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...
Until late January 2020, a community of nearly 250 unhoused people lived in tents along a 2-mile stretch of the Joe Rodota Trail, an eight-mile bike and pedestrian path that runs west from Santa Rosa to neighboring Sebastopol. Declared a public health crisis, the County...
Since United Way of the Wine Country took over operations of the 211 information and referral line just over a year ago, many Sonoma County residents have come to know the service as an emergency hotline. When in crisis, locals can call or text 211,...
When shelter in place orders were instated, *Elena’s hours at the coffee shop where she’s worked for twelve years were cut from 40 to 16 hours per week. A parent with two children at home (ages 4 and 22), Elena’s job helps keep the bills...
Interview by Dani Burlison. Photo: Hanford ARC Vice President and CEO Mark Cederborg with founder Doug Hanford, by Caitlin Childs Sonoma County based Hanford Applied Restoration and Conservation (Hanford ARC) is a general engineering and landscape contractor specializing in ecological restoration. Hanford ARC focuses on mitigating...
Story by Dani Burlison, Photos by Caitlin Childs During the 2017 North Bay fires, Heather Irwin came up with what she refers to as a “silly idea” to help feed displaced families. Irwin, a local reporter focusing on Sonoma County’s restaurants, started getting phone calls from some...
The night of October 8 changed thousands of lives in a near instant. For Cary and Josiah Rich, the fire meant the loss of not only their beloved apartment and all of their treasured keepsakes, but their home-based child care business as well. As Cary describes...
The Sonoma County Vintners Foundation is donating $520,000 in grants to more than 50 local nonprofit organizations that address the community’s critical needs. Grants were made through the Sonoma County Vintners Foundation community grants program, with funding from the 2017 Sonoma County Wine Auction. The Community Foundation...
In the days after the October 2017 wildfires, emergency officials knew that the cleanup process would be a long haul. They also knew they needed to start working immediately to identify a partner that could immediately take in the hundreds of thousands of tons of...
We’ve heard the proverb “Give a man a fish and you feed him for today; teach a man to fish and you have fed him for a lifetime.” Nonprofit organizations live and breathe this mantra every day in their own work with clients. From helping teens build job...