Changing Tides marked its 50th anniversary with a gala that doubled as a progress report and fundraiser, outlining countywide services that support working parents, people with disabilities and families navigating the foster-care system.

"Parenting is a hard job, and so little of it gets done together," said Speaker 1, a Changing Tides representative, opening the program and describing the nonprofit’s mix of mental-health, disability services, childcare, nutrition and parenting support across Humboldt County. The group said it operates from remote inland areas to coastal communities such as Hoopa and Eureka.

The agency described three operational priorities: helping parents find and pay for childcare, supporting and stabilizing small childcare providers, and running supervised visitation for families involved in court-ordered custody arrangements. Speaker 1 said Changing Tides administers a parent-choice alternative payment subsidy program and that "childcare is over a third of people's income right now," a factor the organization said is driving demand for subsidies.

Changing Tides also detailed its workforce: the organization said the majority of its employees are respite workers — "about a 100 to a 115" — who provide in-home care for people with disabilities and are distributed throughout the county. The nonprofit said it now employs nearly 200 people overall.

On court-ordered family visits, Speaker 1 said Changing Tides partnered with the Superior Court of Humboldt through an access-to-visitation grant to offer no-cost supervised visitation. "Right now the going rate is about 80 to $90 an hour," Speaker 1 said, adding that courts commonly order two-hour visits twice a week and that the market rate can place those services out of reach for many families.

Speaker 3, a parent who spoke at the gala, described the nonprofit’s role in reunification and foster-care work: "Changing Tides started the process of reunification services with his mother… and for about 3 years, we had Changing Tides come to our home," the speaker said, crediting the organization with helping the family maintain contact among siblings.

Speaker 2 framed the problem in economic terms: "Wages have not kept pace with the cost of living," the speaker said, urging continued investment in services as costs for housing, transportation and childcare rise while public funding for support programs wanes.

The organization said it offers parent cafes — community gatherings that include meals, resource bags, books and childcare — and operates partnerships with local family units and service providers (Speaker 1 specifically named a partnership with Betty Chin). Changing Tides also said it is pursuing a new business–childcare partnership to connect employees with childcare, and is prioritizing disaster preparedness and community-based recovery work.

The gala included an auction and an appeal to raise funds to serve families on the supervised-visitation wait list. "There are so many people on the wait list," Speaker 1 said, urging attendees to support expansion of services.

The evening closed with celebratory remarks and a toast to the organization's next 50 years. No formal policy decisions or votes were taken at the event; the program focused on service descriptions, personal testimony and fundraising.

What happens next: Changing Tides will continue fundraising efforts to expand supervised visits and other services; attendees participated in an on-site auction to support that work.