By Laura Petersen, Public Information Contractor

Eastern Nevada County is a special place, but it doesn’t have to feel cut off from the rest of the world. 

Nevada County Supervisor Hardy Bullock represents District 5 and wants his constituents to be aware of the services available to folks when they need them most. 

“The need for social services in East County is unique and the County strives to meet those needs at every level. We’ve expanded services and access and grown our staff to meet the community. A lot of times people are not aware that these services are available to them,” said Bullock, a life-long resident of Nevada County who began his first term representing District 5 in 2021. 

“A huge push of mine was to expand services and staffing. That’s been an important focus of mine since I got here,” said Bullock.

District 5 includes the communities of Soda Springs, Washington, Graniteville, Hirschdale, Boca, Floriston, the Town of Truckee, and unincorporated areas along Highways 49, 20, 89, and Interstate 80. The Town of Truckee, with a population of around 18,000 people, represents 80% of District 5. 

Over the last several years, increasing access to services for Eastern County residents has been a top priority of County Executive Officer Alison Lehman, as well. This shows with increased staffing, expanded services and strengthened local partnerships with Tahoe Truckee Unified School District Wellness Center, Suicide Prevention Coalition, Boys and Girls Club, Sierra Community House and Nortgh Tahoe/Truckee Homeless Services to meet the growing community’s needs. 

Navigating County services can be confusing. That’s why representatives from Nevada County Health and Social Services Agency, Probation and Courts are available in person to help residents face-to-face from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday - Friday at the Joseph Government Center located at 10075 Levon Avenue in Truckee. The Sheriff and Library are also available on the same campus. 

Another great way to tap into social services is to call 211 and ask for help. 

“They’ll connect you to all of these resources. All of these services have occurred here in East County and we want to let everyone know what these are,” said Supervisor Bullock. 

Here is a snapshot of East Nevada County Services prepared by Health and Human Services Director Ryan Gruver.

Social Services

In Nevada County, around 25,000 families receive Medi-Cal, representing 28,000 individuals. 

Social Services is the largest department in Health and Human Services and determines eligibility and administers federal and state programs that help qualifying residents meet their basic needs through healthcare (Medi-Cal), income (General Assistance and CalWorks) and food/nutrition assistance (CalFresh). 

In the fiscal year 2024/2025, Eastern Nevada County represented approximately 11% of the Medi-Cal caseloads, slightly higher than the proportion of people living in poverty.

At the Joseph Center, Social Services has friendly staff on hand with Spanish language competency to help customers with their caseloads. In addition to safety net programs, Social Services oversees the Veterans’ Services Office, Adult Services and Child Welfare Services.

In addition to focusing on increasing access to Spanish speaking staff and reducing application timelines, Social Services recently hired a local Child Welfare worker who lives in Truckee to enhance our responsiveness to local needs.

Public Health

Nevada County Public Health provides community health services as well as intervention programs focusing on youth and teen wellness, suicide prevention, tobacco cessation, and alcohol and other drug prevention. 

Additionally, Public Health conducts emergency preparedness work with partners such as Tahoe Forest Hospital District, the Truckee Police Department, Truckee Fire and more.

Public Health also provides direct healthcare services through federal and state grants, operates the Women’s Infants and Children (WIC) program and has a significant nursing and clinical footprint in Truckee, through the teen clinic and reproductive health clinic. 

These services are Nevada County’s only Public Health-run clinics. As of May 30, 2025, the WIC program served approximately 200 people in Eastern County representing 17% of the total county caseload.

Recently Public Health expanded the Home Visiting program by hiring a Public Health nurse to work alongside a bilingual home visitor, providing support to families with young children.

Behavioral Health

Between July 1, 2024 to May 29, 2025, approximately 7% of Nevada County Behavioral Health services were delivered to people living in Truckee. 

Under California law, County Behavioral Health is responsible for Mental Health treatment for children and adults with Medi-Cal insurance and who have serious mental illness like schizophrenia or bi-polar disorder; and Substance Use Treatment for people with Medi-Cal, regardless of the severity of their substance use issues. 

Medi-Cal recipients with mild or moderate mental illness receive services through Partnership Health Plan (not a County entity) while people with private insurance have their care managed through their health insurance company.

Beyond these core services, Behavioral Health maintains a crisis system for people who are a danger to themselves or others due to a mental health crisis. Initial crisis services are the responsibility of County Behavioral Health regardless of insurance or severity of mental illness, and then treatment connections are made through Medi-Cal or private insurance systems, as applicable.

In recent years the Behavioral Health Department has substantially increased services, including expansion of children’s services through contract with Victor, crisis staff embedded in the hospital, a Substance Use Disorder care coordinator position, the addition of a 24/7 Mobile Crisis team and more.

Behavioral Health, directly or through contract, maintains a spectrum of care from outreach and outpatient services to long term psychiatric care. Like many rural counties, Nevada County does not have all levels of care available in all parts of the county. Substance use treatment services and acute mental healthcare facilities are often located in more urban areas, resulting in people receiving treatment out of county. 

Probation

Nevada County Probation is one of the most recent departments to join the Health and Human Services agency. 

Probation provides services directly in Truckee through staff stationed out of the Joseph Center. Additionally, staff frequently travel up from Western County to support the needs of Truckee’s Probation caseload. Approximately 10% of people in the Nevada County Probation system reside in Eastern County. 

Probation is mandated to provide supervision of people placed on “Supervised Probation.” For over a decade, Probation has been at the forefront of Criminal Justice reform in California, leveraging treatment and services to help people avoid recidivism, and thus lowering crime. 

Public Defender

Public Defender provides constitutionally mandated criminal defense services for people who cannot afford to represent themselves. Along with Probation, Public Defender is the most recent department to join Health and Human Services, where connection to Health and Human Services Agency is instrumental in implementing the criminal justice reforms of the past decade. A full-time attorney is stationed at the Joseph Center to manage the Truckee caseload, and attorneys from Western Nevada County come to Truckee as needed to cover cases.

Homelessness

Homelessness is not a mandated County or Town service, but a joint responsibility of all public agencies, community-based organizations and the community. However, since the Board of Supervisors prioritized Homelessness in 2018, Nevada County has made significant investments in services for people experiencing homelessness in Tahoe/Truckee.

As of the 2025 Point in Time Count, Truckee’s homeless population was 48 individuals, representing approximately 10% of Nevada County numbers. Most homeless residents have lived in Truckee for a long time. Truckee’s homeless residents stay here for similar reasons to the broader community, with the top reasons being that many are originally from here, feel safe here, enjoy the community environment, or have friends and family here.

Nevada County staff are working to grow partnerships and services in a number of ways to support the local homeless community, including:

• Partnered with North Tahoe/Truckee Homeless Services to deliver post-housing support case management, and a full time homeless outreach worker. 
• Partnered with FREED Center for Independent Living for support with applications for disability income. Freed travels to Truckee twice a month and works closely with tenants who were formerly homeless. 
• Prevention and Rapid Rehousing is provided through legal services and some eviction prevention funds through Sierra Community House and North Tahoe/Truckee Homeless Services. 
• Meal Distribution 12 hours/week.  A hot meal and outreach staff are available during meal distribution to engage clients, link them to services, and provide on-going case management for housing. 
• Emergency shelter is being provided for individuals and families fleeing domestic violence through Sierra Community House.   

Lastly, the County is committed to partnering with the Town of Truckee, Placer County, Tahoe Forest Hospital and other community stakeholders to ensure that adequate services are available for homeless community members.  The County helps fund the work of the Tahoe Truckee Homeless Advisory Council to create a strategic plan for the region and to seek grants and other funding sources to implement core strategies.