How a Shasta County nonprofit’s vital community work overcame political divides | Opinion

In Shasta County, one of California’s most conservative counties inside one of the nation’s most liberal states, I have witnessed what’s possible on the front lines of our deepest divides.

For nearly a decade, I have worked alongside leaders who rarely find themselves on the same side of an issue, to take what began as just an idea and became what is now known as Arch Collaborative, one of the rural North State’s largest nonprofits serving individuals impacted by violence.

When we set out to build a space where children impacted by violence could safely share their stories, it was clear that aligning the necessary stakeholders would be no small task. The individuals whose support we needed — the sheriff, police chiefs, district attorney, child welfare director and the CEO of Shasta Community Health Center — were all deeply committed leaders with incredibly demanding roles and vastly different priorities.

Their agencies respond to crime scenes, investigate abuse, prosecute cases and treat victims in emergency rooms. What bound them together wasn’t politics, it was purpose. They shared a conviction that no child should have to tell the story of their abuse in police stations or county offices.

Five years after our first meeting in April of 2016, despite wildfires, leadership changes and political headwinds, we opened what is now a nationally accredited Children’s Advocacy Center. But even more powerful than the completed project was what it left behind: trust that was built collaboratively, across political aisles.

That trust became the catalyst for everything that followed. With the center in place, the question became: Now that we have reduced their systemic trauma, how do we help them heal? That question led us in two directions: launching a behavioral health clinic and exploring placement solutions for youth with complex needs, which ultimately led to cross-sector work aimed at redefining how rural systems respond to trauma across the care continuum.

In 2023, we were asked to assume leadership of our community’s domestic violence and rape crisis center. Though still a separate entity due to grant requirements, we reimagined our identity: We were no longer just a children’s organization, but a structure to bridge solutions across age, system and region.

Today, Arch Collaborative provides services for children, youth and adults facing violence, exploitation, trauma and mental health challenges. The trust we built is the foundation of a multi-systems partnership model that is fueling our most ambitious work yet.

Working alongside the Shasta Health Assessment & Redesign Collaborative — a coalition of hospital and health center CEOs, as well as regional system partners — we are actively shaping a regional proposal for Proposition 1 infrastructure funding that is expected next month. This is what collective problem-solving looks like: it’s not flashy or partisan, it’s just people showing up and leveraging resources to build something better and meet our region’s greatest needs.

Across the country, children are sleeping in county offices because there aren’t enough foster homes. Emergency departments are overwhelmed with patients needing mental health and substance use treatment. First responders are exhausted and understaffed.

These issues, and many others across our nation, transcend politics; they are deeply human.

For too long, we’ve drawn deeper and deeper lines in the sand, reducing the uniqueness of our individual experiences to a handful of political ideologies. But are we really willing to be wholly defined by our opinion on a few highly charged topics?

Some things are worth the fight. But when every disagreement becomes a war and every battle hardens into an unbridgeable divide, we lose more than we win — and our communities suffer as a result.

Our nation doesn’t need unity. It needs shared causes and achievable goals.