Healdsburg Forever: Shifting to Meet Community Needs in a Time of Crisis
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...
Breaking barriers and making an impact: Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County
One year into the pandemic, Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County (CAP) is still working tirelessly to meet the changing and growing needs of those most marginalized. While staff continually adapts to working and connecting with clients remotely, Assistant...
Sonoma Valley Catalyst Fund: supporting the Valley through a time of crisis
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...
IsoCare: helping people isolate and quarantine safely
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...
Legal Aid: Pursuing justice for Journey’s End Clients three years after the fire
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 process. Still, with...
Alliance Medical Center: beginning the push towards ending the pandemic
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...
Meet our 2020-2021 Interns: Diana, Maria, and Rosa
We were thrilled to welcome three new interns to our team this fall! Diana Ortiz, Maria Sosa Ramos, and Rosa Colin Vasquez help support our Communications, Philanthropic Planning, and Community Impact teams and are learning a ton on the job. This internship program...
California Homemakers Association: activating volunteers to help domestic workers and service workers
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...
YWCA Sonoma County: Domestic Violence Awareness Month
For more than four decades YWCA Sonoma County has been a safe haven for domestic violence survivors. The organization helps individuals and families through their hotline, housing, therapy services, a preschool, advocacy, and more. Founded in London in 1855, a branch...
Sonoma County Resilience Fund Donates $1,750,000 to COVID-19 Relief Efforts
Since March, Community Foundation Sonoma County has granted more than $4.6 million to support nonprofit organizations responding to coronavirus. When the coronavirus pandemic struck Sonoma County in March 2020, Community Foundation Sonoma County (CFSC) and our donors...
Building the Bridge from Homelessness to Housing: Catholic Charities
Like all organizations working with our local houseless community, Catholic Charities continues finding temporary and permanent housing for hundreds of people in Sonoma County, despite the added challenge of the COVID pandemic. “I consider us as kind of the bridge...
Welcoming Kris Van Giesen to our team
We are delighted to welcome Kris Van Giesen to our team as our Senior Vice President for Philanthropic Planning. Kris was born and raised in Santa Rosa (go SRHS Panthers!) and is a lifelong fan of the Cal Bears. Kris and his wife Holly are soon to be...
Serving Uninsured and Underinsured People in a Time of Crisis
From shifting toward Zoom and telephone appointments, to setting up virus testing clinics, Sonoma County’s health centers have handled the sudden changes brought on by the COVID pandemic like the champions they are. In addition to the large healthcare centers, smaller...
Helping our Community Heal: Santa Rosa Community Health Centers
For more than two decades Santa Rosa Community Health (SRCH) has provided physical and mental health services to Sonoma County’s low-income population. The organization has eight clinics across Santa Rosa, which includes a campus for dental services, and a site that...
It takes a Village – Transitioning out of Homelessness at Los Guilicos Village
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...