Spotlights on Impact and Community Grantees

2021 Community Grant Spotlights

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July 8, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Nancy Gastonguay – Executive Directory, Coastal Seniors
Christy Lubin – Executive Director, Graton Day Labor Center

Coastal Seniors – This organization’s Meals on Wheels program serves a large, rural region that has the highest percentage of seniors per capita in California with a single senior service organization in the area. The meals are prepared from scratch by professional nutrition staff using locally sourced ingredients. Delivery by volunteer drivers not only provides meals but also much needed socialization and welfare checks. Since March 2020, the average number of meals delivered monthly to Sonoma County clients has increased 153% and the need continues to increase. The service area was also expanded to include Timber Cove and The Stewarts Point Rancheria on a pilot basis. The goal is to continue to provide a minimum monthly average of 400 home-delivered meals to qualifying seniors and disabled adults in the Sonoma County service area and to make the expansion permanent. Impact 100 Redwood Circle grant funds will be used to help defray 19% of the total cost to prepare and deliver these meals.

Graton Day Labor Center / Centro Laboral de Graton (CLG) – This nonprofit is a worker center that organizes with primarily undocumented Latinx and indigenous day laborers, farmworkers, house cleaners, childcare providers and caregivers. With the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, these essential, excluded workers are at the back of the line to be vaccinated without strategic, targeted outreach, education and advocacy. The Impact 100 Redwood Circle Community Grant funds will be used to support CLG’s efforts to facilitate the vaccination of these workers.

June 22, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Becky Ennis – Executive Director, SOS Community Counseling
Laura Colgate – Executive Director, Valley of the Moon Children’s Foundation

SOS Community Counseling (SOS) – A collective of mental health therapists, associates, trainees and supervisors who share the goal of helping young people, adult individuals, couples, and families develop tools and perspectives to facilitate greater self-awareness and esteem, healthier relationships, and ultimately a greater opportunity to live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives. Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s 2021 Community Grant will be supporting SOS’ Juvenile Diversion Program, an alternative to detention. The grant will allow the law enforcement department to divert juveniles in outcomes-based therapeutic programs. SOS measures impact by tracking recidivism. Last year’s programming succeeded in reducing youth recidivism by over 90 percent in both Windsor and Healdsburg.

The Valley of the Moon Children’s Foundation (VMCF) – This private, nonprofit organization is dedicated to supporting the educational achievement and overall health and well-being of current and former foster youth in Sonoma County. Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s 2021 Community Grant will be used for funding to replace the “Blue Bags” lost in the 2020 Glass Fires. A Blue Bag is a duffle bag full of clothing, hygiene products, toys, blankets, and other necessities (such as diapers and formula) that is given to children entering foster care. The bag is of vital importance as children often arrive with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The contents of this bag provide vulnerable children with a sense of well-being, security and autonomy. Even more importantly, they provide much needed support to foster families who welcome these children into their homes at all hours of the day or night and sometimes with little or no prior notice.

June 10, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Michele Luna – Executive Director, Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods
Jennifer Tatum – Creative Director, Artstart

Stewards of the Coast and Redwoodwoods (Stewards) – A nonprofit organization that partners with the Russian River Sector of California State Parks to promote, restore and protect the natural and cultural resources in our parks. In August 2020, just weeks after reopening State Parks in compliance with COVID-19 restrictions, the Wallbridge fire burned through almost 5,000 acres of Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve and Austin Creek State Recreation Area, both served by Stewards. The 2021 Impact 100 Redwood Circle Community Grant will support advance fire recovery efforts to meet the goal of safely opening our parks and welcoming back school children, youth stewards, local community residents, volunteer base, and visitors from across the globe, connecting to the inspiration of the coastal redwoods. Efforts will include managing volunteer crews with COVID-19 precautions in place; removing/processing of felled trees into 50 cords of firewood to be sold to support Stewards’ volunteer programs; rehabilitating damaged trails; replacing 7,000 feet of burned fencing; and restoring Bullfrog Pond Campground.

Artstart – The mission of Artstart is to empower teens to explore their creativity through art – encouraging them to engage with their communities by bringing beauty to the world around them. Artstart has partnered with Elsie Allen High School (EAHS) to support project-based learning and visual arts experiences for their students. The 2021 Impact 100 Redwood Circle Community Grant will support this partnership to address the challenges faced by the EAHS Arts teacher to successfully engage students through distance learning. Kits will be distributed to students, including tools needed for successful painting at home, and each of the 60+ students will paint a portion of a mural. QR codes on each kit link to the educational objectives and painting tutorials. 78% of EAHS students are socio-economically disadvantaged with the average income of an EAHS family less than $50,000/year. The school’s graduation rate is 73% – the lowest in Sonoma County. Research shows that students who participate in art programs perform better in school and have higher graduation rates.

May 25, 2021 – 4:30 p.m.
Angel Minor – CEO, Conservation Corps North Bay
Duskie Estes – Executive Director, Farm to Pantry

Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB) – This organization is dedication to helping at-risk youth earn a living wage while safeguarding Sonoma County’s public lands, waterways, and natural habitats. Corpsmembers receive paid job training and work experience to prepare them for 21st century environmental careers, including natural resource and waste management services. The Impact 100 Redwood Circle 2021 Community Grant will support the certification process to allow those successfully completing their program to secure employment with good wages and a solid career path.

Farm to Pantry – A nonprofit gleaning organization for members of our Community to be organized to rescue produce that would otherwise go to waste from local farms, orchards and gardens and deliver it to our neighbors facing food insecurity. Farm to Pantry has addressed an upended food distribution system as a result of COVID-19 resulting in a significant network expansion to support Sonoma County neighbors facing unthinkable food insecurity. The Impact 100 Redwood Circle Community Grant will support their recent expansion efforts.