San Francisco, CA – RAMS, Inc. is proud to announce its selection as a 2022 California Nonprofit of the Year by Assembly member Philip Ting. RAMS is one of more than one hundred nonprofits that will be honored by their state senators and assembly members for their outstanding contributions to the communities they serve in Sacramento on June 8^th, 2022.

RAMS is a non-profit mental health organization committed to advocating for and providing community-based, culturally competent, and consumer-guided services.  Founded in San Francisco’s Richmond District in 1974, RAMS offers comprehensive services that aim to meet the behavioral health, social, vocational, and educational needs of the diverse communities of the San Francisco Bay Area, with expertise in serving Asian & Pacific Island Americans and Russian-speaking populations.

“This amazing honor reflects years of hard work, sacrifice and creativity by the RAMS team”, shared RAMS CEO Jayvon Muhammad, “RAMS looks forward to continuing to serve the community with the highest level of quality while responding and adapting to constant change.”

According to “Causes Count,” a 2019 report commissioned by CalNonprofits, the nonprofit sector is the 4^th largest industry in the state, employing more than 1.2 million people. Each year, California nonprofits generate more than $273 billion in revenue and bring in $40 billion in revenue from outside of California. The unpaid labor contributed by volunteers at nonprofits is equivalent to 330,000 full-time jobs every year.

“Nonprofit organizations play such a critical role in our communities, and the last two years of the pandemic have only served to highlight that.” noted Jan Masaoka, CEO of the California Association of Nonprofits (CalNonprofits), which serves as a partner for this awards program. “California Nonprofit of the Year gives elected officials the opportunity to shine a light on the important work nonprofits are doing in their districts and for everyone to appreciate the collective impact of nonprofits in our communities.”
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Additional CalNonprofits Background

California Nonprofits Day is now in its seventh year. Each year legislators from across California choose a Nonprofit of the Year in their district.

Honorees and legislators are invited by CalNonprofits, Chair of the Senate Select Committee on the Nonprofit Sector Senator Monique Limón (Santa Barbara), and Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on the Nonprofit Sector Assemblymember Luz Rivas to a celebratory luncheon on California Nonprofits Day – Jun 8, 2022.

Do you have additional questions about CalNonprofits? Lauren Kay, Director of Communications & Marketing at CalNonprofits, would love to help! Contact her at laurenk@calnonprofits.org or call 213-552-1768.

Doug Russell, a RAMS Peer Counselor, has written and published a powerful article on The San Francisco Standard titled “The Rise of Fentanyl Is No Accident, and It’s Not Going Away.” It is an honest perspective on how Fentanyl came to be a street drug and the danger it presents as it becomes the new normal for many drug users. To check out the article, click here.

Doug Russell is a RAMS Peer Counselor who is working within the DPH Street Medicine Team based out of 50 Ivy. As part of his own journey in recovery, Doug became passionate about low-threshold services for folks after working with the homeless population as a counselor at the 6th Street Harm Reduction Clinic. He is in the process of developing groups to broaden the support available for the fentanyl-using population of San Francisco and a slam poetry process group that hopefully will bring Narrative Therapy to an open mic platform. In his spare time, he is often seen either in full drag or barely covered as a Sister of Perpetual Indulgence and scoping out available walls for his Public Art project: Queer Artists for Queer Spaces.

It is with heavy hearts that RAMS must say goodbye to Dr. Alla Volovich, who abruptly passed away on July 8, 2021 while vacationing in Mexico. With her generosity, passion, and wit, she leaves behind a legacy of unwavering commitment to teaching and mentoring generations of professionals in the field of psychology. She led tirelessly and humbly by example, inspiring those under her wing to develop the kind of cultural, intellectual, and empathic sophistication and sensitivity that she modeled.  

Dr. Volovich started at RAMS as a staff psychologist in 1994 and, in 2000, became the Director of Training for the RAMS Clinical Training Programs, which includes the National Asian American Psychology Training Center (NAAPTC), a nationally recognized, APA-accredited, and award-winning program. NAAPTC is among very few long-standing APA-accredited Doctoral Training Programs housed in a non-profit, community-based organization serving underserved populations. Over the past two decades under Dr. Volovich’s leadership, the Training Program continuously fostered the well-earned reputation for the profoundly meaningful and, for many, life-changing experience under the consistently attentive guidance of Dr. Volovich. Keenly perceptive, attuned, and thoughtful, she created the conditions necessary for interns and trainees to discover parts of themselves that would help shape their development. Over the years, Dr. Volovich worked tirelessly to work with each trainee and intern as unique individuals. 

In keeping with NAAPTC’s history as the country’s first program to focus on developing expertise in working with Asian and Pacific Islander populations, Dr. Volovich utilized curricula that honed clinical skills with a psychodynamic and culturally competent approach, resulting in graduates of her program being able to serve clients through understanding with each individual’s unique history. Training Program graduates have integrated and carried what they learned from her to their work as clinicians, non-profit leaders, writers, policy makers, professors, leading consultants, and other contributors to the mental health field. Many graduates have also joined the RAMS family as committed clinicians, supervisors, and leaders while others returned as training facilitators. These lasting relationships attest to the welcoming and collaborative environment that Dr. Volovich so adroitly created.

As she was fiercely bright, enthusiastic, creative, and compassionate, Dr. Volovich’s passing is a tremendous loss to RAMS and the hundreds of lives she touched. 

Many have asked how they can support Dr. Volovich’s family. The family has requested that donations be made to the RAMS clinical training program in Dr. Volovich’s name via this link. All donations made through this GoFundMe will be for the RAMS clinical training program.