Volunteers of America's first stop on the West Coast in 1896 was San Jose, California, where it established mission services and a home for troubled girls. In the early 1900s, San Jose Volunteers of America established a shelter for homeless women and their children. Oakland services soon followed.
Over the years, Volunteers of America Bay Area services have included a strong emphasis on community corrections and prison relief efforts, a direct outgrowth of the work of the founders. In 1976, an innovative community work-furlough program was developed -- the first in California to have inmates supervised by non-correctional personnel. Volunteers of America's mother-infant programs serve as a national model, allowing women inmates to serve their time while still caring for their infant and young children -- allowing the essential bonding process to take place.