Archive for March 2024
Sonoma Valley Leaders launching effort to ensure all residents are Food Secure during COVID-19 pandemic
Leaders in Sonoma Valley have joined together to launch a broad-based coalition to ensure all Sonoma Valley residents are food secure during the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place order. The goal of the new Sonoma Valley Food Security Task Force is to bring together Valley leaders to work collaboratively to mitigate the challenges faced by our…
Read MoreDealing with Future Wildfires: New North Bay Organizations Helping to Prepare
Rincon Valley firefighters rest in the archway and against the fireplace of a home on Wikiup Drive in Santa Rosa after the Tubbs firestorm swept through Oct. 8 and 9. These firefighters were first on the scene and had been on the job for four days when these photos were taken Oct. 12. ON OCTOBER…
Read MoreHopper Walls Project Dedication — August 24th
Coffey Strong, in partnership with AshBritt Environmental and Rebuild NorthBay Foundation, is pleased to announce the completion of the Hopper Walls Project. A dedication will take place on Saturday, August 24th at 10am @ Coffey Lane and Hopper Avenue, at the northeast corner. Santa Rosa Mayor Tom Schwedhelm noted, “This project is symbolic of our…
Read MorePride, resiliency, and bagpipes — Jennifer Thompson on the post-fire rebuild
Two years ago, in the tumultuous aftermath of the devastating wildfires, the Rebuild NorthBay Foundation was formed, with Jennifer Gray Thompson as executive director. The Sonoma native had previously been an assistant to Supervisor Susan Gorin. Suddenly, with the backing of developer/lobbyist Darius Anderson and other influential figures, she was tasked with getting to work on short-term…
Read MoreHow California Wine Country Is Fighting Back Against Wildfires
Sonoma and Napa are bracing themselves for a difficult fire season with an arsenal of techniques, from innovative building practices to new city ordinances. On the afternoon of Saturday, June 8, 2019, residents of Sonoma and Napa saw the first ominous sign of the wildfire season: Plumes from the Sand Fire in the county directly to…
Read MoreAshes to Action: Rebuilding After the Tubbs Fire
When the Tubbs Fire — one of over a dozen Northern California blazes that burned for weeks in October 2017 — was finally fully contained on October 31, the damage was hard to quantify. In total, the Tubbs Fire burned more than 5,600 structures and nearly 37,000 acres of land. In Santa Rosa alone, over 2,800 homes…
Read MoreMeet a champion for recovery of North Bay homes, jobs, community after the fires
October’s wildfire fires did not take Jennifer Gray Thompson’s home, nor did it cause her to “run for my life barefoot on fire-covered roads.” But it altered her life, she says. Working for Sonoma County Supervisor Susan Gorin (who did lose her home) at the time, Thompson said, “I learned I could work for 18…
Read MoreNapa Valley: Open for business
Napa Valley rises from the ashes of last October’s wildfires to rebuild stronger and better. The scorched scenes of California’s wine country dominated news programs in October 2017. I was heartbroken to think Napa would never be the same again. How wrong I was. Napa Valley is as vibrant as ever with lush landscapes and…
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