About North County Community Services (NCCS)

Mission Statment

North County Community Services (NCCS) is passionately committed to improving our neighbor’s health and well being by providing programs that educate young children, support working families, provide food for those feeding the hungry and ultimately create opportunities to improve the quality of life in San Diego North County.

We support this mission through the operation of eight child development centers and North County’s Food Bank.

Our Roots

North County Community Services has been in existence since the late 1960’s. Initially, the organization provided programs for the economically disadvantaged in the City of Oceanside in San Diego County under the name Oceanside Community Action Corporation. The agency incorporated in 1970 and the Balderrama Child Development Center was opened to provide affordable childcare to Oceanside residents.

The Formative Years

For the next 15 years, the organization focused its efforts on combating the impacts of poverty in Oceanside and the surrounding areas. In 1986 a re-entry program was established to provide services for individuals re-entering society after periods of incarceration. Two years later, in 1988 the North County Food Bank was established as a formal program of the organization.

The need for services in Northern San Diego County continued to increase as the population grew and in 1992 the organization changed its name to North County Community Services. The name change reflected the widening geographic region where services were being provided.

Through the 1990’s, NCCS continued to grow, adding additional child development centers in the communities of Vista, Escondido, and Poway, contracting with the California Department of Education to provide full-day childcare services for low-income populations in these communities.

In the early 2000’s, the NCCS Food Bank moved to its present day location in San Marcos. NCCS also began the process of expanding again to meet the need for preschool services in communities served by the organization.

Continuing a Tradition of Service

Today, NCCS has a staff of 105 and provides child development and state preschool services from eight sites across Northern San Diego County serving over 750 children and their families. The NCCS Food Bank Program, North County’s Food Bank, works with 75 plus area agencies in providing food and necessities to more than 18,000 individuals in need each month.

Most recently, NCCS was asked to act as the fiscal agent for North County’s first ever-regional winter transitional shelter system serving homeless populations in nine Northern San Diego communities. All of these efforts are administered from a central office located in San Marcos, California.

Throughout our organization’s history, NCCS has remained passionately committed to improving our neighbor’s health and well being by providing programs that educate young children, support working families, provide food for those feeding the hungry and ultimately create opportunities to improve the quality of life in North County.