Last week, we were guest speakers for the Sonoma Valley Interfaith Ministerial Association, together with Katherine Fulton and Nancy Ramsey, authors of Hidden in Plain Sight, Sonoma Valley and the Charitable Sector that Serves Us.

The focus of our discussion was the faith community's role in touching major issues facing the Sonoma Valley Community, and what might be possible with better coordination both within the interfaith community and across interest lines.

Hidden in Plain Sight is a study completed by Sonoma Valley Fund in 2017 that contains demographic and economic data about Sonoma Valley and a first-ever study of the charitable economy in our community.

According to the study, "there is a growing disconnect between the scale, interdependence and complexity of the challenges facing the Valley on the one hand and the current capacities and capabilities of our charitable sector on the other".

The Sonoma Valley has shown an increase in population, poverty and diversity, that is growing at a faster rate than the county or state.

• 25% of our population is now age 65 or older, an increase, while 30-64 year olds have decreased

• 58% of our school district is Latino, and 50% of our Latino population do not have a high school diploma

• Almost 20% of families with children throughout Sonoma Valley now live in poverty as the government defines—that represents at least a 60% increase between 2009 and 2014

Write here…Informed by Hidden in Plain Sight and the experience of community leaders from a wide range of interests in Sonoma Valley, Sustainable Sonoma has been designed to innovate how we can address these types of issues.