Lynda Hopkins Introduces SOCO Rises

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From Lyda Hopkins, via Facebook

Three weeks ago , some human beings gathered around a dinner table to discuss how to pick up the pieces and help our County come back stronger and better than before. From the beginning, this group had two rules:

1. No jurisdictions.
2. No egos.

On the first night, with fires still burning, we talked about the myriad positive efforts and initiatives coming together... so many initiatives, it was hard to keep track of them all. So we asked: in the midst of all these good intentions, how do we organize the organizers? How do we ensure that no one is left behind as we rebuild? How can we address the “Saturday problems” — the problems our community faced on Saturday, October 7 — as well as the crises caused by these catastrophic fires?

Through hundreds of hours of meetings (no, seriously, hundreds) we rallied around a concept and a movement. That concept and that movement is SoCoRises.The most important thing about this movement is that we don’t want to tell you what to do. Rather, we want to ensure that every single person in Sonoma County has an opportunity to speak up and be heard during the recovery and rebuild process. We want community input to organize the organizers — to inform local government, to influence the private sector, to guide the efforts of local non-profit organizations.SoCoRises is kicking off with a website that accepts input on a number of different categories: housing, environment, economy & business, arts, social justice, education, health & healing. The website is in both English and Spanish.

So, Sonoma County... Rise up! Make your voice heard. Start by sharing your hopes and fears on the website, and stay tuned for next steps from SoCoRises. The movement hopes to take the shape of a community visioning process with town hall meetings and in-person conversations.

Join us at https://socorises.org — and let’s rise together.