Advocate for Co-Creation

Dear Friends,

It gives me great pleasure to be able to greet you, at the invitation of the Healthcare Foundation, on behalf of the NAACP of Sonoma County. Our branch of the NAACP was chartered in 1953 and has had a long history of addressing the needs of Black and African Americans in the North Bay. We envision an inclusive community rooted in liberation where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination. We are committed to a world without racism where Black people enjoy equitable opportunities in thriving communities. 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we surveyed participants at our food drives and learned that in addition to economic strains, folks were concerned about their mental health. So, we worked with Sonoma County Black Forum to develop the Black Therapy Fund to ensure there was access to culturally responsive mental health services.You can learn more about that program here.

The Black Therapy Voucher Program offers up to 12 sessions of mental health counseling with a culturally competent therapist. Each session is valued at $150 per session. Complete funding is provided by the County of Sonoma through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and is administered by the Sonoma County Black Forum.

This Black History Month, whose focus this year is “African Americans and the Arts,” joins the theme of this newsletter — co-creation — to the values of diversity and equal opportunity in which creation and imagination thrive. It reminds us, too, of the power of imagination and creative expression in resistance to oppression and resilience in adversity. And it resonates with the way inclusion pursued as both a value and an adventure expands the horizon line for everyone.

This month’s newsletter offers a timely announcement of a new equity initiative focusing on elders in Cloverdale. It also offers an inspiring report on the internal reflection and community listening that informed the Healthcare Foundation’s recent Strategic Planning process — a theme also touched on in this month’s conversation with new Board member Kaleigh Bulloch Whitehall, which emphasizes the importance of “leaning in” to community voices.

I invite you to read on with the theme of co-creation in mind. And in that spirit, I look forward to more dialogue and cooperation, more deep reflection and meaningful connection, toward a more just and inclusive Sonoma County for us all.

In solidarity,

Kirstyne Lange, MPA
NAACP Santa Rosa-Sonoma President

---

Focusing on the Health & Wellbeing of Cloverdale’s Elders

A major grant from The SCAN Foundation underwrites a new “ECO Group” to research drivers of health inequities and explore solutions

On Thursday, February 8, the Healthcare Foundation joined community partners and community members in Cloverdale in the public launch of a new community-based initiative to highlight the major challenges to health and wellbeing for low-income seniors in the northern Sonoma County town — and to formulate solutions. 

The initiative, made possible through a grant from The SCAN Foundation in partnership with the California Health Care Foundation, will create an Equity Community Organizing (ECO) Group in Cloverdale that will engage seniors, as well as other local residents and stakeholders, in identifying the drivers of health inequities for older residents as well as exploring solutions for aging in health, wellbeing and community. Partnering organizations supported by the grant include Alexander Valley Healthcare, Cloverdale Multipurpose Senior Center, La Familia Sana, Nuestra Comunidad, On the Margins, and Sonoma County’s Council on Aging.

Full Article (3 min read)

---

Listening to the Community

Results from Our Recent Strategic Planning and Visioning Process

On October 21, 2023, at our annual board and staff retreat, the Healthcare Foundation invited a group of community members, including grantees and donors, to participate in a half-day visioning session led by Karin Demarest of Demarest Strategy Group. The purpose was to share the Healthcare Foundation’s current strategic plan, listen to community members about their perception of our region’s top current health needs, review other available data about the healthcare landscape, and generate new ideas about how to approach our health justice work in 2024. 

We are pleased to share with you what we learned, some of the ideas that emerged, and how those ideas are already creating impact in our strategic grantmaking work.

Full Article (3.5 min read)

---

Board Member Spotlight: Meet Kaleigh Bulloch Whitehall

The Healthcare Foundation is very pleased to welcome two new members to our Board of Directors in 2024: Kaleigh Bulloch Whitehall and Paul Greenall. 

We look forward to introducing you to Paul in an upcoming newsletter. This month, we offer the following conversation with Kaleigh Bulloch Whitehall. 

Kaleigh has a background in chronic disease epidemiology and currently works in scientific communications for a Bay Area pharmaceutical company. “My job is to translate data into meaningful communications,” she explains, “whether that’s peer-reviewed publications or working with colleagues to create information for patients or marketing purposes.”

Full Article (3 min read)

---

Sponsorships Available Here

Become a sponsor for health justice and join supporters, grantees, and other stakeholders in a celebration of our diverse and vibrant community featuring Bay Area soul performers The Curtis Family C-notes.

---

SOLD OUT

Thank you to everyone who signed up for Bolder Advocacy’s Nonprofit Advocacy 101 workshop on February 29. We look forward to sharing the results of this workshop in our March newsletter.

Thank you to our co-sponsors

Community Foundation Sonoma County
Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund
Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation