Celebrating Women Who Inspire Change

Greetings!

March is Women’s History Month, and we proudly celebrate all of the wonderful women of Ascencia—from our generous donors, volunteers, board members, and caring staff, and to the clients who have pulled themselves up by taking Ascencia’s offered hand and allowed us to help lift them out of homelessness.

I’d like to quote an important American woman and pioneer of social work, Mary Ellen Richmond, who said "persons are not cases, but their difficulties are". This statement encapsulates our approach, highlighting the need to treat individuals with dignity while professionally addressing their specific social, economic, or personal challenges.

As we “March” into spring, we eagerly anticipate our most significant fundraiser of the year, the 18th Annual Gala, Creating a Lasting Impact, set for April 11th at the beautiful Oakmont Country Club in Glendale. We warmly invite you to support us by attending in person or contributing in any way you can. Truly, we cannot accomplish our mission without your support. Your investment in our efforts and expertise in helping people secure permanent housing not only enhances the quality of life for each individual we assist, but it has also played a crucial role in transforming 1,400 precious lives in 2025, especially with six or more individuals losing their lives on the streets of Los Angeles County each day.

For 20 years now, Ascencia has been creating a lasting impact by offering wrap-around care and comprehensive services to those in need within our community. We appreciate having you by our side all this time and for many years to come.

Gratefully,

20 Years of Supporting Ascencia

Throughout this year, we will be sharing quotes from our community that has been supporting us and keeping our organization running for two decades.

We are so grateful to every individual, family, community organization, and business that have believed in our mission and dedicated time or resources to help us achieve it.

"It has been a pleasure for me to see how Ascencia has continued the work of PATH Achieve for the past twenty years. The Community leaders, Supporters and Staff are to be congratulated. Hundreds of men, women and children have benefitted from your efforts and that is what this is all about. Bravo!”

— Claire West Orr, PATH Founder, PATH Achieve Glendale Founder.

Sabrina is Home!

There are many reasons why people are led to experience homelessness. Some are well known—high costs of rent, food, and childcare, just to name a few. Others are misunderstood, silent tragedies that plague a greater portion of our population than could ever be reported, such as toxic and abusive relationships.

Sabrina, a resilient mother of three, experienced all the above. Since 2019, Sabrina and her family had faced consistent housing instability. Their choices were few: stay trapped within the confines of abusive relationships to keep a roof over their heads, or drift between shelters and the homes of friends and family. It was a cycle that appeared to never end.

Eventually Sabrina connected with Intensive Case Management Services at Ascencia, where she was provided with consistent case management and emotional encouragement. Her case manager, Ruba, guided her through obtaining a housing voucher, communicating with landlords, and interacting with service providers. Those fundamental skills helped set up Sabrina in her present, but the coaching provided to her in rebuilding her confidence and self-worth solidified her future as much as it softened the emotional scar tissue of her traumatic past.

Sabrina joined Ascencia’s Permanent Supportive Housing Programs where she will go on to receive the support needed to ensure her happiness long-term. With her housing issues solved, Sabrina can now attempt to repair the relationship she has with her three adult children.

Having been through the worst and made it to the other side, Sabrina hopes that donors will continue to fund these services so that she and others facing similar challenges can achieve and maintain not just housing security, but healing.

Laura Duncan honored at Soroptimist Bras for a Cause Event

This Women’s History Month, we’re proud to celebrate our Executive Director, Laura Duncan, who was honored at the Soroptimist International of Glendale's signature event of the year, Bras For A Cause. This year’s celebration was themed "An Evening of Remarkable Women". Thank you to Soroptimist for recognizing Laura's remarkable impact!

Laura’s leadership, compassion, and dedication to our community have helped strengthen Ascencia’s mission of lifting people out of homelessness — one person, one family at a time.

Under her guidance, Ascencia continues to provide critical housing, outreach, and supportive services to individuals and families experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles County.

Please join us in congratulating Laura on this well-deserved recognition and thanking her for her tireless work on behalf of our community.