About ARCC

Alum Rock Counseling Center (ARCC) was founded in 1974 by a group of community members who were trying to address the academic, social, and mental health needs of the at-risk youth and families living in the extremely high-needs area of East San José. Due to the lack of linguistically-sensitive and culturally-appropriate practitioners and services, many of the predominantly Spanish-speaking individuals in this region were “falling through the cracks” of the legal, educational, and health systems and into lives of poverty, academic failure, illness, addiction, incarceration, and victimization. The founders’ intent was to offer practical, proven solutions to families when and where they needed them the most, in a manner that was inclusive, respectful, and delivered in the language that was most familiar to the them. Their goal was to provide this community with culturally sensitive, strengths-based counseling and professional support to help youth and their families lead healthier, safer, more productive lives.

Today, ARCC’s mission remains very much the same—namely, to heal families and inspire youth to reach their full potential. The agency strives to accomplish this by promoting the healthy development of at-risk minors through a combination of educational assistance, youth & family counseling, youth development/character building activities, violence prevention education, and crisis intervention services, all of which are designed to be linguistically- and culturally-sensitive. Through strategic partnerships and an extensive continuum of care, ARCC serves 4,500+ youth and their families annually in various settings, working to ensure that:

• All of our kids are kindergarten-ready.
• Our youth graduate from middle school, high school, and beyond.
• Our homes, schools, and neighborhoods are safe.
• Our youth and families have resources for overcoming behavioral health concerns.
• Our youth and families are free from justice and/or social services systems involvement.

ARCC Values

Years ago, our leadership and management teams worked together to gather feedback from staff to come up with the five core values below, which are consistent with our Guiding Principles and speak to who we are and who we strive to be with each other in our work at ARCC:

• Integrity
• Helping Others
• Respect
• Diversity
• Quality Work

These values reflect over four decades of service by ARCC and are fundamental to how we continue to grow and attract competent, dedicated, and amazing employees.

Celebrating Our Differences

ARCC celebrates the cultural and personal differences that enrich our community. To this end, we work to ensure an environment where employees, individuals, youth, and families of various races, colors, ethnicities, cultures, genders, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, religions, nationalities, disabilities, and marital and parental statuses receive culturally-relevant services in a language they understand and are treated with mutual respect and inclusion through a lens of awareness without personal judgment. Our vision is for all the employees, agency partners, individuals, youth, and families we serve to be embraced and celebrated for their own uniqueness with respect for their voices. Culturally competent best practices for internal and external interactions are in place and observed across the organization so that our staff can understand and support ARCC’s dedication and commitment to valuing the intrinsic differences present across our communities.