Page 10 - Sonoma County Gazette December 2017

beyond the typical governmental departments holding a seat, a rst tiny icker of a shift in thinking took o . A movement, though ill de ned and nascent, was beginning to form.
The rules? No egos
“Everyone has something to o er,” Hopkins said during the rst series of meetings, held just one week
after the Tubbs, Nuns and Pocket res ripped through the east and north parts of Sonoma County. In
homeowner and the Santa Rosa business owner who lost their livelihoods in the res, to the realtors, contractors, government o cials, nonpro ts, rst responders and more who directly worked and will work throughout the recovery and rebuilding processes.
and no jurisdictions.
“The movement hopes to take the shape of the community visioning process,” Hopkins wrote.
all, the destruction from the res is
classi ed not just as the state’s most
catastrophic wild re, but the nation’s most expensive one as well.
“There were many issues of inequity in our community we were tackling
before the re,” Shiels said. “Since the re, it is clear we must accelerate our e orts or the disparities will only been exacerbated.”
The re was epic, requiring resources from across
the state, nation and world, as rst responders poured into the county from San Francisco, Berkeley, Idaho and Australia.
Soco Rises aims to tackle those systemic issues in Sonoma County regarding equity and parity that extended before the res to ensure the issues aren’t
recreated or exacerbated as we move through our recovery and rebuilding e orts.
The recovery and rebuilding effort required just as strong and courageous effort as the relief effort received.
“They’re Saturday problems,” Klose said during a strategy session. “We want to tackle these, too.”
From a small group of individuals, including Hopkins and Jen Klose, a Santa Rosa resident, lawyer and president of the Santa Rosa District School Board, a core group formed, bringing in individuals from Catholic Charities, Daily Acts, Ceres Community Project, First 5 Sonoma County, On The Move, West Sonoma County Union School District, Sonoma County Conservation Action and more. Local governments, including Santa Rosa and Sebastopol city councils, held seats at the table but maintained equal status as everyone else.
before the fire: education and income disparity between Latino and white families,
‘Saturday problems’
The Saturday problems are those that existed
- the gap between wages and cost of living,
- housing stock shortages,
- the rising cost of rent and the almost impossible entry into home ownership.
SoCoRises hopes to hear the concerns around the
“On the rst night we talked about the myriad positive e orts and initiatives coming together...so many initiatives,” Hopkins wrote on Facebook. “It was hard
to keep track of them all. So we asked: in the midst of all these good
“SoCoRises will only be successful if you join us and share what matters to you,” said Catherine Couch, executive director with the Ceres Community Project.
intentions, how do we organize the organizers? How do we ensure that no one is left behind as we rebuild?”
The site o ers opportunities to raise concerns, provide ideas and more on more than half a dozen issues, including housing, environment, health and healing, economy and employment, education, arts and social justice.
The concern was in the urgent rush to rebuild, time wouldn’t be taken to hear from those most a ected, or to think about how rebuilding would either help solve or exacerbate the challenges the county was facing prior to the res.
The topics came up after robust mapping e orts and conversations identi ed pillars that make Sonoma County living unique, but also challenging.
How to differentiate their group from those others was dif cult, and uncomfortable.
“The most important thing about this movement is that we don’t want to tell you what to do,” Hopkins wrote. “Rather we want to ensure that every single person in Sonoma County has an opportunity speak up and be heard during the recovery and rebuild process. We want community input to inform government, to in uence the private sector, to guide the e orts of local
During the evolution of the group, which culminated around the idea of
rebuilding better, together, members were confused, even uncomfortable with the direction of the organization
nonpro t organizations.”
– mainly because it was new.
“If we don’t quite understand what we’re doing, that’s
Want to be part of the movement?
1. Share your concerns on the socorises.org
2. Submit your email to stay informed
3. Share the website with others in the community
4. Like and follow SoCoRises on Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram
ok,” said Karin Demarest, vice president of Programming for the Community Foundation Sonoma County. “If it’s uncomfortable, that’s good. It means we’re doing something new.”
Here’s what you can do:
That something new is, as Hopkins wrote, seeking input from every stakeholder – from the Co ey Park
‘Saturday problems’ and those caused and exacerbated by the res. Sonoma County residents can chime in through the SoCoRises website: https://sonomacountyrises.org/#/.
10 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 12/17
SOCO RISES cont’d from page 1