Two nonprofits that placed mentors and counselors inside Santa Clara County schools have eliminated programs serving hundreds of at-risk youth, with classes set to resume across the county in mid-August.
Fresh Lifelines for Youth (FLY), a Bay Area nonprofit that works to divert young people from the juvenile justice system, has cut roughly half its county programming. Gone are a middle school mentorship program and a legal education program that together served about 500 youth each year. Catholic Charities of Santa Clara County has stopped its school programs for at-risk youth after losing approximately $500,000 in county funding.
FLY operates across Santa Clara County; which specific Palo Alto-area schools lost access to its mentors has not been confirmed. But the timing is stark for PAUSD families: the district's first day of school is Thursday, August 13.
"I've been doing this for a while, and I don't know what else these schools can go to that will be comparable to what we and a couple other nonprofits were doing on campus," FLY Managing Director Kristopher Scott told the San José Spotlight.
Scott said the consequences may not be visible immediately but predicted more young people will enter the juvenile justice system in coming years without early intervention. FLY is pursuing philanthropic funding to fill the gap, though no timeline or target amount has been announced.
Same budget cycle hit Allcove
The cuts stem from a $787 million county budget deficit driven largely by H.R. 1, the federal spending bill signed in July 2025, which creates an estimated $1 billion in annual losses for Santa Clara County by slashing Medi-Cal and food aid funding. Slow growth in property tax revenue compounds the shortfall.
The same budget process cut funding to Allcove Palo Alto, a free youth wellness center that directly serves PAUSD-area students, from $4 million to $1.75 million. That reduction has the clearest local footprint of the county's austerity measures.
Catholic Charities CEO Don Taylor said the cuts arrive as demand for services is growing, with more people losing Medi-Cal coverage. The nonprofit's $500,000 reduction comes from $30 million in total government contracts and also forced cuts to therapeutic services for uninsured residents and a wellness program for older adults.
Youth mental health backdrop
The program losses land in a county where youth mental health is already under acute strain. During the June 2026 budget hearings, Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga, whose District 5 includes Palo Alto, described the city as experiencing its third youth suicide cluster. Eight youth suicides occurred in Palo Alto in 2025, with seven of the eight from Asian American or Pacific Islander communities, according to Abe-Koga's statement.
Kyra Kazantzis, CEO of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits, said the most impacted services countywide are in public health, behavioral health, and prevention programs, including youth programs. Measure A, a sales tax increase approved by county voters in November 2025, added $337 million in annual revenue but was directed to bolster public hospitals rather than nonprofit services.
Students across the county who relied on FLY's campus mentors will return to school in August without them.
