On July 1, two highly regarded, long-standing behavioral and mental health services, juvenile nonprofit organizations, Stanford Youth Solutions and Sierra Forever Families merged to better address the complex needs of children, youth and families. Stronger together, Stanford Youth Solutions + Sierra Forever Families are determined to give each and every child a chance at a healthy, productive and self-sufficient life.
“The competition for resources is challenging in the nonprofit world. With our complementary missions, it made a lot of sense to consolidate resources by sharing infrastructure, while expanding services in the best interest of our youth and families,” says Laura Heintz, CEO of Stanford Youth Solutions + Sierra Forever Families. “As one organization, we are not only able to provide a broader continuum of high-quality services, but also have a stronger voice statewide and within the counties we serve.”
“We envision our communities with safe, lifelong connections for all young people, built and strengthened through generations of empowered families.”
Having proudly served the community for a combined total of 150 years, the new organization offers a more comprehensive array of programs that serves the region’s most vulnerable youth and empowers families to solve serious challenges together. These services include family stabilization, justice intervention, foster care and pre- and post- adoption support.
“We are stronger together,” says Heintz, who was previously the CEO for Stanford Youth Solutions and has worked tirelessly for the last 25 years to help health and human-service nonprofit organizations grow and expand their ability to serve children and families. “As one organization, we’ve combined our staff, resources and breadth of expertise to serve more youth and families in need. The programs we provide are uniquely designed to help end the child- welfare cycle by keeping children safe and together with family, in school and out of trouble.”
In the coming year, Stanford Youth Solutions + Sierra Forever Families expects that its community- based programs will benefit approximately 4,500 youth and families throughout Northern California, including Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, Nevada, Yolo, Napa and San Joaquin counties.