UCP of Orange County

The mission of Unlimited Possibilities (UP) is to create a limitless future for children and families with disabilities.

In 1953, United Cerebral Palsy of Orange County (UCP-OC) began with a mission to support and improve the lives of children and adults with cerebral palsy. At a time when there was an immense lack of understanding associated with disabilities and little to no services to support the challenges families face in the wake of a diagnosis, our organization served as a beacon of hope in providing resources and assistance to those living with cerebral palsy.

Since then, our organization has grown tremendously and expanded to meet the needs of the community. In 2022, we adopted a new name, Unlimited Possibilities (UP), to better reflect our future. Today, UP offers services to more than 160 different disability and delay diagnoses, a critical pivot that allows us to make a more significant impact on the lives of families throughout Orange County. Our mission today remains the same, to create a limitless future for children and families with disabilities.

Last year, we served 3,658 children and family members with disabilities across our core programs: early intervention, pediatric therapy, respite care, inclusive childcare, recreation services, family support services, and applied behavior analysis (ABA). We accomplished this through 18,883 pediatric therapy sessions, 23,237 home visits, and 12,981 community sessions. Our mission guides our values and strategies, and our goals include treating a 77% uninsured and under-insured patient population, serving 5,000 individuals annually, continually assessing the needs of our community, updating our innovative pediatric treatment modalities, and growing community partnerships in higher education, research institutions, and the disability community.

UP’s programs address a pressing need — the scarcity of agencies offering outpatient services to children with disabilities in Orange County, especially those who are under-insured and rely on Medi-Cal state-sponsored insurance. Between 2013 and 2022, the demand for children’s disability services increased by 28% in our area (Conditions of Children in Orange County, 29th edition, 2023), exacerbating the lack of providers. The social isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic led many children with disabilities to fall further behind in meeting their developmental goals. Many local disability service providers do not treat children with disabilities from low-income backgrounds due to the low reimbursement rates from their Medi-Cal state-sponsored insurance. In fact, only three of the 25 physical therapy providers within a ten-mile radius of our facility continue to accept Medi-Cal state-sponsored insurance. Aside from UP, that number drops to zero for occupational and speech therapies.

The children and families served by UP reside in over 80 unique zip codes throughout Orange County.

It is our pleasure to invite you to visit our Pediatric Therapy Center in Santa Ana, CA. On this visit, you will meet children and families who are accomplishing successes that at one time in their lives seemed unimaginable! Because of the services provided at UP, they can reach their full potential. After your visit, you will leave feeling inspired by the determination and many smiles you will see from the children we serve. The level of care provided to each UP child would not be possible without the dedication of the staff who works with them. UP could not do what we do without the support of our incredible community. Your generous donations allow us to serve children with disabilities and provide critically needed services to their families, every day. Together, we are truly creating Limitless Futures for these children. Our board is a hard-working group of business and community leaders who are committed to helping us achieve our mission. These dynamic individuals are instrumental in both fundraising and strategic planning. With your help, we can continue to do that! Thank you for your gifts to further our mission.

Our organization seeks to improve the lives of children and families with disabilities and pursue a "Limitless Future" through providing therapy and services that are unique to their needs and circumstances. Our challenge is complex; there is a continually changing landscape of what services are needed for the children we serve. One of our goals is to fulfill that need in the most optimal manner. In addition to the "services" challenge, another challenge is the changing landscape of how these services will get funded. These two challenges constitute a formidable strategic need to evolve this organization and its services while being mindful of our financial capabilities. Our governance challenges are shaped by this strategic and economic landscape. First and foremost, we are building our board of directors, who provide skills to help guide our strategic choices in addition to contributing their time, resources and community connections that advance our philanthropic needs. We are working to create and foster strong governance practices to be able to harness the strategic contributions from our board and to function in a manner that gives confidence to our stakeholders, the children and their families we serve, as well as the community that supports our efforts. On a personal side, there is much to be done to improve the lives of the children and families that we serve, and I find great satisfaction knowing that at UP, we directly impact the lives of thousands of Orange County children and their families. They face many challenges and it is both my personal goal and the goal of UP to make a difference in their pursuit of a "Limitless Future" Bradley Barlow, Chairman of the Board Unlimited Possibilities