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East Bay Agency for Children (EBAC) was founded in 1952 by a small group of determined Alameda County parents who refused to accept the limited options available for their children with emotional, developmental, and behavioral challenges. At that time, families faced an impossible choice: either institutionalize their children or care for them at home without meaningful support.
Working in partnership with psychiatrists at Children’s Hospital Oakland, these parents identified a promising “day treatment” model in use on the East Coast and brought it to California, establishing the first program of its kind west of the Mississippi. Originally known as the Berkeley Activities Center, and later the East Bay Activities Center, this pioneering nonprofit gave children a chance to learn, socialize, and grow in a supportive environment. For three decades, this single program served about 20 children annually, planting the seeds for what would become EBAC. From the mid-1980s through the 1990s, EBAC experienced a period of significant growth. Through strategic mergers and collaborations, EBAC expanded its services to include therapeutic, educational, and family-strengthening programs. These included the addition of early childhood education programming, Family Resource Centers, mental health services co-located at school sites, and grief and loss supports. In the 2000s, EBAC continued to broaden its impact adding prevention and empowerment programs such as child abuse prevention training and therapeutic and case management services supporting teens transitioning from, or at risk of, entering the juvenile justice system. Since 2015, EBAC has launched Trauma Transformed, a groundbreaking initiative to support public systems in improving their ability to effectively serve traumatized populations and introduced a learning and education department providing training to other community-based organization and public agency staff towards ensuring all have the skills to be successful in meeting the needs of the children, youth and families. Today, EBAC’s 300+ staff provide critical services to thousands of children, youth, and families across Alameda County each year. Our programming helps children recover from trauma, build resilience, and thrive. Through Trauma Transformed, EBAC also supports organizations and public systems nationally, guiding them to create healing, equitable, and responsive environments. From our beginnings in a single day treatment classroom to our current countywide and national reach, EBAC has remained true to its founding principle: meeting the evolving needs of vulnerable children and families with compassion, innovation, and community partnership. |
