The Changing Lives Resource Center

Established in 1978, Changing Lives Resource Center (formerly the Counseling Resource Center) is a 501c3 non-profit organization with a mission to promote positive social change for at-risk youth and their families in Fresno County, with a focus on juvenile offenders.

The Center’s Executive Director, Ron Climer, is a licensed clinical social worker with 41 years of experience in marriage and family counseling and working with juvenile offenders as Head Chaplain for the Fresno County Probation Department’s Juvenile Division. In the role of Head Chaplain, Ron is responsible for the training and supervision of over 300 volunteers who provide one-to-one mentoring for incarcerated youth at the County’s Juvenile Justice Campus. Ron also serves on the Juvenile Justice Commission for Fresno County.

The Mentoring Program Director, Jamie Climer, specializes in the integration of sports, music, and art in the mentoring of at-risk youth and juvenile offenders. As a former college athlete with nearly a decade of experience as a correctional officer, Jamie uniquely understands the needs of youth who are at-risk, incarcerated, or on probation. He is responsible for the development of the Center’s mentoring services to prevent at-risk youth from dropping out of school and delinquency, and to promote the rehabilitation and successful re-entry of juvenile offenders into mainstream educational settings. In this role, Jamie recruits, coaches, and supervises adult mentors, matching them with youth based on common areas of interest.