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Sierra Community House outlines food, shelter and legal services and seeks wider awareness and funding
Summary
Executive Director Paul Bancroft briefed the Tahoe Forest Health System board on Sierra Community House programs — victim support, food distribution, immigration legal services, family support — and described demand, partnerships and funding mix with a $5.2M budget largely grant-funded.
Paul Bancroft, executive director of Sierra Community House, told the Tahoe Forest Health System Board of Directors that his merged nonprofit now delivers a wide range of social services across the Tahoe–Truckee region, and the organization is expanding services amid rising demand.
Sierra Community House combines four legacy organizations (Family Resource Center of Truckee, Tahoe Safe Alliance, Project Mana and North Tahoe Family Resource Center) into a single service model. Bancroft described key programs including a 90‑day, pet‑friendly shelter for victims of domestic violence; a food‑distribution and rescue program that served about 700–800 households weekly and rescued roughly 70,000 pounds of food last year; victim‑support and accompaniment for sexual‑assault survivors (including transport to forensic exams in Reno); legal assistance including immigration services (the organization is a Department of Justice–certified provider); and family‑support services such as resource navigation and rent/utility assistance.
Bancroft gave program metrics: an organizational budget of about $5.2 million, of which roughly 70% is grant funded and about $2 million comes from federal sources; distribution of roughly 1.5 million meals over five years; more than $2 million in rental and utility assistance distributed; approximately 12,000 services to 8,000 community members in the last year; roughly 500 helpline calls last year; and 76 individuals provided emergency shelter last year. He said about 80% of staff are bilingual/bicultural and about half of service users are Spanish speakers.
Board members asked about transfer agreements with regional hospitals and about ways to increase community awareness of Sierra Community House services. Bancroft said transfer choices depend on insurance and patient preference and that the organization works closely with Sierra Senior Services for Meals on Wheels and with Tahoe Forest Hospital on community-health access, diversion and SART protocols. Bancroft requested wider community outreach and noted fundraising and federal grants as key but precarious funding sources. He described an organizational priority to add a SANE (sexual assault nurse examiner) locally so fewer survivors must travel to Reno for forensic exams.
Bancroft said volunteers are used across programs, with immediate volunteer needs in the hunger‑relief operation (warehouse packing and distributions) and opportunities across shelter, classroom and advocacy programs.
