Why Four Local Nonprofits are Consolidating

Tags: Collaborations, Community House, Mental Health

Crisis rarely happens in only one aspect of a person or family’s life. In a region made up of several small communities widely spread apart, it’s often a challenge for community members to know what services are available to them and to be able to reach them. This is especially true for people who lack dependable access to transportation. Too often, people go without all of the help they need to thrive.

North Tahoe Family Resource Center, Family Resource Center of Truckee, Tahoe SAFE Alliance, and Project MANA are currently in the process of joining forces to better serve community members across North Tahoe-Truckee. The four long-standing social service nonprofits are in the midst of combining systems, staff and boards and plan to launch the new organization, officially, on July 1, 2019. The single entity will have five locations throughout with services continuing and being enhanced in Truckee, Kings Beach, Tahoe City, and Incline Village.

This consolidation is a result of over 15 years of community collaboration aimed at improving health and safety outcomes and strengthening services for families and individuals. Several years ago, North Tahoe Family Resource Center, Tahoe SAFE Alliance, and Project MANA, hired an integrated services coordinator to make sure that community members receiving services at one organization were also aware of the services of the organizations. Several years later, they wanted to bring their collaborative services under a single roof in a shared space. Under the leadership of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF), donors and organizations came together to plan, construct, and implement Community House. A massive effort was put forth by numerous people and agencies; the Community House was completed in 2014 in Kings Beach, one of the most poverty-stricken communities in North Lake Tahoe. Community House has been recognized as a national model for shared spaces by The Nonprofit Times.

“It is the next natural evolutionary step for these nonprofits to consolidate into one strong entity for families and individuals,“ Stacy Caldwell, CEO of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation.

The four organizations will continue to provide the same services, with many of the same staff, under the umbrella of the new entity. Community members will be able to access basic needs support, food programs, community education, and crisis services under one roof in their own neighborhoods. By joining forces, the four organizations will serve community members in a better, more holistic and integrated manner and tailor services to meet specific needs. This consolidation will also provide smoother, streamlined systems for staff and board members. Rather than four separate organizations with four separate strategies for strategies, budgets, and administration work, one organization will focus on streamlined fundraising, finance, marketing, human resources, and information technology.

To support the staff through this transition, TTCF is funding a special On the Verge cohort. The On the Verge Leadership Program (OTV) is a year-long professional and personal development program facilitated by the Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee (CCTT). This year’s cohort launched recently with all staff members from the consolidating nonprofits.

To learn more about Community House, click here.