Fund for Belonging: Income Generation is sponsored by Community Foundation Sonoma County. Aims to empower immigrant communities in Sonoma County by enhancing employment security and providing job training.

Fund for Belonging - Community Foundation Sonoma County Interested in Supporting the Fund for Belonging? Click here. The Community Foundation has long recognized that immigrant communities are central to the vitality and resilience of the region.

Yet persistent systemic barriers—exacerbated by volatile political environments, public health crises, and climate-driven disasters—continue to threaten the wellbeing of many immigrants in Sonoma County. CFSC’s Fund for Belonging aims to respond to these intersecting challenges by providing support for immigrant communities through targeted grantmaking, strategic collaboration, and responsive civic leadership.

Our vision for the Fund for Belonging is to create an inclusive Sonoma County that welcomes immigrants and supports the conditions for them to thrive. By investing in the Fund for Belonging, we invest in the very fabric of our community. We invite you to join us in building this powerful coalition.

By pooling our resources and forging private-public partnerships through the Fund for Belonging, we can create a lasting impact and ensure that all immigrants have access to justice, opportunity, and a pathway to the American Dream, even in the face of unprecedented challenges.

Opportunities for Partnership The experience and knowledge of our many partners informs our ability to fund complex systems where added resources can be most meaningful. To ensure this coordinated work is fully informed by local voice and national expertise, CFSC engaged a team of experts in the immigration philanthropy space to facilitate an Opportunity Assessment.

Through in-depth conversations with 80 local and regional stakeholders , including community members closest to the issues and nonprofit, government, and funding leaders, we collaboratively identified the current priorities for the Fund for Belonging.

Those engaged through the Opportunity Assessment highlighted that heightened threats of deportation and racial profiling have affected their feelings of safety and, consequently, their health and well-being . These threats create fear of attending work or school and even seeking medical care or going to the grocery store. They have deepened a sense of isolation and disconnection from other members of the community.

This fear is compounded by the lack of a reliable source of information on ever-shifting legal and policy changes. It has also increased economic uncertainty , with challenges to accessing work that is stable and safe.

In addition, language barriers (i.e. Spanish, indigenous languages, Haitian Creole, and Asian languages), population-specific intersections (i.e. LGBTQIA+, older adults, and people with disabilities), and location-specific needs (i.e. more rural areas) present cross-cutting challenges. Read The Opportunity Assessment White Paper In 2025, we granted $665,000 to address the results of our community engagement process.

In 2026, the Fund for Belonging will continue to support in these key areas, distributing more than $1 million in our community. 1. Information Sharing : To create a centralized source of easily understood legal and policy information that will be widely disseminated across Sonoma County through trusted messenger organizations.

Through our 2025 and 2026 investments, two new collaboratives have launched. Sonoma Together produces vetted legal and policy information in easy-to-understand formats and many languages. The Trusted Messenger Network recommends content based on community need and distributes information throughout the county.

Together, these entities are ensuring high-quality information reaches those who need it most, reducing fear, and helping local families plan. 2. Income Generation : To support immigrant employment security, job training, and transition into high-growth sectors as well as entrepreneurship and small business development.

Through our 2025 funding, local organizations are investing in immigrant communities in recognition that they are some of the biggest drivers of our local economy. From training in culinary skills to permitting for small businesses, funded organizations are providing opportunities that will impact the wellbeing of all who live in Sonoma County.

In 2026, we know that immigrant communities are especially vulnerable to economic shifts in agriculture and other industries in Sonoma County. We also know that changes in federal food and healthcare policy will further impact financial security for many immigrant families.

Therefore, we are convening stakeholders from nonprofit, business, and government to identify opportunities to invest in initiatives that support both local food production and worker financial stability. 3. Safe Spaces & Wellbeing : To invest in safe, welcoming systems and spaces of belonging, where immigrants can connect to resources and build community.

2025 grantees in this area are supporting immigrant wellbeing in many ways, including providing mental health services, improving accessibility at community events, planning for emergencies, elevating immigrant voices, and building community power in safe, welcoming spaces.

Our 2026 grantmaking incorporates learnings from the experiences of past disasters in Sonoma County as well as insights from communities that have faced large-scale immigration raids. We know that immigrant communities are almost always disproportionately impacted in any emergency, and our community has more to do to prepare together.

To address this need, we are investing in Regional Emergency Response Plans within each supervisorial district. These plans will support nonprofit activation during any emergency and foster equitable access to emergency resources for immigrant communities.

Organization Grant Purpose Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Sonoma Immigrant Services, and Vital Immigrant Defense Advocacy & Services to provide centralized legal & policy information North Bay Organizing Project to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Family Resource Center Network (La Luz, Corazon Healdsburg, Child Parent Institute, Sonoma CAN, Petaluma Family Resource Center) to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Secure Families Collaborative to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Raizes Collective to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Foundation to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Health Action Together & Sonoma Connect/Sonoma Unidos to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Santa Rosa Junior College to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Alliance Medical Center to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network La Familia Sana to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Northern California Center for Well-Being to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Legal Aid of Sonoma County to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network Bienestar Collective to support the development of a Trusted Messenger Network North Bay Organizing Project to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Asian American Pacific Islander Coalition North Bay to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging On the Margins to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Botanical Bus to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging On the Move (La Plaza) to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Health Action Together & Sonoma Connect/Sonoma Unidos to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Sonoma Valley Rapid Response Team (La Luz) to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Corazon Healdsburg to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Nuestra Comunidad to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Café Puente to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging River to Coast Children's Services to provide safe spaces for wellbeing & belonging Latinos Unidos del Condado de Sonoma to support income generation activities Vamos North Bay to support income generation activities Sonoma Family Meal to support income generation activities Graton Day Labor Center to support income generation activities Bienestar Collective to support income generation activities & advise on the Trusted Messenger Network Supporting the Fund for Belonging CFSC is in a unique position to support this critical work through our place-based connections, our ability to aggregate donor generosity, and our expertise in managing funds that are responsive to evolving needs over time.

We envision a collaborative ecosystem where private foundations, individual donors, local government and partner agencies work together through the Fund for Belonging to support our immigrant communities. There are several easy ways to support the Fund for Belonging. If have questions about supporting the Fund for Belonging, please contact Deirdre Holbrook, Vice President for Philanthropic Advancement, at dholbrook@sonomacf.

org . Make a secure credit card donation through our website . Through Your Fund at CFSC If you have a donor-advised fund at Community Foundation Sonoma County, you can make a grant recommendation through the Giving Center .

Send a check made payable to Community Foundation Sonoma County. Memo Line: Fund for Belonging 120 Stony Point Road, Suite 220 If you would like to contribute to the Fund for Belonging, please call or email us to let us know your gift is coming! View stock gift instructions here .

If you would like to share information about an aligned project or program or provide feedback on grant program development, please contact: Vice President for Community Impact To learn more about the fund and explore ways to give, please contact: Vice President for Philanthropic Advancement