The holidays enjoyed and are now behind us! It it is time to look forward to another new year and all the promise it will bring. California is enjoying an all-time low unemployment rate and an increase in minimum wage effective January 1, 2020. Southern California Cities and Counties are providing outstanding and extensive services to their residents of all ages.

As an example, most cities have senior centers along with a variety of affordable recreational services including all kinds of classes for pre-school children through seniors. The County of Orange has an extensive Community Investment Division that provides information for job seekers including young adults, seniors, and veterans.

Visit their site at http://www. occommunityservices.org. You can also access all Orange County cities from this site: http://www.ocgov.com/about/infooc/links/oc/occities. Other counties provide similar services.

The County of San Bernardino Department of Aging and Adult services has an extensive list of services that can be accessed at http://hss.sbcounty.gov/daas/. The County of Riverside’s website focuses on Senior, Family and Children services of all kinds. This information may be accessed at: http://dpss.co.riverside.ca.us/.

Another resource is the Rainbow Resource Directories that is a printed directory containing free and low-cost social services for several areas in Southern California. Additionally, the Rainbow Directory offers a California state-wide CD-Rom with more than 20,000 individual listings. To place an order, visit http://www.resourcedirectory.com or call (800) 440-4780.

It is beyond amazing the amount of government and private services are available! We are truly blessed to live in a region with so many resources and jobs!