Frequently Asked Questions

Governance and Decision Making

  • The County of Sonoma established the Health Action Council as an advisory body to the Board of Supervisors in 2008 as a forum for cross-sector collaboration among healthcare and community stakeholder leaders committed to addressing health disparities. Health Action successfully served as a local catalyst for breaking down silos and collaborating across sectors to improve health and well-being in Sonoma County. Despite these successes, many people recognized the need for new and different approaches to tackle the magnitude of inequities Sonoma County faces. We must elevate racial equity, center community in design and decision-making, and address the underlying systemic drivers of complex health and social issues.

    This led to launching Health Action Together as an independent public-private partnership. County government and other institutional leaders must continue to be part of this work, but community members must also be at the leadership table and must hold equal power and decision making authority to achieve authentic, systemic change. To establish Health Action Together as a new, separate entity with a new leadership structure, the former Health Action structure and governance had to be dissolved.

  • Current Health Action Together Board members:

    • CHAIR: Evette Minor, Community Advocate, Santa Rosa Health Action Chapter Lead

    • CO-CHAIR: Karin Demarest, Principal Consultant, Demarest Strategy GroupCommunity Advocacy Leader

    • Oscar Chavez, Assistant Director, Chief Executive Officer, Community Foundation Sonoma County

    • Cathryn Couch, Chief Executive Officer, Ceres Community Project

    • Jason Cunningham DO, Chief Executive Officer, West County Health Centers

    • Alegria De La Cruz, Director, Sonoma County Office of Equity

    • Becky Ennis, Executive Director, SOS Community Counseling

    • Nora Mallonee-Brand, Administrative Services Officer II, Health Policy, Planning, and Evaluation Manager, Sonoma County Department of Health Services

    Members of the Health Action Transition Team and Portrait of Sonoma County Leadership Team came together in early 2022 to explore how to engage the community in creating a new Agenda for Action in response to the Portrait of Sonoma County 2021 Update report. These conversations made clear the need to merge these projects and led to consensus for Health Action Together to lead this work. Two local partner organizations committed seed funding to this effort. At the same time, Health Action Together needed to establish an advisory board of directors as part of transitioning to nonprofit status under fiscal sponsorship.

    Members of both leadership teams developed an interim governance structure for Health Action Together, identifying the need for a combination of representatives from the Health Action Transition Team, Portrait of Sonoma County Leadership Team, grassroots/local action groups, County government, and other institutions. Building board membership is still a work in progress. The Health Action Together Board is assessing current gaps and seeking recommendations for additional members.

    As the current Board is focused on standing up this new organization. Every Board member understands and agrees that the organization’s governance must reflect and embody our shared values of equity at the center, upstream focus, community led, integration and collaboration, and striving for shared outcomes. Long-term governance will be developed through a work group made up of Interim Board members, Health Action Together staff, and other partner and community members. This work group is committed to learning from the wisdom of the local community through the Agenda for Action community engagement process.

  • Health Action Together will establish a permanent governing board to oversee and manage the public-private entity. Health Action Together’s shared values of equity at the center, upstream focus, community-led, integration and collaboration, and striving for shared outcomes are central to determining the leadership makeup of this new entity. This process is under development and will be informed by the Agenda for Action priorities, centering the experiences of our most impacted communities.

  • One initial and critical way for community groups and members to be involved is through the development of a new Agenda for Action in response to the Portrait of Sonoma County 2021 Update report findings. Health Action Together has launched an equity focused, community engaged process to develop the new agenda that will guide the focus areas for Health Action Together and support grassroots and local-level action.

  • This is still to be determined. Keep informed by subscribing to Health Action Together email updates (info@hatogether.org) and check these FAQs regularly.

Legacy Health Action Committees and Initiatives

  • Some Health Action standing committees and initiatives are continuing their important work independently yet in alignment with Health Action Together. This FAQ will continue to be updated as new information becomes available..

    Previous standing committees of Health Action:

    • Cradle to Career continues to convene as an independent multi-sector partnership focused on educational attainment, supported through the Sonoma County Office of Education. . C2C is focused in the areas of kindergarten readiness, academic success, and college and career readiness.

    • The Committee for Healthcare Improvement is working to improve health and well-being to ensure access to better coordinated, person-centered health care. CHI is moving forward as an independent collaborative for the purpose of creating for a more equitable and aligned system of care in Sonoma County through collective impact.

    • Hearts of Sonoma County (HSC) is a multisector health initiative of the Committee for Healthcare Improvement focused on preventing heart attacks and strokes, reducing premature death and disability, and improving health equity in Sonoma County. Along with all major clinical provider organizations, Hearts of Sonoma County members include non-clinical community-based partner organizations addressing a range of strategies such as shared learning and best practices for controlling blood pressure and diabetes, screening/referrals for social drivers of health, nutrition education, food and nutrition security, physical activity, and linking at-risk patients to community

    • Accountable Communities for Health/CACHI Health Action has participated in the California Accountable Community for Health Initiative since its inception in 2016. CACHI has provided funding, technical assistance, collaborative learning, and resources to support communities throughout the state in building and sustaining critical elements to become healthier, more equitable, and more resilient. Becoming an Accountable Communities for Health equips communities to work together toward equitable change through multi-sector collaborations, community voice, and active alignment. What is an ACH? Learn more here. Health Action Together is the manifestation of all that partners have learned collectively through participation in CACHI about becoming an authentic Accountable Community for Health. This learning is being put into action through Health Action Together.

Local Action and Systems Change

  • Health Action Chapters continue to work in and support their communities independently and serve for the betterment of Sonoma County. You can get in contact with your local chapter to learn more about their work via the links below.

  • Local action groups are essential to the work of Health Action Together and to our foundational values of centering equity and community voice. There are many community-based groups in Sonoma County doing impactful work that are trusted in their communities, understand the needs, and are working to address gaps, yet are not often included in institutional and government efforts to improve health, well-being, and equity. Health Action Together seeks to be a leader in helping to bridge on-the-ground trusted community groups and institutions.

    Chapters are local action groups that previously linked Health Action efforts across the county. Each chapter is unique in origin, identity, and purpose, having emerged at different times in response to different needs. These chapters serve as valuable hubs within their communities, providing services and meeting local needs.

    Health Action Together is committed to continue lifting up the work of chapters as local action groups and to partnering with them as appropriate in the future as part of implementing the Agenda for Action. Funding to support and amplify collaborative local action groups around key priorities identified in the Agenda for Action is part of that implementation.

  • That is up to individual Health Action Chapters to decide. Several existing chapters have expressed a desire to continue to work together and to align with and support the collective work of Health Action Together and the Agenda for Action.

  • One overriding message that emerged from stakeholders and community members during the Health Action’s transition was that institutions created to serve the public too often make decisions without the critical input of impacted communities, without being informed by those with lived experience of the most intractable inequities in Sonoma County. Health Action Together intends to act as a catalyst to change that pattern in the following ways:

    • Align commitment, resources, and effort around a shared Agenda for Action that will serve as a guide to address inequities identified in the Portrait of Sonoma County report. The Agenda for Action will build recommendations around the aspirations and assets of local communities.

    • Support and empower action at the grassroots level, cultivating a network of local action groups working together toward their communities’ aspirations and goals.

    • Focus cross-sector collaborative interventions at the system level, identifying and removing the systemic obstacles that prevent progress and perpetuate inequities.

    • Bridge the gap between trusted community groups and systems-driving institutions.

  • Like many aspects of Health Action Together, many of these details will need to be worked out as the Agenda for Action community engagement process unfolds. Communities most impacted by inequities are giving input on their priorities, goals, and actions to reduce disparities. The Agenda for Action will serve as a roadmap to direct institutional, political, philanthropic, and community-based efforts and resources. Health Action Together will use this roadmap to focus its efforts, working with those local action groups and networks already engaged in those priority areas.

  • Health Action Together seeks to support the growth, spread, and scale of grassroots local action. The Agenda for Action is the roadmap for this work. HA Together will cultivate and support a network of cross-sector local action groups implementing strategies and aspirations related to Agenda for Action priorities. HA Together will focus on one issue at a time, building collaborations with local groups, community-based organizations, government, and institutions oriented around identified issues where collective action is needed to change the system.

    In some cases, local action teams could be existing Health Action Chapters, or community-based organizations, initiatives, and community groups that are already working in the focus area. Sometimes new local action groups may need to form to address gaps.

    All of this will depend on Agenda for Action recommendations as these decisions will be made at the grassroots level about who wants to participate, how they want to participate, and what the focus needs to be.

  • There are excellent opportunities for all who are involved in Health Action Together to identify those amazing community leaders who may not be part of the usual leadership tables. Some voices that may be very present in their own communities are not necessarily being heard inside local institutions. Health Action Together is learning more about and building or strengthening relationships with these grassroots leaders. To the extent that any of us have deeper knowledge of those communities suffering from the impacts of inequities, we need deeper engagement with these community leaders and members. We need to learn more from them and with them.

    This intent is driving the Health Action Together approach to develop the new Agenda for Action and steward its implementation. We recognize that we must all undertake this journey together and learn together to ensure that our shared understanding of Sonoma County’s well-being includes non-white, diverse perspectives. Join Health Action Together’s efforts to pursue an inclusive Agenda for Action and work toward defining and building a more equitable community for everyone.

Agenda for Action

  • Health Action Together is leading the development of the new Agenda for Action in partnership with communities most impacted by inequities as a roadmap for change. Health Action Together is partnering with a local diversity, equity, and belong consulting firm with established, trusted relationships within those communities of focus that need to be part of these conversations. This is an equity-driven process based around Anti-Racist practices to ensure clarity, alignment, and accountability. We worked with community-based leaders to co-create and implement culturally responsive community engagement to capture accurate representation and reflection of community voices. The goals, priorities, and actions to reduce inequities in the Agenda for Action will serve as a roadmap to direct institutional, political, philanthropic, and community-based efforts and resources.

    The work to development the Agenda for Action is being developed in partnership with and will be guided by communities experiencing the most significant inequities, including:

    Census tracts with the lowest Human Development Index scores in the Portrait of Sonoma County 2021 Update

    • Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in under-resourced communities that are not represented in the Portrait of Sonoma County data

    • Black/African American Community

    • BIPOC Disability Community

    • American Indian/Alaskan Native Communities

    • BIPOC LGBTQ+ Community

    • Indigenous Language Communities

    • BIPOC Single Mothers

    • Undocumented Community/ Farmworkers

    • BIPOC Elders & Youth

    We welcome ideas, feedback, and connections with the communities that Health Action Together seeks to engage.

    The new Agenda for Action will also guide the work of Health Action Together. We will align partners and communities in cross-sector change efforts focused on system interventions and grassroots and local action to activate the Agenda for Action.

County of Sonoma’s Role

  • When the County of Sonoma established Health Action in 2008 as a cross-sector collaboration of stakeholder leaders committed to addressing health disparities, that was a bold, innovative step at the time Health Action became an effective local catalyst for breaking down silos and collaborating across sectors to improve health and well-being in Sonoma County. tThe Portrait of Sonoma County 2021 Update report revealed that many disparities have deepened since the first Portrait report was published in 2014. Now new approaches and innovation are needed that focus on racial equity, center community in decision-making, and tackle the systemic causes driving these widening inequalities. This must be the work of Health Action Together.

    All of those involved in transitioning to Health Action Together recognize that the County of Sonoma’s continued partnership and financial investment in this work is essential. Built into the Board of Supervisors’ action to sunset the original Health Action were commitments for County leadership continued support and partnership in Health Action Together.

    The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors further committed to leading the way on systems-level accountability to the Agenda for Action and outcomes through:

    The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors further committed to leading the way on systems-level accountability to the Agenda for Action and outcomes through:

    • Championing this work and encouraging others to join the effort

    • Continuing to pursue racial equity across County policies and services such as enacting strategies in the Racial Equity and Social Justice Pillar of the County of Sonoma Strategic Plan.

    • Demonstrating County commitment and partnership through financial support, leadership, staffing, and other in-kind support.

    The County of Sonoma Department of Health Services, Human Services Department, and Office of Equity are all providing dedicated leadership and staff time. Department leaders will also be called on to share their power and influence with community members in developing priorities and advancing solutions associated with the Agenda for Action.