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Every day, the County of Sonoma and its 4,200 employees make our community a better place to live and work. This edition of SoCo Correspondent is filled with examples. First, we share the story about a major investment by the County to house and treat people who are homeless and suffering from psychotic disorders. There’s also news about initiatives that will improve the way local elections are administered and educate local immigrants about their legal rights. Plus, you will meet a social worker who helps youth overcome trauma and grief to find balance in their lives.
If you have a friend or family member who lives in the area – or you know of a former Sonoma County resident who might be interested in receiving these updates – urge them to sign up for the SoCo Correspondent so they can receive it directly, normally on the first and third week of each month.
¿Está interesado en leer sobre lo que hace el Condado de Sonoma dos veces al mes? Este boletín estará disponible en español. Regístrese aquí para suscribirse a nuestro boletín, el SoCo Correspondent.
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Housing people with severe mental health needs | |
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Curtis Penn, director of the Felton Institute’s Justices Services division, prepares to open the Bridge Housing at Arrowood facility.
Solving homelessness is a complex puzzle with many pieces. A major new piece dropped into place this week, when the Sonoma County Department of Health Services began opening an 80-bed shelter in southwest Santa Rosa to temporarily house and treat people with severe mental illness.
The Board of Supervisors on Jan. 28 approved a $5 million contract with the Felton Institute, a highly regarded social services provider, to operate the Bridge Housing program through June 2027.
“This is an important move forward to address homelessness in Sonoma County, particularly among individuals with serious mental health issues who have been among the hardest to help,” said District 3 Supervisor Chris Coursey, who represents the neighborhood surrounding the Arrowood Drive facility. “The County is committed to ensuring that this program effectively treats and then transitions that population into permanent housing.”
The newly renovated shelter is designed to support individuals with complex behavioral health conditions to transition out of homelessness. Unlike traditional shelters, Bridge Housing at Arrowood will be an interim recovery facility that provides both a temporary housing environment and access to critical 24/7 medical and clinical support.
Individuals participating in the new CARE Court program will be prioritized for treatment at Bridge Housing at Arrowood. The program is designed to divert people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders away from hospitalization, jail or conservatorship and place them in programs that provide substance use treatment, housing and support. Virtually any community member who has a working knowledge of an individual and their condition – including family members, behavioral health professionals, first respondents, and more – may file a petition to have the person screened for CARE Court.
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Board of Supervisors provides $500,000 to support local immigrants, refugees | |
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The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday allocated $500,000 to educate local immigrants and refugees about their legal rights as the Trump administration steps up efforts to enforce federal immigration laws.
Support services funded by the County will be overseen by Secure Families Collaborative, a nonprofit established by the Board of Supervisors in 2018 to meet the needs of the community due to changes in federal immigration policy during the first Trump administration. The Santa Rosa group will identify gaps in Know Your Rights educational services and distribute funding to service providers.
“With this action, we affirm our commitment to partnering with trusted community organizations that are on the front lines of this work,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. “Local government plays a crucial role, but real change happens when we come together — as neighbors, as a community — to stand up for one another and ensure everyone feels safe and welcome here.”
The County has also established a webpage, SonomaCounty.ca.gov/immigrant-support, which lists resources for immigrants, such as legal and social services. View this video to learn more about this new resource.
In one of its first acts of the year, the Board of Supervisors approved a resolution limiting the use of County funds, personnel and other resources to enforce federal immigration laws. The resolution reaffirms the County’s alignment with state laws that ensure law enforcement services, schools, health care facilities, courts and other public agencies are accessible to every person in California, regardless of immigration status.
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Applicants sought for two new committees that oversee investments in fire services and local children | |
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The County is looking for residents to serve on one of two committees that will oversee implementation of two new sales taxes projected to generate more than $90 million annually combined.
The Measure H Citizen’s Oversight Committee will administer the half-cent sales tax approved by voters last March to enhance local fire protection, paramedic services and disaster response.
The Child Care and Children's Health Community Advisory Council will supervise implementation of Measure I, the quarter-cent sales tax approved by Sonoma County voters in November to fund local child care, education and health programs for children.
“This is an incredible opportunity to create real, lasting change in our community,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors.
Each panel will have 11 members. To review the qualifications and apply for a seat, visit the County’s boards and commissions webpage at https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/boardsandcommissions.
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Board of Supervisors creates new department to oversee elections | |
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Deva Marie Proto, Sonoma County's Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters.
Administering local elections has become a full-time job. Over the last decade, election officials in Sonoma County and across the nation have experienced an unprecedented era of scrutiny, doubt, attack, and aggressive tactics to undermine democracy. The Registrar of Voters is no longer simply responsible for organizing and conducting an election. They must also handle a surge in public records requests, legal challenges and even outright threats.
Last week, the Board of Supervisors addressed the new reality. Supervisors voted to separate the duties of the County Clerk-Recorder-Assessor and the Registrar of Voters into two standalone departments. The Registrar of Voters would be appointed by the Board of Supervisors, while the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor would continue to be elected by voters.
The model will ensure that competency is prioritized over political popularity. Unlike an elected official, who might be swayed by party affiliations or re-election concerns, an appointed Registrar would be free from partisan pressures and focused solely on serving the public.
“The task of administering elections has become increasingly challenging in the past decade, to the point where it has become a full-time assignment for a department head,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors. “This change will give us a dedicated election official, and it will also eliminate the inherent conflict of interest in having an elected department head that is required to oversee their own election.”
Deva Marie Proto, the current Clerk-Recorder-Assessor-Registrar of Voters, supports the move to place elections into a stand-alone department. Sonoma County had been one of only eight counties in California to combine the Clerk-Recorder-Assessor and the Registrar of Voters into a single department.
The public will have another chance to comment on the proposal when it returns to the Board of Supervisors for a final review on Feb. 11.
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Faces of the County: Meet Lauren Reed | |
This is part of an ongoing series of profiles highlighting public servants across a variety of departments at the County of Sonoma. | |
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Lauren Reed, left, with other members of the Sonoma County Office of Equity Core Team.
Name: Lauren Reed
Title: Behavioral Health Clinician Intern in the Department of Health Services
Years with County: 9 years on Feb. 26!
Personal side: My great grandparents moved from Chihuahua, Mexico to Los Angeles to San Francisco and bought a summer home in Guerneville many years ago. I was born and raised in the house next door and lived in Guerneville most of my life. I still live in West County with my husband under the redwoods. When I think of “home,” I’m under the redwoods. I love the hikes where all you can hear are birds and your own heartbeat.
Education and/or certifications: I am an associate clinical social worker, earning clinical hours toward becoming a licensed clinical social worker within the next few years. In 2023, I earned a master’s degree in social work from Cal Poly Humboldt, which I completely and thoroughly loved. The program focused on serving Indigenous and rural communities, teaching principles of a decolonized, relational, locally and culturally relevant social work practice.
What do you do? I am a clinician and therapist in the County’s Behavioral Health Division and work in the Youth and Family Full Service Partnership. Youth and their families with Medi-Cal are usually served at a local health clinic, but they are referred to us when there is a suicide risk, an aggression risk, or psychosis. Although the youth are enrolling in our system, it’s more like I am joining their family for this part of their journey. We get to join their world and help them understand how the many complex relationships and interrelationships in their life might come back into balance. Some of that happens in therapy, but I love that our work is home-based and community-based. I love that I get to meet kids where they are, that I get to know their natural supports and their comfortable spaces, all the various factors that make up their strengths and resilience, and then have the privilege to bear witness to their maximum effort to overcome trauma and grief to find that balance in their lives.
What gives you fulfillment? I want to share about something else I joined in 2020 – the Core Team of the Office of Equity. I joined the Core Team because of the families on my caseload that had different experiences and different outcomes based on their race. It isn’t easy to hold and accept those truths, and it’s easy to get burned out from that. I have a deep gratitude to the Office of Equity and to my supervisors who approve the time so that I can honor the experiences of those families through this work. I have been trained in racial equity and antiracist principles and practices and serve on the Steering Committee and the Race Equity Foundations Facilitation team. This work involves trust, authenticity, accountability, creativity, community, and such joy, and has truly been a highlight of my career. There is so much joy in a vision of a Sonoma County where power and resources are distributed equitably; where systems support every community member as they work together to cultivate well-being, agency, and liberation; and where people of all races and identities can live authentically, heal, and thrive.
What is one of the biggest misconceptions about working in Behavioral Health? Sometimes people ask if my job is heavy and depressing. But I feel like at the very least, our kids here don’t have to struggle alone. And most of the time, I also get to witness real greatness. That’s not depressing at all.
Passions outside of work? Outside of work, I read sci-fi and fantasy series, play trivia games, and watch a lot of baseball. I feel very passionately that the designated hitter should be taken back out of the National League.
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Join the conversation at SoCo Chat | |
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Leslie Lukacs, right, executive director of Zero Waste Sonoma, speaks with Matt Brown, supervising county communications specialist, during a recent episode of SoCo Chat.
Changing the way we think about garbage won’t just extend the life of our landfills. It could also help slow down climate change by reducing emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Leslie Lukacs, executive director of Zero Waste Sonoma, explains in a new episode of SoCo Chat.
Subscribe to SoCo Chat on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and YouTube, and check out our growing library of episodes in both English and Spanish (Descubre nuestra creciente selección de episodios en inglés y español). Recent guests and topics of discussion have included:
- Out of the ashes of the 2020 Glass Fire, something extraordinary is blooming in Sonoma County. Join us as we dive into an inspiring story of resilience, renewal and community. Pat Decker, a volunteer with the Master Gardener program and Mimi Enright, program manager at the Sonoma County UC Cooperative Extension, share the story about a once-devastated space that has been transformed into a vibrant and edible paradise for children.
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District 5 Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, 2025 chair of the Board of Supervisors, discusses her priorities for the year. At the forefront: Government needs to work better for every member of our community.
- Images from Los Angeles have brought back heartbreaking reminders of past wildfires that ravaged Sonoma County. But there are things you can do today to turn angst into action. Jeff Duvall, director of the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management, and Pamela Van Halsema, who helped lead efforts to rebuild Coffey Park, reflect on lessons we’ve learned from wildfires in Sonoma County – and what we can do to prepare for the next one.
- We use them every day – roads, bridges, the local airport and other County-owned properties. Johannes Hoevertsz, director of Sonoma County Public Infrastructure, provides an update on work to repair local roads after recent storms and major infrastructure projects planned in the new year.
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County convenes conversation about climate change and the economy | |
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It’s still early in the year, but with the recent wildfires in Southern California, resiliency and recovery are already high on the minds of many local residents. It also was the primary topic of discussion during the 2025 Economic Perspective breakfast on Jan. 30 hosted by the Sonoma County Economic Development Collaborative. The theme of this year’s conference at Sonoma State University was "Moving Forward: Strengthening Our Economy for the Challenges of a Changing Climate."
“In Sonoma County, climate change is not a theoretical or intellectual concept,” Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, told about 150 business owners and community leaders gathered for the breakfast. “It is a visceral one,” referring to the sense of loss so many locals experienced following the fires of 2017. But she noted how in the days that followed those fires, “we collectively moved mountains” to help one another, suggesting that kind of selflessness is needed now more than ever to help communities adapt to the changes that are occurring.
Chair Hopkins then moderated a panel discussion featuring professionals who, she said, stood “at the intersection of humanity and the climate crisis.” The panel included Roxanne Ezzet of the Sonoma County Office of Equity, Marlene Orozco, a researcher from Stratified Insights, and Joel Laucher of United Policyholders, a nonprofit that assists insurance policy holders with their post-disaster needs. Topics of discussion by the panel included the disproportionate impacts of natural disasters on marginalized communities; how the community can better support small businesses and entrepreneurs through climate challenges; and the dramatic changes occurring in the insurance industry that are making it more challenging to obtain and maintain home insurance.
Merlin Hanauer, an associate professor of economics at SSU, then capped the morning with a keynote address on socioeconomic and environmental impacts of environmental policy with an emphasis on the value of conservation.
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Amelyn “Amy” Olson has joined the Sonoma County Department of Health Services as director of the Public Health Division. She replaces Gabriel Kaplan, who was promoted to assistant director of the department.
Olson, who holds master’s and doctorate degrees in public health, began her career as a program coordinator with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. She advanced to program director for the state’s breast and cervical cancer early detection program, and then director of the Bureau of Certification in the Health Provider Division. She has also held several leadership positions in the Merced and San Bernardino county health departments.
“It’s an incredible privilege to join such a dynamic and resilient community,” Olson said. “My vision is to help create a future where our constituents have the resources and support they need to lead healthy and fulfilling lives.”
“With her diverse experience and dedication to improving community health, I have no doubt Amy will create accessible, effective and culturally competent public health services in Sonoma County,” said Kaplan.
Outside of her professional work, Dr. Olson enjoys gardening, traveling and giving health presentations. She lives with her husband and beloved corgi, Yuki, who accompanies her on walks and adventures.
The Public Health Division oversees the County’s Animal Shelter, disease control surveillance and response, environmental and family health, healthy community partnerships, and emergency medical services oversight.Text...
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Department of Health Services wins $1.4 million in grants for childhood programs | |
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The Sonoma County Department of Health Services recently won two state grants to support services for local children.
The first grant, for $1.27 million, will advance County programs that address behavioral health challenges of youth and strengthen relationships between children and their parents or caregivers. The money from the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Initiative will be used to develop skills in adults who work with young children, new parents and caregivers. The grant will also improve efforts to ensure behavioral health services are culturally and linguistically responsive to the needs of local communities.
The second grant, for $128,000, will be used to educate parents and caregivers about the importance of child safety seats. Families in need will be able to obtain child safety seats at no cost.
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Find room to grow with a County job | |
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The County has more than 50 job openings posted on its website. How can you improve your chances of landing one?
Sign up for the next Start Here! class, which provides an overview of the County of Sonoma’s job application, examination and selection processes. The next two-hour virtual class will be held March 12 at noon.
The free class is intended for the public, whether you are looking for a new position now or planning for a future employment opportunity. Participants will learn how to submit a thorough application, best practices for the interview and examination, and much more.
Contact us at careers@sonoma-county.org to register for the March 12 class or sign up for our mailing list to be notified of future classes.
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Support your community by getting involved | |
Get involved with local government
Make a difference in Sonoma County! Local government thrives when passionate individuals like you step up to serve. There are countless opportunities for you to get involved and play a crucial role in shaping the future of our beloved Sonoma County. Check out the current vacancies:
Your involvement can make a significant impact. Take the first step and explore how you can contribute to a brighter future for Sonoma County.
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