WALNUT CREEK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 28, 2026--
Joybound People & Pets celebrated the groundbreaking of The Liberty Center: Pet Boarding, Daycare & Veterinary Behavioral Services on October 21, marking a major milestone in the organization's commitment to strengthening the human-animal bond and expanding essential resources for Bay Area pets and families.
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Joybound's Board of Directors hosted the ceremony, which welcomed community leaders including Congressman Mark DeSaulnier, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, and Walnut Creek Mayor Kevin Wilk. The project follows unanimous approval from the Walnut Creek Planning Commission on September 10.
“Across the Bay Area, families need trusted pet boarding and daycare services. This is especially true for those facing medical emergencies, housing instability, domestic violence situations, or natural disasters, who struggle to find safe temporary care for their pets,” said Susan Lee Vick President & CEO of Joybound People & Pets. “The Liberty Center is being built to help close that gap while expanding access to specialized behavioral care that can prevent pets from being surrendered.”
A state-of-the-art Veterinary Behavioral Clinic within the facility, led by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Wailani Sung, will provide specialized treatment and behavior support to help pets remain with their families. The Liberty Center will also feature dog and cat boarding, daycare, and training spaces, with revenue supporting Joybound's community programs.
The Liberty Center is named in honor of Liberty, a beloved therapy dog of major supporters Maud and Burton Goldfield. For more than a decade, Liberty brought comfort to sick children and their families, embodying the compassion and unconditional love that will guide the facility's approach to care.
"The name Liberty represents something deeply meaningful: the freedom to travel, go to work, or attend to life's responsibilities knowing your beloved pet is safe and cared for," said Dr. Wailani Sung Senior Director of Animal Admissions & Wellbeing. "It's the freedom to leave an unsafe domestic situation without leaving a pet behind, or to navigate a medical emergency or natural disaster with the reassurance that your animal has a safe place to stay. Ultimately, The Liberty Center is about giving people peace of mind and helping families remain together, even though life's most difficult circumstances."
During the celebration, Joybound shared exciting progress on The Liberty Center capital campaign, announcing that generous donors have already helped secure more than $2.4 million toward the project’s $5 million philanthropic fundraising goal. With an estimated construction cost of $16 million, work on the facility is expected to begin in early December 2026.
The Liberty Center reflects Joybound’s One Health approach, recognizing that the wellbeing of people, pets, and communities is deeply connected. When it opens in early 2028, the facility will represent one of the most comprehensive investments in keeping people and pets together in the Bay Area.
Learn more about The Liberty Center:https://joybound.org/donate/the-liberty-center-campaign/
For media inquiries, interview opportunities with Joybound Leadership, images, or additional information about The Liberty Center, please contact Chelsea Blackburn.
About Joybound People & Pets:
Joybound People & Pets is a nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the human-animal bond through rescue and adoption programs, pet-focused vocational training and community services that benefit animals and the people who care for them. Since 1991, Joybound has facilitated more than 55,000 pet adoptions and offers accessible veterinary services, animal training, education, and workforce development. Over the past three years, Joybound’s community impact efforts to serve and keep pet families together have grown to more than 441,212 impacts.
Joybound People & Pets celebrates the groundbreaking of The Liberty Center in Walnut Creek, Calif. The planned $16 million facility will expand crisis boarding, veterinary behavioral services, and pet boarding and daycare for Bay Area families.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Wednesday acted to ease access to unproven peptide drugs favored by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Food and Drug Administration scientific staffers had little input on the decision and opposed the changes, according to six people familiar with its development.
The draft policy posted online by Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services covers a handful of injectable peptides promoted within the wellness industry for uses such as building muscle, healing injuries and boosting energy. The government will take comments on the measure for two weeks.
The document, primarily written by HHS, faced overwhelming pushback among FDA drug staffers who warned it could undermine the agency’s long-standing mission of keeping unproven health products off the U.S. market, according to the people familiar with its development.
The people spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential government deliberations.
The policy directs the FDA not to take action against specialty pharmacies that sell a half-dozen wellness peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500 and KPV. Under FDA rules, those chemicals would otherwise be considered illegal drugs because they have not gone through the agency’s rigorous review process for safety and effectiveness.
According to the newly posted document, Kennedy determined the change “advances patient choice and freedom” while protecting people in the United States from peptides sold online that are often made from unscreened ingredients.
Kennedy has called himself a “big fan” of peptides and previously described using BPC-157 to treat a muscle injury.
Lee Rosebush of the American Academy of Peptide Medicine said in an online post that HHS had taken “a huge step for patient and provider medical freedom.” The group, which is not a medical professional organization, represents people who prescribe or sell peptides.
The peptide business has caught the attention of major telehealth providers, including Hims & Hers, which recently announced plans to offer wellness peptides once the government changed its policy. Wall Street analysts estimate the market could be worth more than $2 billion.
Some peptides occur naturally in the human body, where they trigger hormones needed for growth, metabolism and healing. Drug companies have brought several to market as medications, including mainstay treatments for diabetes and weight loss.
The chemicals subject to the new policy have not been approved as safe and effective by the FDA. Still, they are promoted for a range of medical uses, including insomnia, anxiety, inflammatory conditions and migraines.
Dr. Peter Lurie, a former FDA official, noted that the FDA has approved rigorously tested drugs for all of those conditions.
As people “are diverted from those drugs toward this stuff, there will be more unnecessary pain and suffering,” said Lurie, who now leads the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.
He also questioned the timing of the change, days before the midterm election.
“This is a wink and nod to the MAHA faithful in the hope that they'll show up at the polls,” said Lurie, referring to Kennedy's “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
A spokesperson for HHS said the agency is “confronting the risks of black-market peptides” by giving Americans “a more controlled alternative through licensed U.S. compounders.”
It is the latest example of Kennedy reshaping U.S. health policy in the MAHA mold. Some of the biggest figures in that movement sell peptide injections and supplements.
The decision is a stark break from FDA efforts to limit the availability of unproven wellness products, including peptides, stem cell therapies and dietary supplements, that make unsupported medical claims. But that approach put the agency at odds with Kennedy, who has publicly endorsed the benefits of all of those products.
The policy published Wednesday is a step back from HHS' original plan, according to two of the people who discussed its development.
HHS officials initially wanted the FDA to draft an official regulation that would add BPC-157 and other peptides to a list of drug substances deemed safe for use by compounding pharmacies, specialty businesses that make customized medications.
FDA officials warned that the agency's scientific staffers had major safety concerns and would not support a regulation deeming the peptides safe. HHS officials moved to a different approach that directs the FDA not to enforce its rules against pharmacies that compound the substances.
FDA staffers ultimately provided technical assistance in drafting the HHS plan, including guardrails intended to improve safety, such as requiring pharmacies to use peptide ingredients from FDA-registered factories. Additionally, compounders are directed to collect information on side effects for safety analysis and verify the purity of peptides they use.
Lurie pointed out that the FDA, under federal law, does not have the authority to enforce those pharmacy requirements.
The Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, which represents specialty pharmacies, said several details need to be clarified — including when the policy takes effect and how it will intersect with state pharmacy boards, who traditionally regulate pharmacists.
Decisions about regulating peptides and compounding pharmacies have almost always come from the FDA, which has an office dedicated to protecting U.S. consumers from unsafe or poor-quality compounded drugs.
The issue of compounding safety became a greater focus for the FDA after a deadly outbreak of fungal meningitis in 2012 was linked to contaminated injections from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy. Once a niche business, compounding has grown into a multibillion-dollar industry, providing customized medications to doctors, clinics and hospitals.
It’s extremely rare for HHS to take the lead in drafting policies over the compounding industry, former FDA officials said. But federal law technically gives HHS authority over drug regulations, which are then delegated to the FDA.
Many in the U.S. who are using peptides today do not deal with a doctor or a pharmacy to get the injections, but often order vials online sold by chemical manufacturers based in China. Peptide sellers often try to skirt U.S. regulations by labeling their products as “for research use only” because the FDA does not regulate research chemicals.
In 2023, the FDA added more than a dozen peptides, including BPC-157 and TB-500, to its list of substances that should not be compounded due to risks of allergic reactions, kidney damage and tumor growth.
At a meeting in July, FDA staffers reiterated that more than half a dozen peptides brought forward for reconsideration remained unproven in terms of safety and effectiveness.
But a panel of outside experts voted to drop restrictions on the six peptides named in Wednesday's document. The panel — selected by Kennedy’s HHS — included several doctors, pharmacists and consultants who work in the peptide field.
The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks before President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Alico Arena, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a campaign rally with President Donald Trump at Alico Arena on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks as President Donald Trump listens during a campaign rally, Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, at Alico Arena on the campus of Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
