Core Initiatives

The Covid-19 Pandemic Initiative (2020 - 2022)

Catalyst got its start by taking initiative during the pandemic, working with 125 donors to deploy more than $1.3 million in 44 grants—all aiming to provide the “extra” needed in the emergency to reduce suffering and raise spirits. We spotted gaps, brought leaders together, catalyzed new solutions, and helped to avoid duplication. Funds went out steadily, week after week, to keep people fed and housed, to increase vaccine uptake, to support mental health, to help small businesses, and more. As a result, we were able to have a cumulative impact across the community that no individual donor could have had working alone.

Rebecca Hermosillo, a member of Catalyst’s steering committee during the pandemic, put it this way: “We changed the community we live in. It’s amazing to impact so many people, and so many people of color, when they really needed it.”

CLICK HERE for full reporting on the Covid-19 Pandemic Initiative, list of grants, and summary.

The Food Security Initiative (2023 - Current)

This first major initiative—responding to the pandemic—taught Catalyst’s leaders what it takes to work strategically, efficiently and nimbly in a dynamic situation. We quickly realized that the need for this kind of proactive, strategic philanthropy was not limited to emergencies. As we laid the foundation for a permanent fund in 2022, we ordered a study of Sonoma’s food security needs. Catalyst’s largest area of funding during the pandemic had been food assistance—and the demand for it didn’t seem to be going down. Working with local residents, consultants Cathy Capriola (former city manager) and her colleague, researcher Laurie Decker, Catalyst pulled all the local food providers together, surveyed 300 residents and created a comprehensive view of Sonoma’s surprisingly complex food “system.” It was this process that revealed the urgent need to get food into the hands of our older residents west of town. The food study also identified more than 20 additional actions that need to be taken to create a more efficient and effective approach to making sure no one in Sonoma goes hungry.

CLICK HERE to view the full study report, summary, and video presentation

Food insecurity is defined as a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life. In 2023 alone, the demand for food support has increased by 20 percent, above the highest levels of the pandemic, according to Redwood Empire Food Bank. The increase in demand is fueled by several factors, the key ones being inflation and the drop off in post-emergency in federal food support programs. This is locally exacerbated by our high cost of living relative to national averages. One frequently hears: “The rent eats first.”

Our local supplemental food provision system is held together by more than a dozen dedicated nonprofits whose staff members informally collaborate and do an impressive job with the community assets they have. However, they and the system within which they operate, need additional strategic resources to improve and fast track the food system and engage those experiencing food insecurity.

As the study’s lead researcher, Laurie Decker, puts it: “The challenge is to keep the grassroots, community-based, highly personalized nature of food assistance in the Valley but add enough structure and resources to this network to enable them to work on common issues and opportunities.”

Using the recommendations from the study, the Catalyst Fund, in partnership with the local food providers, has created a multi-year Food Security Initiative to expand access, increase choice and reduce waste, and improve the food security system by investing in coordination and collaboration. Our goal is to create a sustainable local food security system that is strategic, coordinated and cost effective.

In order to act on these recommendations, Catalyst needed someone to facilitate the conversations and engage with the local food providers and other stakeholders. In mid-2023, Catalyst hired Elise Gonzales as our part-time Food Security Network Weaver, to kick off the Food Providers Roundtable and begin the addressing the gaps found in the study. In our first year of the initiative, Elise will be focused on the areas of access and food recovery.

As of January 2024, the initiative’s accomplishments include:

• Developing and distributing a bilingual, comprehensive calendars detailing food access locations across the Valley.

•  Introducing the valley’s first bilingual, text-based food access platform, through a partnership with Justice Wise, as well as a successful marketing campaign which targeted over 20 service providers in the Valley. 

• Establishing a strategic partnership between Zero Waste Sonoma and Sonoma Valley Unified School District, culminating in the creation of a food recovery pipeline launched in January 2024, facilitating the transfer of excess food from schools to Boys and Girls Club after-school programs. This helps local entities fulfill state requirements for the new California food recovery law and keeps more recovered food in the valley.

• Actively engaging in county and regional coalitions (e.g. Sonoma County COAD), focused on food recovery and emergency food preparation.

• Revising and maintaining updated food resource pages on the websites of Redwood Empire Food Bank, Sonoma Community Health Center, and Boys and Girls Club Sonoma Valley.