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Editor’s note: Resources for any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal are listed at the bottom of this article.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors expressed dedication on Tuesday, Dec. 16, to partially funding allcove Palo Alto, a youth mental health center, despite facing approximately $1 billion in annual federal funding cuts countywide.
Santa Clara County uses half of its $13 billion yearly budget on health and hospital services. Under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, the county anticipates an $800 million annual reduction in health funding, Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga said at an October meeting in Palo Alto.
Abe-Koga warned that this reduction put allcove Palo Alto on the chopping block. The center receives $4 million from the county annually, which represents a majority of its funding.
In the months since her announcement, student activists and parents have made clear that defunding the center would have dire consequences on youth wellbeing. By Wednesday afternoon, 198 adults and 168 youth had signed petitions asking the county not to completely defund allcove Palo Alto.
Allcove, which was designed by youth, allows students to access free therapy, health care and peer counseling without the permission of their parents. Students have described the model as “life-saving” and the center as a “safe” place to receive support.
“It would be nearly impossible to start from scratch, especially given the recent suicide clusters in Palo Alto,” Abe-Koga said at Tuesday’s Health and Hospital Committee meeting. “I cannot support any proposal that eliminates mental health services and funding for Palo Alto or north county.”
Abe-Koga made a motion to dedicate $1.75 million annually for the next three years to a north county-based youth mental health organization, like allcove. This proposal, she said, would allow the city of Palo Alto and other local stakeholders more time to find long-term funding for the center as the county reduces support over time.
Supervisor Otto Lee said the current funding structure for allcove may not be sustainable, and supported Abe-Koga’s motion.
“We do difficult work in our county all the time, but truly life and death situations – this is one of those situations where it actually saves lives, and that’s been proven,” he said. “For that reason, I certainly do strongly support that the allcove program needs to continue.”
County staff reminded the supervisors that they should not allocate funds before the budget season in spring 2026, when the board will officially distribute money. Allcove Palo Alto is still set to receive funding until June 30, 2026, which is the end of the county’s fiscal year.
The board did not formally adopt Abe-Koga’s proposal, but staff acknowledged the strong support for funding the center.
“We hear loud and clear the strong support for allcove, also the real willingness and engagement to look at an alternative model that’s more fiscally sustainable given what’s happening,” said County Executive James Williams.
County staff plan to take the board’s feedback and work with local stakeholders to discuss new funding options.
Project Safety Net, a mental health coaltion created in response to a 2009 Palo Alto suicide cluster, has already pitched funding alternatives.
“We respectfully ask that the county approve a proposal to preserve allcove’s core operations by transitioning management to Alum Rock Counseling Center (ARCC), an existing allcove service provider, while preserving county funding at $2 million annually, instead of completely defunding allcove,” Project Safety Net leaders wrote in a letter to the county.
The coalition wrote that allcove’s work is “more vital than ever,” following the recent deaths of local students.
There have been two “suicide clusters” – periods when multiple deaths by suicide occured in a short time frame – over the past 15 years in Palo Alto. Mental health experts say the city is in the midst of a third, prompting dozens of efforts to address youth wellbeing across local health, education and community institutions.
Allcove stands out as an environment that students say feels “confidential” and “accessible” compared to school and hospital systems, according to a recent allcove survey of nearly 40 kids.
“You’ve heard from students who said it saved their life,” Stanford Professor of Psychiatry Shashank Joshi said at the Tuesday county meeting. “This is a flagship of a nationally recognized model. More than a third of our young people say they would not have sought help anywhere else.”
While Project Safety Net Director of Community Partnerships Peying Lee is “cautiously optimistic” about the county’s support for allcove, she said community members are grateful that they have time to find new funding options.
“In my perspective, this is a call to action … there is a big opportunity moving forward that we want to actually work with youth community members and public agencies and philanthropists to identify resources to supplement the county’s funding,” Lee said.
On the recommendation of Abe-Koga and Lee, county staff will return at a February Health and Hospital Committee meeting with an update on their allcove funding plans.
Help is available:
Any person who is feeling depressed, troubled or suicidal can call 988, the mental health crisis hotline, to speak with a crisis counselor. In Santa Clara County, interpretation is available in 200 languages. Spanish speakers can also call 888-628-9454. People can reach trained counselors at Crisis Text Line by texting RENEW to 741741.
Why’s it spelled with a lowercase letter?