmark of the organization, professional counseling services were added and expanded.

By the mid-sixties, the reach of the agency had extended to include adjacent cities in the San Gabriel Valley.

New services and a new area required a new name. And so, Santa Anita Family Service was created with an eye to representing future growth and future service areas.

During this time, funding came solely from United Way. It couldn’t have been done without them, but the caseload was burgeoning and more and more requests came in for more and more services.

As the 1960's came to a close, the future promised still more growth, and a change in the population. Families which came together in a unit were now aging, and we knew that we had to meet the needs of seniors. The demand was great.

The agency’s first contract was to provide senior services, which to this very day is a core benefit that Santa Anita Family Service provides. Our programs help seniors maintain their independence while providing them and their loved ones the security of having someone looking after them.

Santa Anita Family Service is extremely proud and honored to serve our senior community.

In the 1980's, to grow for the future, we went back to our roots and purchased a building in Monrovia. Some thought it risky for an organization of our size to make such a bold move, but heading into our fourth decade, we always made our decisions based on solid experience – and more importantly, client needs.

The building in Monrovia was necessary to provide for the demand of services.

By having a “home base” in Monrovia, it also helped us to expand out as we met the demand for senior services and expanded into the City of San Gabriel.

Santa Anita Family Service now was receiving requests and support to create and grow services that addressed child abuse prevention and treatment services as well as substance abuse counseling.

As a new decade brought with it new hope, and certainly incredible life changing technological advancements, Santa Anita Family Service was also making life changing advancements one family at a time – but now, in more communities than ever!

In the 1990’s, as the growth of the San Gabriel Valley continued, service needs continued exponentially. In fact, supply for services couldn’t meet demand. Funding for some existing services in the San Gabriel Valley became difficult to sustain. Strong service providers such as the Edgewood Counseling Center was merged into the Santa Anita Family Service and the geographic reach of the area now included the East San Gabriel Valley.

The mid-90's would see several new additional funded programs such as Domestic Violence – CalWORKs Program, as well as the strengthening of our senior programs, child and substance abuse programs as well.

We also bought our second building – in the City of Covina to expand our services!

As the 90's were concluding, Santa Anita Family Service was extremely pleased, proud and honored to receive a large grant to provide a variety of prevention programs to children and families in the Mid-San Gabriel Valley.

We were the lead agency with a collaborative of 54 other community “child oriented” agencies providing a large range of preventive services.

In 2002 we received a large grant to provide Family Preservation services to at-risk families. The Family Preservation service is a perfect example as it strives to assist select families who are in danger of losing their children to the foster care system.

In 2003 we received another large grant to provide comprehensive outpatient services to clients involved in the legal system. These substance abuse and mental health services allow for individuals who qualify, to receive treatment instead of being incarcerated.

We approach everything with goals and objectives, and no matter the story of our clients, we seek to write the same ending: a healthy, successful, productive family-centered life.

But as we continued to grow, and became the designee of much-needed funding as leaders in the counseling community, other centers doing good work fell on hard times. Funding coming from State and Federal wells dried up. Many great organizations were forced to close or merge.

In 2005, Family Counseling Services of the West San Gabriel Valley merged with Santa Anita Family Service. In 2006, the agency re-located Family Counseling Services to the City of San Gabriel across from the San Gabriel Medical Center.

Today, Santa Anita Family Service has offices in Pomona, Covina, Monrovia, and San Gabriel. In addition, our Senior Services continue to expand and we have Senior Care offices in Baldwin Park, Azusa, Monrovia and San Gabriel.

Santa Anita Family Service has grown from a small, local agency to a leading regional service provider with a multi-million-dollar budget and thousands of clients. We are still guided by our mission of creating healthier families and communities by providing high-quality educational, mental health, and social service programs throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

However, to keep providing these wonderful services to our communities, we need your help. A donation, big or small, will be greatly appreciated. On behalf of our entire staff and our clients, we thank you for your contribution.