Two large gifts totaling $12 million have pushed the effort to build and open Reno’s Jerry Smith Community Wellness Center over the top. Operated by Northern Nevada HOPES, the center will bring adult primary care, mental health care, substance abuse care and case management to thousands who need it.
The $36 million capital campaign to build the center from scratch included an unsolicited $6 million gift from national donor MacKenzie Scott and a $5.9 gift from the William N. Pennington Foundation. Funding from other philanthropists, the community and the federal American Rescue Plan Act also contribute to the center’s opening, planned for May 6.
At about 43,000 square feet, the Smith wellness center is on East Fourth Street near the Nevada Cares Campus, a Washoe County facility that provides services to the homeless.
Trudy Larson, vice president of the Northern Nevada HOPES board of directors, called the area a “medical health desert,” which means that health and wellness resources haven’t traditionally been available, especially for a vulnerable population.“It’s a well-known area for folks who may be having problems in their lives, complicated lives, unhoused, a lot of social issues that we see in people who may live in that area or wander through that area,” Larson said. “This is access right where they live, and same-day appointments make it possible for them to walk right in and receive care when they really need it.”
Larson also noted that the Smith center is ready to sign up patients for Medicaid services.
“Through our social services and team approach, we can make sure that we sign up people and really allow access to funds that support their health,” she said.
The Smith center also greatly expands HOPES’ services for mental health care, said Sharon Chamberlain, CEO of the organization. This includes an outpatient program now expanded to three-to-five times a week for patients who need behavioral health care and social skill services.“In addition to that, we have private individual therapists for people, as well as substance abuse treatment programs, which we know is really key and really lacking in our community,” Chamberlain said. “To be able to serve these people in a very holistic manner, in addition to our primary care programs, is really what this clinic is all about.”
Between 12,000 and 14,000 people are expected to receive care at the Jerry Smith wellness center every year. Chamberlain said that it will be ideal for people who have instead been using local ERs or urgent cares outside of that area.
“This allows them to have a medical home right there in their backyard,” Chamberlain said. “I think it is going to make a significant impact.”
Northern Nevada HOPES will still be operating its clinic on Fifth Street, which currently has waiting lists and also has dedicated pediatric care. It will close its temporary Bell Street clinic, although its services have been moved to the new, larger wellness center.
The Fourth Street facility is named for the late Jerry Smith, a Reno philanthropist who died in March 2023 and was an avid supporter of HOPES’ work.
“Jerry was an incredible friend,” Chamberlain said. “He was a strong believer in having agencies and people connect in order to support the populations we serve, to work much less siloed. I’ve never met anyone like him, and we miss him dearly, so we wanted to be able to continue his legacy.”
Up next for Northern Nevada HOPES is an $800,000 fundraising campaign for the first year of operations and services at the Smith wellness center.
“We also want to put the word out that we are hiring,” Chamberlain added. “We’ve got a lot of jobs in the community that are available, everything from front desk folks to security to medical assistants and other providers.
“If there are people that are compassionate and interested in our mission, and want to treat people with kindness and dignity, we’d love to talk to them.”
More information on Northern Nevada HOPES can be found at their website.
A recent Review-Journal letter to the editor mischaracterized Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s Southern Nevada Economic Development and Conservation Act, also known as the Clark County Lands bill. As the former executive director of the Nevada Conservation League, I wholeheartedly support this legislation, so I wanted to set the record straight.
Sen. Cortez Masto has been working on this bill for years in partnership with state and local governments, conservation groups like the NCL and local area tribes. It’s true that the Clark County lands bill would open 25,000 acres to help Las Vegas grow responsibly, while setting aside 2 million acres for conservation. It would also help create more affordable housing throughout the valley while ensuring our treasured public spaces can be preserved for generations to come.
What is not correct is that the money from these land sales would go to the federal government’s coffers. In fact, the opposite is true.
The 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act is a landmark bill that identified specific public land for future sale and created a special account ensuring all land sale revenues would come back to Nevada. In accordance with that law 5 percent of revenue from land transfers goes to the state of Nevada for general education purposes, 10 percent goes to the Southern Nevada Water Authority for needed water infrastructure and 85 percent supports conservation and environmental mitigation projects in Southern Nevada. This legislation has provided billions to Clark County and will continue to benefit generations of Southern Nevadans. Sen. Cortez Masto’s lands bill builds upon the act’s success.
So here’s the good news: All of the money generated from land made available for sale under Sen. Cortez Masto’s bill would be sent to the special account created by the 1998 law. Rather than going to an unaccountable federal government, the proceeds would continue to help kids in Vegas get a better education, bolster outdoor recreation and modernize Southern Nevada’s infrastructure.
I know how important it is that money generated from the sale of public land in Nevada stay in the hands of Nevadans, and so does the senator. That’s why she opposed a Republican effort last year to sell off 200,000 acres of land in Clark County and other areas of the country that would have sent those dollars directly to Washington.
Public land management in Nevada should benefit Nevadans. We should protect sacred cultural sites and beloved recreation spaces, responsibly transfer land for affordable housing when needed and ensure our state has the resources it needs to grow sustainably. I will continue working with Sen. Cortez Masto to advocate for legislation, such as the Clark County lands bill, that puts the needs of Nevadans first.
Paul Selberg writes from Las Vegas.
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Las Vegas High’s baseball team claimed a 3-2 home win over Coronado on Friday.
Las Vegas (9-13-1) next hosts Rancho at 10 a.m. Saturday. Coronado (13-14) hosts Chaparral at 3:30 p.m. Monday.
Contact Alex Wright at awright@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlexWright1028 on X.
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Nevada’s jobless rate is holding steady, but the state is still adding jobs.
A new report from DETR shows February’s unemployment rate unchanged at 5.3 percent, with the labor force growing by nearly 3,800 people.
MORE ON FOX5: Nevada unemployment rate rises to 5.3% in January
Nevada now has about 1.6 million nonfarm jobs, up 2.2 percent over the past year and 1,500 more jobs than in January.
“This month’s report shows a strengthening labor market,” said David Schmidt, Chief Economist. ”Compared to the report for January, the pace of job gains in the past year increased from 1.9% to 2.2%, building on what was already the fastest pace of job growth in the country. While the unemployment rate remained stable, the labor force participation rate rose to 63.7%, 1.7 percentage points higher than the national level.”
In Las Vegas, employment ticked up by 1,100 jobs in February, about 0.1 percent, and is up more than 25,000 jobs compared to last year.
Reno added 1,000 jobs on the month, while Carson City shed about 200 but is still slightly above where it was a year ago.
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