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...
During a year characterized in so many ways by tragedy, change, and heartbreak, Community Foundation Sonoma County has responded to what feels like never-ending cycles of disaster brought on by seasons of wildfires and a pandemic. At the same time, we’ve witnessed daily examples of...
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...
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...
When Legal Aid of Sonoma County set out to assist residents of the Journey's End mobile home park after the 2017 fires, they didn't realize how much of a fight they'd be in for. Achieving a settlement for their clients was a lengthy and arduous...
Founded in 1971 by physicians concerned about migrant healthcare, Healdsburg’s Alliance Medical Center now has four healthcare clinics in Healdsburg and Windsor. Annually, they provide medical, dental, behavioral, and wellness services to over 12,000 patients in the region. “The great majority of our patients are the...
Erica Diamond began volunteering with California Homemakers Association ten years ago after witnessing the problems and suffering in Sonoma County’s low-income communities. “I wanted to do everything that I can to address the root causes of poverty,” she says. “And I found that CHA was organizing the low-income...