Organizational Excellence

Summary of Objective Implementation Status

Meaningful progress has been made in obtaining grant funding for Strategic Plan objectives.  During 2022, the County was awarded $28.55 million in grant funding for eight projects that align with the Climate Action and Resiliency (CAR), Healthy Safe Communities (HSC), and Resilient Infrastructure (RI) Strategic Plan Pillars.  This represents a 48% accomplishment towards the $60 million goal established for this Objective.

While there has been substantial progress from a dollar-award perspective, there have been some delays in implementing the major activities originally defined in the Objective Implementation Plan.  Information to specifically address these delays is reflected below in the key milestone section.  To address these delays and to broadly increase attention towards grant-seeking efforts, the County Administrator’s office (CAO) has dedicated staff to implement a new County Grant Program (Program).  The Program was developed to proactively pursue grant opportunities to enable the County to achieve Strategic Plan objectives, as well as other major priorities benefiting county residents.  CAO staff began working in November 2022 to implement a collaborative coordinating structure with key departments to share knowledge, build grant capacity, and create systems to support Program goals.  The Program will also deploy data collection methods designed to maximize grant-seeking opportunities, tracking, and performance.  The Board of Supervisors will receive regular reporting on progress towards obtaining grant funding.

Key Milestone Update

The following table reflects the status and timeline of major milestones identified in the Objective Implementation Plan.  The delays experienced are not expected to have a negative impact on overall Objective outcomes.  Progress on ongoing activities will be reflected in future reporting.

Coordination and Partnership Update

The Objective Implementation Plan outlined specific intersections with Climate Action and Resiliency 1-3, and Resilient Infrastructure 4-1 and 4-2, the status of which is reflected in the grant summary table attached.  The other coordination efforts discussed in the Implementation Plan will be incorporated as a part of the new County Grant Program.

Community, Equity, and Climate Update

By aligning funding with the Strategic Plan, the values and principles of the plan will be upheld.  Equity is a core component of the strategic plan, and as such will be included and considered in all funding decisions.

A specific example of efforts as it relates to grants is the work being undertaken by Permit Sonoma’s effort to establish an Equity Working Committee (Committee).  The Committee was established in December 2022 and is comprised of 20 community members selected to provide diverse perspective, representing communities of color, socio-economic diversity, people with disabilities, and geographic representation.  Through a lens of lived experiences, the Committee will help shape policy and grant-seeking efforts relating to environmental justice and risk reduction planning for wildfire and other hazards affecting Sonoma County.

Funding Narrative

There is sufficient funding within the CAO’s operational budget to support this Objective.