Located within the Mark Taper Foundation Building, OPCC - formerly called the Ocean Park Community Center - is a nonprofit network of shelters and services geared toward individuals who are homeless or have low-income status. The organization is critical to many social-outreach efforts in the City of Santa Monica.
The OPCC network includes:
- The Access Center, which provides basic services to an average of 275 homeless individuals each day
- The Campion Mental Health Center and Daybreak, the only program on the Westside of Los Angeles that is specifically tailored to helping homeless women who suffer from long-term debilitating mental illness
- The k9 Connection, which bonds high-risk youth with shelter dogs as part of its mentoring and counseling efforts
- Night Light Youth Outreach Services, which help homeless youth and runaways
- Safe Haven, which aims to permanently transition chronically homeless individuals off the streets
- Samoshel, which provides an array of services to homeless individuals
- SHWASHLOCK, which stands for "SHowers, WASHers and LOCKers" and also provides basic services
- Sojourn, which services battered women and children
- Turning Point, a transitional-housing center that accommodates up to 55 individuals
All residential programs operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. People who seek services at OPCC range from children and families to battered women to those suffering from a mental illnesses. With the economic downturn, people who face home foreclosures, job loss and exorbitant medical bills are also seeking services through the network. OPCC provides short-term services such as clothing and showers as well as long-term services such as case-management and outreach.