Human Services Agency
Director's Message
This is a how-to agency of an unusual kind. We provide our neighbors a means to leave their worlds of struggle and embrace a vast universe of possibility. We believe that many of the circumstances that seem to block us in our lives do so because of fatalistic beliefs that we carry with us. Therefore, as we give people tools such as cash, health care, shelter, work, education, and protection – we also give them hope so that they can redo themselves and their circumstances in a way that generally leads to better outcomes. It’s no secret that Merced faces many steep challenges. Ours is among the poorest counties in California with one of the state’s highest unemployment rates and lowest levels of educational attainment. Poverty, substance abuse, and child neglect are daily realities for many of our children and neighbors. However, this is a community that knows how to come together and focus on solutions. The people that work in this department are part of the solution. Our task at the Merced County Human Services Agency is to apply those solutions and connect our neighbors to opportunities they may never have known existed.
Ana Pagan