May 9, 2025
After nearly a decade of working toward opening a new location, the Yolo Crisis Nursery’s new over 9,000-square-foot facility held its ribbon cutting and opened its doors to help the county’s most vulnerable.
“The Yolo Crisis Nursery now has a new, beautiful home where we have an opportunity to change lives every single day,” Executive Director Heather Sleuter said.
According to the CDC, one in four children will experience some form of abuse or neglect in their lifetime. The Yolo Crisis Nursery is one of only four in California dedicated to supporting at-risk children and their families. Since 2001, 8,500 children have been served in Yolo County.
According to Sleuter, nearly all the families they help are food insecure and either house insecure or homeless. In Yolo County, approximately 77% of low-income households are paying more than half of their monthly income on housing. From July 2020 to July 2022, the nursery saw a 23% increase in client referrals to their community partners and programs. They also provided respite care for over 800 children and distributed 7,170 care packages during the two years.
The nursery serves every corner of Yolo County, including the rural and unincorporated areas. Last year, the majority of clients came from Woodland at 42%, followed by Davis at 28%, and 23% from West Sacramento.
“We are now licensed for 12 kids in overnight and 30 during the day,” Sleuter explained. “We’ll be adding key programs to the nursery. We want to address our county’s unhoused population, supervised visitation, expand our in-home parenting programs, and much more. We also have our family engagement nights, which are on Friday. It’s going to be even more with our bigger space and more families to be here.”
A former client of the Yolo Crisis Nursery, who withheld her name out of privacy concerns, spoke at Thursday’s ribbon cutting. This woman said she was sitting in between the CVS and Nugget Market on Covell Boulevard after getting out of an abusive relationship, wondering how she was going to provide for her kids, when Sleuter approached her and asked if she needed help.
After accepting Sleuter’s offer, the former client said the staff and Sleuter instantly uplifted her. Now, the woman is going to school to become a nurse and hopes to go into nonprofit work.
“I just want other people to know that because they went through certain things, they don’t give up. You can still do it because I came from nothing to something,” she said. “I didn’t tell my story to get sympathy or for people to feel sorry for me. I told my story so that people know I’ve been through something … but from where I came from to where I am, it’s a complete 360.”
The former client said she was nervous to share her experiences in life and be vulnerable in front of Thursday’s crowd. However, she said the support she’s received from staff at the nursery helped her to have the courage to speak.
“Now, I feel like I can be that powerful voice that can help those women that might be scared, because a lot of women are scared to say things or come out about what they’ve been through because they don’t want to be judged,” the woman explained. “The Yolo Crisis Nursery is the place for comfort. They are here to help.”
The woman went on to tell the Daily Democrat she wants to set an example for other women who’ve been through similar situations and to show them there are resources to help them.
“I want the world to know that because, like I said, a lot of women are scared — they don’t want to come forward. They don’t want to be looked down upon by the community or family members or anything, but when you are in certain situations, it’s hard to get out,” she explained. “But once you do, then you’re able to really see the light. I feel like I’m at the point where I’m crawling up the stairs and I’m at the top of the mountain, and I’m starting to really see the light.”
For more information about the Yolo Crisis Nursery, go to its website at https://yolocrisisnursery.org/.