Shasta County board to consider retroactive youth mental-health contract after seven-proposal competition

The Shasta County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to consider retroactive renewals Sept. 29 for two behavioral-health programs: a three-year agreement with Northern Valley Catholic Social Service, Inc., for youth specialty mental-health services and a renewal for the Community Mental Health Resource Center, known as the CARE Center.

Under the NVCSS staff report, the proposed agreement would run from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2029, with compensation capped at $3 million. NVCSS would provide clinic- and community-based outpatient services to Medi-Cal-eligible children, adolescents and young adults up to age 21, as well as their family members and care providers in Shasta County. Services include case management, crisis intervention and rehabilitation.

The county report says a Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health Services request for proposals released Sept. 25, 2025, drew seven proposals. A three-person panel evaluated them in five areas — technical and program design, organizational capacity, relevant experience, budget and performance measures — before selecting NVCSS and Victor Community Support Services. The report does not include the evaluators’ score sheets, rankings or comments.

The NVCSS agreement is retroactive, according to the report, because county staff needed to update it for Administrative Policy 6-101 and revise language to reflect outpatient mental-health requirements, laws and regulations. County staff also say HHSA has been satisfied with NVCSS’ performance and monitors client outcomes through the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths assessment and individual treatment goals. The report does not provide FY 2024-25 NVCSS service totals, performance tables or actual payment records.

The CARE Center staff report asks the board to approve a retroactive agreement with Hill Country Community Clinic capped at $2,621,006.70 for the same three-year period. The center serves Shasta County residents of all ages through behavioral-health evaluations, referrals, peer support, education, crisis access, case management, transportation assistance and housing-related support.

The report says that during fiscal year 2024-25, the CARE Center averaged 225 unique clients and 702 visits per month. It recorded 17,098 services and 5,396 referrals during the year. Those averages were lower than the report’s FY 2023-24 figures of 268 unique clients and 832 visits per month.

County staff also wrote that during the CARE Center’s first four years, the project was associated with fewer psychiatric emergency-department visits and fewer hospitalizations in the following three months. The report does not provide the comparison-period tables, counts or denominators needed to independently assess that claim. It says the center’s funding can continue through the Behavioral Health Services Act as the Mental Health Services Act transitions beginning July 1, 2026.

Both items are on the consent calendar and require a simple majority vote. The NVCSS report says the agreement is funded through the county’s Mental Health Budget, with services largely financed through Medi-Cal and state realignment funds. The CARE Center report identifies the Mental Health Services Act Budget as its funding source. The reports state that neither recommendation would have a general-fund impact.

The board’s action will determine whether the county authorizes the proposed renewals. The executed agreements, actual disbursements, procurement scoring materials and underlying CARE Center outcome data were not included in the materials reviewed for this report.