Assistant District Attorney Lydia Stewart outlines new Nevada County Family Justice Center and services for victims

Assistant District Attorney Lydia Stewart told the Grass Valley City Council that Nevada County’s new Family Justice Center provides a centralized, trauma‑informed place for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault to receive coordinated services.

Stewart said the center, which held a ribbon cutting on April 22, 2026 and is housed at a Western Sierra Medical Clinic location on Searls Avenue in Nevada City, was created to reduce the number of places victims must visit for help. "At each location, they have to tell their story multiple times, become retraumatized, navigate different intake systems," Stewart said, and the Family Justice Center is intended as a "one‑stop shop" where service providers come to the client.

The center was supported in part by a Violence Against Women Act grant and a part‑time family justice coordinator, Stephanie Fisher, who Stewart described as playing an active role in launching the program. Stewart said the model uses a centralized intake and "soft rooms"—quiet, trauma‑informed spaces—where the victim remains while multidisciplinary partners rotate in as needed. "We will try to avoid doing any sort of, like, 'here's your brochure,' but rather making sure that there's a warm connection," Stewart said.

Stewart listed on‑site and off‑site partners, including counseling provider AnewDay, Community Beyond Violence (to assist with restraining orders), the district attorney's victim advocate, and law enforcement partners including Nevada County Sheriff’s Office and Grass Valley Police Department. She described plans to develop a strangulation protocol—because strangulation is a lethality risk—and said staff are working to bring forensic sexual assault exams to Nevada County; an MOU with Placer County has placed some exams closer to home, and Stewart said the county recently received a federal grant to support bringing exams to Nevada County directly.

The presentation also included a short introduction to Nugget, a first‑responder therapy dog used for wellness and to help victims and witnesses during stressful interviews. "I'm Chris. More importantly, this is Nugget," the handler said, describing Nugget’s role in critical‑incident debriefs and as a calming presence during breaks in difficult interviews.

Stewart asked community members to visit the center and consider tours; she said governance, service‑delivery protocols and evaluation plans are still being developed and that staff hope to expand services to other parts of the county over time.

The council received the presentation and thanked Stewart and the partners for the work; no formal action was required of the council on the presentation.