GRASS VALLEY, Calif. October 8, 2025 – The Commons Resource Center, a joint project of Nevada County Behavioral Health in partnership with SPIRIT Peer Empowerment Center, held its official opening ceremony yesterday.
Located at 1103 Sutton Way close to Hospitality House, the center offers day services to Nevada County residents Monday through Saturday from 8:30am – 4:00pm and is staffed by Nevada County Behavioral Health and Spirit Empowerment Center staff.
The services include peer-led support, behavioral health services, and a variety of services to assist individuals experiencing homelessness, all designed to meet people where they are.
Behavioral Health Director Phebe Bell welcomed everyone to the light and airy building lobby, “When I was thinking about being here today and when I walked in here the other day for the first time, the thing that really struck me hard was the need and criticalness of community. We all need to be connected and to feel seen, to feel safe, to feel loved and feel connected to our fellow humans. And when I think about this project, it is those values in action at every stage of the process that have made it so.”
Supervisor Heidi Hall spoke next, remembering the BOS first making homelessness a priority in 2018. “For many years, we searched for the right combination of location and funding source. And we’re finally able to strike at an opportunity in 2022 when this state’s first round of behavioral Health Continuum Improvement program became available and this building on Sutton Way came up for sale. The property was purchased in September of 2022. Design occurred between January 23 and July of 24 and construction commenced in September of 2024. Phebe Bell and Mike Dent were key drivers of this project and numerous folks on the HHSA team, including Aaron Mettler, Ariel Lovett and Tyler Barrington helped bring it across the finish line. There was a ton of collaboration with Grass Valley Hospitality House Supervisor Swarthout Spirit center and many, many others. So I hope you as a community will continue to support this effort, help us make it work right. Let us know if we need to do things differently and be part of a community that supports our homeless population with dignity and respect.”
Grass Valley Mayor Hilary Hodge agreed, “You know, when talking to the neighbors about this community, when talking to law enforcement about what we could do to help, this was a solution and it’s a good first step. It’s a great way for the visible homeless people in our community to have access to resources. I was at the economic summit last week, or the week before. one of the statistics that the expert gave us, which struck me and made me nervous, was that we’re currently seeing record high default on student loan debt. And I was reminded of being 26 years old and owning a home, and getting phone calls every day because we were late on our mortgage, because we were a part of the subprime lending situation. And none of my friends and I wanted to talk to each other or tell each other the truth because we had just so much shame. And about two years after that, we lost our house. And I realized that it’s only because of the people who have helped me and the services then and, you know, the privilege that I had that I came out on the other side of that. But it does remind me that we can all be eligible. And that the humanity in this building and this place and its light and the houseplants mean something to the people who walk through that door, who may be having the hardest moment of their lives. And I’m so thankful you’re here in Grass Valley.”
Marlies Perez from the California Department of Healthcare Services said she was so glad to be at the opening, “We see the applications, we see all these things and we’re like, there’s a lot of no-brainers. This is like an absolute no-brainer recognizing the work that Nevada County has done with this population. I don’t know if you know this, but you all are some of the leading experts in California in this space. I think a lot of it is through the leadership that you have, but it’s your hearts, your collaboration and your sense of community. The people that aren’t here today, though, I think about the most. The ones that daily walk through the doors and maybe not fully understand at that time all of the love that you have put into this. All of you have, everybody has a role in that. That’s what I always love about teams and to me, no role is less important than the other. So whatever role you have played, I really hope tonight when you’re laying down in your bed and going to sleep and thinking about the services that are going to be provided here to help other people lay their head down in a bed.”
Jennifer Morill, who leads the SPIRIT Peer Empowerment Center, shared a few reactions from people who visited the Center during last week’s soft opening, “The feedback has been incredibly overwhelming from our participants, I’m thrilled to give you a few quotes from some of our folks. So we’ve heard ‘This place is so nice.‘ many, many, many times. We heard today from one of our participants: ‘I am speechless, this is pretty slick. You guys let ECM know that I needed them. Their staff came over, and we handled all of our business.‘ This quote is my favorite. ‘It was like coming home after a long time and the bed is made and the room is clean. Now it feels like I can do it.‘ So once again, welcome to our new home. Thanks for everyone for all their support, and I’d love to give a big round of applause for the participants who show up here every day trying to put the pieces of their lives together, and now they have a beautiful building from which to do so.”
Supervisor Lisa Swarthout rounded out the speaker lineup, “It’s really an honor to stand here today to celebrate this. I live in Grass Valley. This is my district. Oftentimes, when you’re out and about and you call the HOME Team and say, hey, we see somebody that’s in need, I always wondered, where did they take them, where did they go? And now I know they have a solid place to land, to get the help that they need, which for me, that was so important because there is such a huge need in our community for a facility like this and for the home team. What an amazing facility that we have built here. These aren’t just services for people. They’re lifelines. They’re tools for healing, rebuilding and reconnecting with community. I especially want to thank our partners in this endeavor, the Spirit Empowerment Center, Hospitality House, our County Behavioral Health, Nevada County Facilities, the City of Grass Valley and Grass Valley PD for their vision and deep-rooted commitment in helping shape the center into what it is today. Alongside the Nevada County Health, Behavioral Staff and other community providers, they’ll be here every day, walking alongside our most vulnerable neighbors with empathy and expertise. This is what it means to show up for one another. And I will say, I’ve lived in this community for over 40 years and this community shows up for one another.”