REPORT/RECOMMENDATION TO THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY
AND RECORD OF ACTION
December 16, 2025
FROM
GEORGINA YOSHIOKA, Director, Department of Behavioral Health
SUBJECT
Title
Contract with Helping Hearts Kern, LLC, for Enhanced Adult Residential Facility Services
End
RECOMMENDATION(S)
Recommendation
Approve contract with Helping Hearts Kern, LLC, for Enhanced Adult Residential Facility services, in an amount not to exceed $17,803,500, for the period of December 16, 2025, through September 30, 2030.
(Presenter: Jennifer Alsina, Assistant Director, 252-5142)
Body
COUNTY AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Provide for the Safety, Health and Social Service Needs of County Residents.
Pursue County Goals and Objectives by Working with Other Agencies and Stakeholders.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
This item does not impact Discretionary General Funding (Net County Cost). The contract amount not to exceed $17,803,500 for Enhanced Adult Residential Facility (EARF) is funded by Mental Health Service Act revenue. Adequate appropriation and revenue have been included in the Department of Behavioral Health's (DBH) 2025-26 budget and will be included in future recommended budgets.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
DBH is responsible for providing mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) services to county residents experiencing severe mental illness and/or SUD. Helping Hearts Kern, LLC (Helping Hearts) is one of a select few state-licensed adult residential facility providers who provide specialty mental health services at the highest level of enhanced treatment. Clients are discharged from locked facilities such as state hospitals, detention centers, institutions for mental disease, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center Behavioral Health Unit, and other fee-for-service acute psychiatric hospitals. The clients served by Helping Hearts include decertified offenders with mental disorders, felony clients deemed incompetent to stand trial in community treat...
Click here for full text