Rural County Representatives of California announces that the California Behavioral Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission has announced its intent to provide a grant award. This grant to RCRC through its Innovation Partnership Fund would establish the Rural Behavioral Health Action Collaborative, a county-led initiative designed to strengthen behavioral health implementation capacity across rural Northern California.
Counties expressing interest in participation include Glenn, Plumas, Modoc, Lassen, Del Norte, Colusa, Siskiyou, Sutter, Yuba, Trinity and Shasta, with additional rural counties expected to participate as the collaborative is formed.
Selected through a competitive process that received 307 applications statewide, the proposed $5 million, 30-month project will help participating counties address shared challenges related to workforce shortages, data and technology systems, administrative capacity and multiagency coordination, said RCRC.
Developed by RCRC in partnership with Arch Collaborative, RBHAC is not a direct service program. Instead, it creates a shared regional infrastructure model that allows rural counties to work together on complex behavioral health reforms that would be difficult to tackle individually.
Arch Collaborative is an organization that works to ensure trauma-informed, community-based services are available to vulnerable populations across Northern California. The organization specializes in building regional partnerships, securing government funding and developing sustainable programs that reflect the needs of rural communities.
RBHAC will be facilitated by RCRC and supported by Arch Collaborative using a collective impact framework that brings counties together around shared priorities, measurement and implementation. Organizers said Plumas and Glenn counties played a leading role in developing the concept and grant application and will serve as co-chairs of the steering committee overseeing RBHAC.
The project is expected to conclude in December 2028 with a sustainable regional collaborative model and a set of lessons and best practices that can be applied across rural California.
“This award is tremendous news for our rural communities,” said Mimi Hall, Plumas County supervisor. “As a longtime champion for rural counties, I know what a difference this investment will make. This grant is an investment in healthier communities, greater access to care and a stronger future for rural California.”
“RCRC’s commitment to rural counties is awe-inspiring,” said Kimberly Johnson, chief executive officer of Arch Collaborative. “Rural counties are asked to carry out the same behavioral health reforms as large urban systems with a fraction of the staff and resources. This grant gives the far North State the shared capacity to take that on together, and Arch Collaborative looks forward to working alongside RCRC and the region to build a more integrated behavioral health system.”
More information about Rural County Representatives of California is available at rcrcnet.org.
