Embracing recovery

Treating drug and alcohol addiction with a one-stop campus in Grass Valley is the next plan for Community Recovery Resources to stem Nevada County’s growing substance abuse problem.

The Center of Hope would have an outpatient structure with CoRR offices and residential buildings for women, men and families, according to Executive Director Warren Daniels.

It also would include transitional housing for those in year-long treatment programs on three acres at the corner of East Main Street and Sierra College Drive, downhill from the new Chapa De Indian Health clinic.

The property abuts the Grass Valley Country Club “in an area where we wouldn’t impact anyone with what we’re doing,” Daniels said. “It’s a local solution for today and a national model for tomorrow.”

CoRR has been quietly operating two transitional homes on the site for the past few years to help people get on their feet after going through the first phases of recovery.

Those transitional homes would remain. The $10 million plan calls for building a women’s residential center for 30 women and 15 children, plus a building to house 30 men.



The residential centers also would have three beds apiece for acute detoxification. An adolescent residential center would move to CoRR’s current women’s residential building on Bennett Street.

“There’s a need for this,” said William Locker, CoRR’s development director, citing waiting lists for Nevada County treatment programs. “It’s a regional approach, and you could fill it.”

Treating the whole family

CoRR officials asked themselves why treatment programs were working for some and not for others, and they came up with the campus idea, Locker said. They looked at research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to develop with the campus idea, with the goal of treating families instead of just individuals.

It also occurred to CoRR officials that people in the crisis of addiction were walking into the building, but no one could deal with them immediately; those folks were walking out and were not coming back.

The campus center concept would address that.

“The concept is to be able to house a resident for one year in residential housing, transitional housing and then outpatient,” Daniels said. That is based on CoRR statistics that show people in recovery for one year are 80 to 90 percent more likely to be successful than those in programs for three to six months.

The campus would create about 25 additional jobs for CoRR, adding to the 40 who already are employed here and in Truckee.

The plan also would establish a community evaluation committee to measure the program’s effects.

“We want to package this so other communities can use this as a model,” Daniels said. “We think a neighborhood recovery campus will increase success and public safety.”



Measure Z could interfere

CoRR has landed a $1.5 million loan for the campus and already owns the land.

“Our strategy is to seek foundation and government grants to fund this project, and we will come to the community for about $3 million,” Daniels said.

One hang-up could be Measure Z on the Nov. 4 ballot, if it passes, Daniels said.

The land is currently zoned as a residential area and would have to be rezoned to “multi-use” to allow for the campus. Measure Z would force a vote of city residents for building projects that seek rezoning.

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call 477-4237.