In Sonoma County in 2023, consistent with the rest of California and the United States, social factors are becoming more widely recognized as having a tremendous impact on health. As a result, the Healthcare Foundation is increasingly looking at interventions that address structural issues that create unfair and unequal access to healthcare and mental health services. At the root of these structural issues is the unequal distribution of power. 

With the support of our generous community of donors, grantees and grantee clients, who all join us as agents of change, the Healthcare Foundation takes the position that health equity can be achieved through a community power-building approach. We believe that by collaborating with our constituents, including individuals, nonprofits and small businesses as well as municipal, county and other institutional partners, we can reduce health disparities toward true health equity. 

Community power building means engaging local residents, particularly those who are most impacted by structural inequities, in creating healthier communities together. It means building leadership, skills, and expertise to achieve an agenda that centers health and health equity for all. A guiding principle of community power building is that community members are themselves experts in their own lived experiences, and in the problems that their community faces. As such, community power building places members in the driver’s seat in the design and implementation of collective efforts to improve their day-to-day lives. You will see community power building reflected in all the projects funded this year and described in this Impact Report. 

We cannot do our work without you, our fellow health equity supporters and leaders, and are incredibly grateful for your stalwart support. As our collective vision of true health equity takes root and spreads, the Healthcare Foundation will continue to pursue opportunities to partner with community power-builders towards a healthier, more equitable Sonoma County. 

Thank you for joining us as agents of change,

In 2022, the Healthcare Foundation launched community-led research and visioning projects for future community wellness centers (CWCs) in Cloverdale and Windsor, with a plan to extend this effort to Healdsburg in 2024. The CWC convenings are based on consistent evidence that cultivating community belonging through safe, culturally sensitive community spaces improves community health and mental health. Aptly, the participants named the project Nuestra Comunidad Sana | Our Healthy Community.

These in-depth convenings were made possible with funding from the North Sonoma County Healthcare District and Providence, and the active engagement and expertise of a coalition of community partners that includes Nuestra Comunidad and On the Margins, as well as La Familia Sana (Cloverdale), Alexander Valley Healthcare (Cloverdale), and Alliance Medical Center (Windsor).

The project invited local residents into a deep inquiry and visioning process that centers community member input for what health and wellness looks like for them. The project’s aim is to support the social and cultural life and expressed needs of all residents, while devoting special attention to lifting the voices of Latine community members. In each town, facilitators asked, “What does a safe, vibrant, green community space of belonging look like in Cloverdale/Windsor?” 

Nuestra Comunidad Sana | Our Healthy Community convened its first community meeting in Cloverdale in July 2022, concluding the process a year later with a total of 181 participants surveyed, six focus groups convened (with a total of 47 participants), and four community events held at popular local venues. The process included participatory mapping, data collection and analysis, and a report being presented back to participants to further develop the community vision for a CWC in Cloverdale.

Windsor convenings began in July of this year and will end in summer 2024, with 146 interviews conducted so far and a total of 10 focus groups planned. Next steps involve sharing the research findings and vision forged by participants with the City Council in each area, and beginning to look for land, resources and partners to move the Nuestra Comunidad Sana | Our Healthy Community vision into the community-led design phase. We look forward to sharing updates as each project moves forward.

In July, the Healthcare Foundation announced grants from Kaiser Permanente and Peter E. Haas Jr. Family Fund to support the launch in August of a Bicultural Clinical Training Program. 

A collaboration with Humanidad Therapy & Education Services and On the Margins, the Program includes two novel components. The first builds on the Mental Health Talent Pipeline with two paid traineeships in Cloverdale through Humanidad, featuring professional supervision in Spanish — a powerful asset in ensuring best quality outcomes for trainees and clients alike.

The second component is Nepantlah, a culturally responsive online curriculum developed by On the Margins, which is open to trainees as well as already licensed therapists serving bicultural and/or Spanish-speaking clients throughout Sonoma County, around the state, and beyond.

The Program grew out of conversations between the Healthcare Foundation and community partners, including grantees On the Margins and Humanidad, and Cloverdale-based Clinical Psychologist Dr. Maria Alvarez, which recognized the importance (and rarity) of clinical supervision in Spanish for bilingual trainees and associates. Conversations also surfaced the need for a professional network for therapists serving a bilingual and bicultural clientele. Nepantlah provides networking opportunities and training resources to students and clinicians, as well as continuing education credits for licensed professionals.

In its two components, the Program strengthens access to quality mental health services for local residents, and professional development for Pipeline students and a broader online network of professionals serving bicultural, Spanish-speaking clients throughout and beyond northern Sonoma County.

Dr. Daniela Domínguez, CEO of On the Margins, explained the need for the Program in a recent conversation with the Healthcare Foundation.

“There are amazing, culturally responsive English-speaking supervisors who do a fantastic job,” she noted. “At the same time, if trainees are receiving clinical supervision in English and working with clients in Spanish, there are some things that just don’t translate. Moreover, there is an advantage to being in a network where other practitioners have similar lived experiences and who can say, ‘This is what I’m seeing in my practice.’ Students will know, by the time they see their first client, that this resource exists. If they have a question related to a clinical case, there will be several psychologists, doulas, American Family Therapists, and professional clinical counselors that they can consult with, and who will understand the stories they’re bringing into the consultation room.”

Mental Health Talent Pipeline student Stephanie Malagon is one of the first trainees to benefit from the initiative. A Cloverdale native who began at Humanidad in August, Stephanie doesn’t remember seeing mental health services while growing up. It wasn’t until she went away to college, where she studied psychology, that the subject of mental health was broached. 

“In general, we had little access to mental health resources, especially the Latino community,” she says. “Having Spanish-speaking therapists wasn’t really an option for us. Luckily, things are evolving. Organizations like La Familia Sana and Humanidad are reaching out to Cloverdale and other smaller communities to provide those resources that we definitely need.”

“The Healthcare Foundation keeps the focus here in north county and with the people who have the ability to actually bring information to the community and make significant changes to further community health. That is really important for us.”
— Serena Lourie and Alan Baker
Cartograph Wines