In a region where business leaders are increasingly being called on to help solve quality-of-life challenges, the Leadership Coachella Valley Class of 2026 is putting its annual legacy project behind one of the Coachella Valley’s most visible behavioral health investments.
The group is partnering with ABC Recovery Center in Indio for “Building Hope: First Look Soirée & Virtual Tour,” an April 30 fundraiser designed to help furnish and activate the nonprofit’s expanded campus. The evening will give guests an early look at the site while raising money for practical improvements that supporters say will directly shape the experience of people entering treatment and recovery.
The event is scheduled for 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at ABC Recovery Center, 44359 Palm St. in Indio. Organizers say tickets are $100 per person and the program will include guided tours, recovery stories, a reception with food and music, and a silent auction. For more information on tickets, donations, or to bid on auction items, visit the event registration page at https://givebutter.com/c/ABCBuildingHope/teams/lcv-class-of-2026.
At one level, it is a nonprofit benefit. At another, it reflects a larger Greater Palm Springs reality. Employers, educators, local governments and health providers are all operating in a business climate where addiction, homelessness, housing instability and untreated behavioral health needs affect workforce participation, public safety, family stability and the demand for community services.
That is part of what gives the project a broader local business angle.
ABC Recovery Center is not a new name in Indio. The organization traces its service history back more than six decades and has long operated as a recovery provider for the greater Coachella Valley. Its current expansion, however, moves the organization into a different scale. State officials said last year that the project would more than double ABC’s residential treatment capacity by adding 120 beds and would also include intensive outpatient treatment projected to serve hundreds of people annually.
That expansion has been backed by significant public investment. California awarded more than $27 million through the Behavioral Health Continuum Infrastructure Program, and Riverside County Supervisor V. Manuel Perez’s office announced an additional $300,000 in county funding earlier this year to help cover infrastructure-related costs tied to the Indio project.
Leadership Coachella Valley’s role is more targeted, but still consequential. According to event organizers, the Class of 2026 has set a goal of raising $37,500 for finishing touches that can often determine whether a new facility feels merely functional or genuinely welcoming. The fundraising focus includes a digital donor wall, a transformed welcome center, furnished residential bedrooms and healing courtyard enhancements.
That emphasis matters because behavioral health projects are rarely just about square footage. Buildings can be financed and constructed through public grants and capital campaigns, but the final layer, the spaces where clients sleep, gather, wait, reconnect and begin treatment, often depends on community philanthropy.
In that sense, the fundraiser is trying to close the gap between construction and readiness.
For Leadership Coachella Valley, the project also aligns with the program’s stated purpose of developing current and future civic leaders while giving each class an opportunity to leave a tangible mark on the region. The Class of 2026 roster itself reflects that cross-section of the valley, bringing together participants from media, government, education, business and the nonprofit sector.
That kind of civic mix is part of the reason legacy projects can attract attention beyond the usual donor circles. They create a meeting point for executives, public officials, small business owners and residents who may not work in health care but still see the downstream effects of addiction and untreated substance use disorders in their communities.
Riverside County’s latest homelessness data helps explain why that conversation is not abstract. County officials reported in 2025 that overall homelessness continued to rise, even as unsheltered homelessness fell 19 percent. The same countywide discussions around shelter, outreach and behavioral health services have reinforced the importance of adding treatment capacity and strengthening pathways into recovery.
For the Greater Palm Springs business community, that translates into a familiar lesson. Economic vitality is not only about tourism numbers, retail openings or new development. It also depends on whether residents can access treatment, stabilize their health, return to work and remain connected to family and community.
ABC Recovery Center’s expansion will not solve those issues on its own. But it represents one of the more concrete local investments aimed at doing something measurable.
