The Mesa County Department of Human Services, established in 1936, provides multiple services to the citizens of Mesa County. The Department is administered by the Mesa County Commissioners, acting as the County Board of Human Services. DHS employs and/or contracts approximately 240 staff, providing supportive or direct services to clients with a $24 million budget. Of the $24 million, 17-19% is county share, the rest being state/federal funds.

Colorado is one of 13 state-supervised, county-administered states, which means that the state strictly dictates not only what services we provide, but how we provide them; and how much money will be allocated each year to run the programs. The Department of Human Services provides services which assist individuals and families to achieve self-sufficiency and social well being. Services can include financial assistance for shelter, food and medical care. Services are provided either directly by department personnel, and/or through collaborations or contracts with other community agencies.

Individual and family programs protect adults and children, help people to become employed and assist youth and families in properly handling their family and community conflicts.

The department takes leadership in community efforts to assess human service needs, plan for more effective and efficient human services delivery, and address emerging community needs. Human Services works closely with the other County Departments in the Health and Human Services Division to develop, coordinate, and evaluate the total package of human services provided by Mesa County.

The Department is structured into various divisions and provides services for:

• Adult Services 
• Child Welfare 
• Self-Sufficiency 
• Workforce Center 

Even in the best of times, a significant portion of Mesa County households are in need of help and services to be healthy, safe and self-sufficient. As the economic downturn continues, the stresses on DHS services and resources will increase.

Our caseload across most of our self-sufficiency programs has increased between 60-100% since 2008; as we work harder and harder to increase community awareness about adult and child safety, our caseload in those two programs continues to grow.

DHS can’t do it alone. Mesa County Human Services works in a continuum of care comprised of a wide and diverse network of community providers. DHS funds or supports many of these community-based programs rather than providing direct service to ensure they are truly open to the entire community.