Nuestra Comunidad Sana
I was inspired by the wildly successful, community-design and build process led by Pogo Park in Richmond, California, and the measurable health and mental benefits that resulted from this long-term investment in community capital. As ED of the Healthcare Foundation, I wanted to bring this kind of investment to northern Sonoma County. We secured funding from the North Sonoma County Health Care District and Providence Health to partner with On the Margins to facilitate, and local organizations Nuestra Comunidad, La Familia Sana, and Alliance Medical Center and Alexander Valley Healthcare, to launch multi-year, participatory research and visioning processes rooted in community engagement and neighborhood empowerment.
“Nuestra Comunidad Sana/Our Community Health,” as named by participants, focused on lifting voices of low-income BIPOC community members to envision future multicultural community wellness centers in Cloverdale, Windsor and Healdsburg. Each community continues to develop its own vision, and each city is now considering how to implement their vision of Nuestra Comunidad Sana within their future city planning.
