Not long after the 2016 elections, a group of black leaders and community members in Sonoma County came together to discuss how to uplift and support one another during what was a tumultuous time for many. Several people from the group continued meeting over the...
La Plaza launched into action in 2018, just one year after Sonoma County was hit by catastrophic fires and heading into some of our most challenging years with more fires, historic floods, and a years-long pandemic. Yet the nonprofit, a project grown from a leadership...
In March 2020, everything changed. Nearly overnight, the nonprofit organizations that act as Sonoma County's safety net faced a crisis like no other: how to help the thousands of people who suddenly lost jobs or faced other economic hardships survive the widespread closures, how to...
Growing economic uncertainty is stretching local nonprofits to their limits. They’re working hard to help an influx of new clients who need support physically, mentally, and financially. The sharp rise in the cost of living has led to financial stress among low-income families struggling to make...
For people living on the remote stretches of the North Coast of Sonoma County, it can be challenging to find social and other services. This reality, along with the sense of isolation that comes with rural living, was compounded while the nation sheltered-in-place during the...
Since local coronavirus infections were first detected in spring 2020, Sonoma County’s Latinx community has been disproportionately affected. Comprising roughly 30% of our population, Latinx people were hit with more than 60% of Covid infections over the last year. Although several local organizations worked to offer...
When Robin Bowen, Executive Director at Child Parent Institute (CPI) in Santa Rosa, first called her staff together to discuss the impact COVID-19 would have on the organization, she—like many others—wasn’t expecting the pandemic’s duration would last this long. “We just all thought it was going...
Fundraising can be tricky during a local disaster like a wildfire or flood. It can be even trickier during a global pandemic that spans an entire year and counting. COVID-19 and successive years of wildfires hit the Healdsburg and Geyserville communities hard. With grapes left...
In June 2020, about 10 Sonoma Valley civic leaders gathered in a backyard to discuss the future of Sonoma Valley. Roughly three months into the pandemic, the group was worried: How would small local businesses survive shelter-in-place orders? How would those who were now unemployed...
When Elece Hempel, the Executive Director of Petaluma People Services Center (PPSC), first realized the pandemic would impact the organization’s services, she met with seniors who frequent their Senior Café. Although she assured them meals would still be available (through pick-up instead of in the...