Expanding horizons

Lea este artículo en español aquí.

Before becoming a special education teacher, Breanna Brooks already had experience working with students with special needs. The Hollister High School alum was a substitute instructional aide at the school and, while a student, was president of the Circle of Friends club, which pairs special needs students with mainstream students. 

But when she took her teaching position at Hollister High in 2018, she said she felt she was “just trying to learn the ropes of things.” 

That became even more evident, Brooks said, when parents of her students began asking her what their child should do next—after graduation. 

Seeking an answer, she reached out to colleagues about the local adult programs for people with significant special needs. 

“They were saying there was nothing, that there was really not much for adults,” she said. 

Brooks said the local programs available to her students, such as Social Vocational Services and HOPE Services, either didn’t have the intensive behavioral and emotional support they needed or lacked the programming they were accustomed to receiving in school. 

“Parents, who once had structure and support, were suddenly left with no program, no routine, and no team,” she said. “And many were forced to quit their jobs to care for their adult children full-time because the other programs just didn’t fit.”

So Brooks decided to take matters into her own hands.

She founded the Hollister nonprofit Inclusive Horizons, which opened its doors at 455 San Benito Street in August 2025. Brooks is also the organization’s executive director.

Inclusive Horizons serves adults in San Benito County and nearby areas who have developmental disabilities and significant support needs.

“We’re trying to add on as an aid to the special needs community,” she said. “Our population here is growing.

A community-based adult day program that offers behavioral and emotional support for its clients, Inclusive Horizons also provides recreation, community involvement and functional academics. Parents and families of clients have seen this as a game-changer for adults with significant special needs.

Before last year, for instance, Tina Kull-Armstrong said the options for adults with extensive needs, such as her nonverbal autistic daughter Natalia, were few—and daunting. 

“We had no options between Monterey and San Francisco other than putting our children in a group home in San Jose, or simply keeping them home with us for the rest of their lives,” she said.

Brooks is continuing to develop her craft as an educator at Inclusive Horizons. She ensures each client has a support plan in place for their own goals and interests, and ties in every lesson and activity to a planned curriculum. 

A recent lesson on berry-picking led to a berry-picking trip, lessons on life cycles of fruit and how to make a recipe with berries. Brooks also reviews pre-taught skills such as money-math and dollar-up strategies “because at this point, we’re adults and we’re just trying to maintain those skills,” she said.

Brooks is joined by program director Danielle Porteur Johnson, a former Hollister High orthopedic impairment paraprofessional and a registered behavior technician, and a board of directors, including Casandra Guerro, Brent Bonura, Kull-Armstrong and Sandy Swint. The board is “made up of educators, advocates, parents, and professionals,” Brooks said. 

Currently there are 12 staff members serving the program’s eight clients. Because of their intensive medical and behavioral needs, each client requires one or more staff members assigned to them. That client-to-staff ratio, Brooks said, “is a lot different than everywhere else.” 

But her clients’ needs, Brooks said, haven’t deterred her team from taking them into the community for volunteering and field trips.

“We are a community-based program, so we’re out in the community all the time,” she said. We have great community partners here.”

Hollister establishments such as The GardenMart, Dunneville Market & Kitchen, Cooper’s Calling, Gold’s Gym, Round Table Pizza, and Cosmo’s Bar & Grill have become community partners with Inclusive Horizons. 

Brooks said that clients are getting exposed to such vocational skills as folding pizza delivery boxes and cleaning restaurant menus. They have also taken trips to a San Jose Giants game and the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which is also a community partner.

“They’ve been to so many places,” Johnson said of the clients. “If nobody ever tried it, nobody would ever know, and so we’re doing it. It may be a little more challenging and intense, but it’s so much more rewarding because these families need this support, and so do the clients.” 

Tara Mendolla, sister-in-law to this reporter, said her non-verbal autistic daughter, Téa, “has her smile back” after joining the program last year. 

“We haven’t seen her this happy in years,” Mendolla said. “She looks forward to her days at Inclusive Horizons.”

And Brooks said she has heard from families that they can now take their child to the grocery store or a restaurant. 

“That’s what really drives our work,” she said. “If you look at the group that we have, people would probably say, ‘You’re not taking them into the community.’ But we’ve always believed in them.”   

Inclusive Horizons already has 27 people on a waiting list, but will need to hire and train more staff prior to accepting new clients. 

To accommodate the growing numbers, Brooks said a second location will be needed, as the current location holds a maximum of 35 people. With staff outnumbering clients, that capacity could be reached soon, she said, as will the need for more transportation. 

“One of our greatest needs right now is a van or larger vehicle so our participants can access community activities safely and consistently,” Johnson said, noting that it could cost anywhere from $15,000 to $40,000. 

Though they are funded through the Self-Determination Program, which is part of the California Department of Development Services, Brooks said she still welcomes community support in the form of donations, local business sponsorships, or volunteers.

“The community has already started rallying behind us and the response has been incredibly moving,” Brooks said. “We’re building something this community has desperately needed, and I’ve been reminded over and over that when your ‘why’ is strong enough, you figure out the ‘how.’”

We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website covering San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and to providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.