Arch Collaborative pivots to help lead new California-funded regional behavioral health initiative
The local nonprofit has just secured a $5 million state grant in collaboration with Rural County Representatives of California to pilot a model inter-county program in hopes of improving behavioral health services across the region.
Just a few months after being denied state funding for a proposed behavioral health campus, Arch Collaborative is pivoting to help lead a California-funded behavioral health initiative which will emphasize collaboration between counties across the North State.
The Redding-based nonprofit, in partnership with Rural County Representatives of California, was just awarded a state grant of $5 million through California’s Innovation Partnership Fund to pilot a project titled the Rural Behavioral Health Action Collaborative.
The 30-month project, which was chosen by the state agency out of 307 applications, is not a direct service, but rather an attempt to create a “shared regional infrastructure model.” In a press release today, RCRC referred to it as an initiative to strengthen county collaboration and “behavioral health implementation capacity across rural Northern California.”
RCRC is a convening agency that advocates for small and rural California counties at the legislative levels. The organization is leading the project with Arch Collaborative, a nonprofit that provides support services for victims of trauma, supporting. CEO Kimberly Johnson has been a vocal advocate for inter-county collaboration in behavioral health since she founded the Children’s Legacy Center, which has since been wrapped into the organization known as Arch Collaborative.
Last year, Arch Collaborative collaborated with the for-profit company Signature Healthcare Services on the submission of a proposal for California funds to build a regional behavioral health facility that would provide psychiatric and crisis services. Known as True North, the proposed project received avid support from an array of regional and Shasta County officials and community members, before facing last-minute opposition from some leaders, led by Supervisor Kevin Crye. The campus project was denied state funding in March.
While the organization’s new project is a pivot from the True North campus proposal, it emphasizes many of the same principles of inter-county collaboration and would provide a formalized way for counties in northern California grappling with similar issues to collaborate on behavioral health reforms, Johnson said in an interview today.
“We’re going to bring together about 15 counties in the far rural North State, and it’s going to be very county-led, behavioral health-driven,” Johnson said. “The counties will be able to collaborate around key priority areas such as BHSA implementation in terms of idea sharing, technology integration, workforce development, contracting and billing.”
Behavioral health is a term which collectively refers to mental health and substance use, addressing the intersection between the two issues, which are often co-occurring. California has seen a large shift in behavioral health policies over the past few years, particularly as the state implemented the Behavioral Health Services Act or BHSA, as Johnson referred to it, which replaced the Mental Health Services Act or MHSA in an attempt to better focus state mental health resources towards the needs of vulnerable populations.
The shift is what Johnson and others have called “a once in a generation type of change” for behavioral health care, leaving rural counties with unique challenges as they work to respond to and implement the changes.
“Most urban counties have teams of people whose responsibility is to implement state policy, and there’s been so many state mandates rolled out from the governor’s office,” Johnson said. “Often rural counties just need to rely on one another to see that implementation at scale.”
Collaboration on the newly-funded project came together in a very short time period, Johnson said, after former senator Brian Dahle suggested to Johnson that Arch Collaborative reach out to RCRC to co-apply. The organizations rallied together within ten days to complete the application and gather letters of support, she recalled.
“I believe we had 12 or 13 county letters of support that were turned around literally within less than 48 hours,” she said. “It was really, really inspiring.”
Plumas and Glenn counties in particular, CRCR’s press release noted, played significant roles in developing the project, and will serve as co-chairs of the steering committee. The press release quoted Glenn County Administrative Officer Scott De Moss’s strong support for the project.
“Rural communities deserve behavioral health systems that are every bit as strong, responsive, and innovative as those available elsewhere in California,” De Moss wrote. “This grant gives counties an unprecedented opportunity to work together, build shared capacity, and develop solutions that reflect the realities of rural service delivery.”
By phone today, Johnson also noted how the project came together at the right time for Arch Collaborative, adding that previous efforts, including the True North campus proposal, played into this successful application by helping her understand the need for a definitive collaboration model.
“Even had the True North campus been awarded, a formalized collaborative table where the behavioral health departments from counties could all come together was still going to be a gap that we didn’t really have a solution for yet,” she said. “So the fact that this is what came together is so beautiful because whether or not we have a campus, this was still needed.”
Shasta’s Health and Human Services Agency did not respond to a question about whether Shasta County would be participating in the initiative, but CRCR’s press release noted that Shasta has expressed interest and Johnson said she hopes to work with Shasta’s leaders as the project moves ahead.
“For years, rural counties have looked to Shasta County as an informal source of insight and support in translating state mandates into solutions that work in rural communities,” Johnson said. “I am hopeful that, through RCRC’s leadership, we will see a more formalized regional effort in which Shasta County is an active partner.”
The project is expected to conclude in December 2028, RCRC said, and is designed to provide a set of lessons and best practices that can be applied across rural California.
Moe Shimizu is a student at Yale University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern, with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
July 28, 2026 4:18 p.m.: We have corrected the story to clarify that Signature Healthcare Services submitted the proposal for the True North campus.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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Thank you Kimberly and your team for having the vision to bring this to the north state. As one who gathered signatures to place Prop 63 (MHSA) on the ballot, I’ve been concerned with the state’s pivot with MHSA programs. We are experiencing problems with that now in Shasta County. Hopefully this project will bolster mental health and substance use services across the north state. I had hoped our efforts with securing opioid settlement dollars would have been used more effectively, however this BOS has not performed. RCRC is a great partner and I look forward to seeing the progress you will make surrounding this very profound issue that impacts Shasta County.
There you go again Ms Kimberly, helping Shasta County look brighter by bring the mentally ill from the northern 15 counties along with most of their dysfunctional families to Shasta County . They’ll mesh real well with our homeless.
There you go again, that’s not how it works Nick, and you know it. Families are not going to move here when treatment only takes days or weeks.
I remember when Matt Taibi used the vampire squid image to describe Goldman Sachs for Rolling Stone in 2010. It was a good image then.
This comment was for Esteban who plagerizes Matt Taibi and William Safire.
Ah, yes…
So even though most of Shasta County leadership thinks it’s a good idea, you of course think it is a bad idea.
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Another loud ‘idea’ person who hasn’t thought things through.
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Please describe in detail how this is going to destroy the Shasta county community when so many other people disagree with you.
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PLEASE. Tell us how.
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You feel so strongly that this is a bad idea that surely you can provide some details about how this would destroy our community and it’s such a bad thing for all of us.
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Hey, if you’re right then thank you for saving us from this.
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But if you want to be a savior, then back it all up.
Thank you for this news story. It is good to know that people are still trying to help our communities that have such high rates of suicide, mental illness, and trauma. We should absolutely support this collaboration in search of new ideas for workforce development , technology sharing, and health services implementation.
Thank you we desperately need mental health services. As a parent, I know the need.
I would like to know whether Christian-based organizations are involved in this effort. I would not support behavioral health programs based on religion. I’ve met far too many people who would turn down help if religion were the basis of the help.
“The 30-month project, which was chosen by the state agency out of 307 applications, is not a direct service, but rather an attempt to create a “shared regional infrastructure model.”
So another project that doesn’t offer any services, but 5 million dollars to work with other counties to structure something that may in the future provide help and direct services for those in need now.
What could go wrong? People in crisis need help now not 30 months down the road.
Kevin Crye is a vicious, relentless vampire squid who opposes every program he can’t jam his squid beak into to rip off and swallow big chunks of blood money for himself. He has Trumpian instincts for pursuing and satiating his own self-interests. If a program doesn’t provide that opportunity, he’s against it. He’s like Daniel Plainview from “There Will Be Blood.” It’s not enough that he succeeds… he wants everyone else to fail.
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Kevin Crye can take a flying f*** at a rolling donut. Kevin Crye can take a flying f*** at the moon.
I can only pity those closest to Crye. Imagine living with someone reduced to a colostomy bag attached to a reptile brain. Brutal.
Kevin Crye only cares about Kevin Crye.
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Sorry Nick, your man crush is not going to win you any favors with Kevin.
There you go again Ms Kimberly, helping Shasta County look brighter in the spotlight that has been tarnished for so long under some of those among our county leadership. Since the Shasta Psychiatric Hospital, on Breslauer Lane, was closed by several of the Supervisors in the 90s, it’s been a struggle for families to get help locally for psych needs. Thanks Kimberly for your foresight on this subject. A true community leader.
“We’re going to bring together about 15 counties in the North State”, says Kimberly Johnson. This will serve drug addicts and justice involved individuals with mental problems. They will all be shipped to Redding and wander the streets while they get “treatment”. I’m not sure we should support that.
My comment above was meant for you Mr. Sanchez.
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Please show us all how this is a bad thing for our community.
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Please…
Even though the true north Behavioral Health Campus was shot down. It’s wonderful to see that we are still moving forward in a positive direction with regards to behavioral health. I hope to see not only this but even more occur in the near future.