Sierra Nevada Children's Service

We sit in the quiet of the Sierra Nevada Children’s Services library and watch her as our future navigates her way through a five-year-old’s game on the computer screen. She is both the inspiration that propels SNCS forward and the reward of our common efforts past. In its 25 year history, SNCS has worn numerous hats and had several names, but “service” has always defined its being.

Early Beginnings: Borne in 1978 as an umbrella non-profit, Western Nevada County Community Services Council began addressing the community’s unmet needs through programs of surplus government food distribution; information and referral to health, education, welfare and recreation services; home sharing matchmaking; “Tough Love” counseling; and Latchkey child care.

In 1983, the organization had become the resource and referral agency for Nevada County and expanded to include a satellite office in Truckee and in 1985, one in Sierra County. After a name change in 1987 to Sierra Nevada Community Services Council and another in 1992 to Sierra Nevada Children’s Services, the agency came to more closely resemble the SNCS of today. It has served as the local resource and referral agency for child care and children’s services, as an advocate for families, has provided a forum for public policy formation and has administered subsidized child care assistance.
Programs Past: Availability of funding has always given direction to the development of the organization’s programs. Past services for which funding was transitory include the Child Care Food Program and the Dental Subsidy Program. Numerous other programs, like SNCS children, have matured into autonomous organizations continuing to serve the community.

Growth and Current Services: The 1990’s saw a political climate of significant support for family services, especially child care. Increases in both state and federal funding fueled a dramatic growth spurt at SNCS. Annual budgets grew, the number of families and children served increased, but fundamental changes were occurring within the organization also. Current Executive Director, Rafaela Frausto, recognized the benefit of implementing a change to the SNCS service delivery structure. Although the new practice of providing integrated services required staff members to broaden their skills, families became the beneficiaries of increased efficiency, improved service, and the convenience of “one stop shopping” for services.

A current budget of $3.75 million has funded an ever greater number of service programs and served an increasing number of families. Predominantly funding subsidized child care that allows lower income parents to work, the infusion of federal and state dollars also creates a positive economic boost to the entire local economy. In addition to direct services to families, SNCS continues to provide a forum for public policy development by sponsoring the Children’s Policy Summit in Sierra County and in Nevada County, the Child Development Conference and cosponsoring the Children’s Summit.

Where Are We Going - The New Paradigm: While SNCS is, by necessity, reactive to available funding sources, it is innovative in its relationship with the community. Under Rafaela Frausto’s leadership, SNCS has moved away from the conventional concept of “community needs assessment” and adopted rather “asset based community development.” In so doing, we discover the strengths of members of the community and build collaboratively on those assets to make connections to needs, rather than dwelling on deficiencies. In a sense, SNCS has come full circle in its 25 years. Established in the image of an extended family, the organization has passed through an institutional phase to return to a holistic approach to family needs at the community level. SNCS continues to work to make itself unneeded, for when children in our community are sufficiently valued, our need to exist will cease.

William Enoch, SNCS Fiscal Specialist by day, boatbuilder by night, reader always.

Thank you to our funders: