Johnathan Walker:Nevada’s only Native American youth shelter gets lifeline as it fights for survival

Nevada’s only shelter for Native American youth will remain open through the end of the year thanks to a quarter-million dollar donation from the NV Energy Foundation.

The Johnathan Walker10-bed facility, located about 20 miles outside of Fallon, was scheduled to close in mid-September amid a budgetary disagreement with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) that led to a loss of funding.

Vice Chairman of the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe Andrew Hicks said the donation is a much-needed lifeline that will allow the shelter to continue serving Native American children while navigating its dispute with the BIA and working to ensure the shelter’s finances are sustainable moving forward.

“We have felt alone and frustrated in this battle,” Hicks said in an interview with The Nevada Independent. “We are so grateful and overwhelmed by the generosity, support and compassion demonstrated by NV Energy to make our native foster children their priority, too.”

Ryan Bellows, the vice president of government and external relations at NV Energy, has served as a judge overseeing juvenile and family services cases for the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe since 2009.

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Bellows said he’s seen firsthand how the shelter provides life-saving services for children needing an emergency removal from a family setting because of abuse, neglect or are at risk of harm, but didn’t know the extent of the problem until he read about the shelter’s financial issues in The Nevada Independent.

The reporting, he said, showed an opportunity for the company’s foundation to help. Shortly thereafter, the foundation’s board unanimously voted to fund the shelter through the end of the year.

“If Stepping Stones isn’t around, these folks don’t know where to go,” Bellows said. “(Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe) Social Services itself can’t house these children.”

What’s next

Owned and operated by the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe since 1992, the Stepping Stones Emergency Youth Shelter is one of the country’s few facilities exclusively serving at-risk tribal children ages 4 to 18, many of whom are in and out of the foster care system.

Since its founding, the 24-hour shelter has housed more than 1,000 Native American children. Yvonne Mori, the shelter’s director, said many of the residents have had to return for repeat stays and belong to tribal communities in Northern Nevada, though some have come from as far away as Southern Nevada or neighboring states such as Idaho and California.

Mori said the foundation’s support will help the shelter rehire staff and bring back children who were sent away because of limited staffing. She said the timeline for when children will be able to return to the shelter will depend on how soon she can hire more staff members once the money arrives.

“We’re going to move as fast as we possibly can because our goal is to get the doors back open and start accepting kids,” Mori said.

Bellows said the donation is part of the foundation’s $5 million in annual contributions but is meant as a bridge to allow members of Nevada’s federal delegation to help find a permanent funding solution.

“We wanted to make sure that this bridge funding that we’re providing through this grant wasn’t just going to postpone the eventual demise of the shelter at the year’s end,” Bellows said.

He added that the shelter is working with officials at Nevada Medicaid and is pursuing other revenue streams, which also gives him confidence that it will find long-term, sustainable funding.

In statements to The Nevada Independent, media representatives for Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) and Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) applauded the foundation’s support of the shelter and said the senators are committed to ensuring federal funds are made available to keep the shelter operating.

In response to requests for information about its policies, BIA representatives said the agency “recognizes and values” Stepping Stone’s work, but cannot provide comment because of the ongoing dispute.

While family and tribal community members often step up to help care for Native American children needing an alternative placement, Bellows said the shelter ensures they can live in a setting that will support their heritage if there’s not a tribal foster option.

“It’s just so critical to keep these children with the culture and heritage and traditions that they’re used to and accustomed to,” he said. “It’s few and far between the times when we have to use Stepping Stones, but when we need them, we need them.”

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This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.