About Us
The Healthy Communities Coalition of Lyon and Storey Counties is a grassroots based partnership whose vision is to mobilize, share, and collaborate for healthy communities where all have opportunities to grow, live and learn. Our mission is to strive to promote and support sustainable, culturally inclusive prevention services, community initiatives, and capacity building systems that address all factions of a healthy community for all members.
When do we meet? The Coalition normally hosts public meetings on the 2nd Thursday of each month at 9am, usually at the Silver Springs Community Center. However, there is no meeting of the Coalition in July.
Where are we?
Lyon and Storey Counties are located in rural Nevada in the western area of the state. Healthy Communities’ central offices are located in Dayton at 209 Dayton Valley Road. The central office phone number is (775) 246-7550.
Service Area
Most Lyon, Storey and Mineral communities are located in remote areas of each county, distanced from centralized services and without access to the more typical resources of larger cities, such as public transportation, food and clothing retail outlets, recreational programming, health and social services, and mental health services by as much as 70 miles in some areas. Some of the larger communities include Fernley, Yerington, Silver Springs, Dayton, Hawthorne and Virginia City, but the region also includes many other smaller but distinct and unique communities such as Silver City, Mound House, Smith, Mark Twain, Lockwood, Stagecoach, Gold Hill, Wellington, Schurz, Luning, Mina, Walker Lake, Aurora, Walker River Paiute Tribe and Yerington Paiute Tribe, etc. Dayton and Fernley are our largest population areas and represent 65% of the population. Due to the distance between the communities (often no less than 40 miles), one program cannot encompass all of the population centers without duplicating staff or other resources for each area.
How? The Healthy Communities Coalition strives to include a diverse population over an enormous geographic region, and thus we have multiple ways for our communities to become involved, including coalition membership, community task force membership, youth prevention teams (Stand Tall) and board membership. All of our meetings are open to all and anyone can become a member by filling out a simple application and attending meetings.
Our coalition membership focuses on federal, state and local agencies, service providers, and community members who work in strategy teams such as youth substance abuse prevention and leadership/job training, senior issues, access to affordable, locally grown food and access to basic healthcare services and behavioral health care, etc. Needs are addressed as they surface in our communities. Our strategy teams lead the coalition members and task forces to help meet those needs through effective collaboration.
We also maintain youth leadership Stand Tall teams in high schools and middle schools in Dayton, Silver Springs, Fernley and Yerington. Our youth teams lead their peers in many different wellness strategies and help guide the coalition in planning for youth services. Learn more about our activities through our Community Prevention Plan
Governing and leading our Coalition is our Board of Directors which acts as the “glue” to help hold our coalition together and maintain our vision and mission. Current board members include board President Sarah Adler (National Alliance for Mental Illness Western Nevada board president; Governor’s Council on Food Security; previous Director of USDA Rural Development in Nevada; etc.); Chad Pace, former Deputy District Attorney in Lyon County; Michele Watkins, (licensed social worker, Safe Schools Professionals coordinator, and former director of Central Lyon Youth Connections with its school-based programs); Shaun Griffin (award-winning writer, retired co-founder of the nonprofit Community Chest, and resident of Storey County); Anna Coons (licensed social worker, former Division Manager with Lyon County Human Services and former Substance Abuse Counselor); and Anji Winebarger, Central Lyon County Fire Protection District.
