Sonoma County Economic Development Board Foundation

“The board treasurer reviews the form 990 with the accountant who prepared it. The board is informed of the filing of the tax return and provided with access to the returns.”

“The governing documents, tax returns and financial information are kept in the organization's office. Copies of these documents are available upon request. In addition, the organization's tax return is available on the guidestar website.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Innovative Council: This year funding was used to defray consultant costs to produce Strategic Sonoma, a five-year strategic plan for the countys local economy. The plan addresses some of the region's most pressing problems around workforce, economic resilience, innovation and entrepreneurship, and economic inclusion for all Sonoma County residents. The plan also included a short-term 6-12 month recovery plan that was developed in the wake of the October 2017 fires as part of the Board of Supervisors recovery plan. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Research InitiativesEDB Foundation provided funding for analytical tools and other database tools used by program managers to assist businesses who need the information in the county. Also the international internship program that arranges for international interns to participate in the various programs managed by the Foundation on an annual basis is covered by this program. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: 2018 SPRING ECONOMIC FORECAST:-Dr. Steve Cochrane of Moodys Analytics provided an economic outlook for California and Sonoma County on May 10, 2018 to a breakfast group of over 400 for the 2018 Spring Economic Forecast. Well attended by various financial, construction, education and tourism-related businesses, this year the coalescing theme of the event was Strategic Sonomas newly completed five-year strategic plan for the countys local economy. The event included pop-up presentations moderated by Keith Woods, Chief Executive Officer of the North Bay Builders Exchange. The pop-ups focused on highlighting three initiatives: Recover from the October 2017 fires and Build Necessary Housing, with a speaker from the City of Santa Rosa on the subject of the Citys new housing rebuild portal and rebuild successes, and a speaker from Burbank Housing speaking to the affordable housing rebuild successes; and Educate and Support our Workforce, with a speaker from the CTE Foundation on the subject of a grant from Tipping Point that emphasizes the importance of building construction workforce and a speaker from the Workforce Investment Board on the subject of a grant to help train construction workers and how it will work in concert with other programs. The event also had an introduction provided by Supervisor James Gore and Ben Stone from the EDB. The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and Sonoma State University (SSU) had exhibits of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs they each offer students. A tiny house constructed by students of Healdsburg High School was also on display. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7: Creative Sonoma, a program of the Economic Development Board, produced a full slate of professional trainings and workshops (22), grants, and special initiatives focused on fire response and recovery. These activities were fully or partially funded through grants and fire recovery donations received by the EDB Foundation, which funded program expenses as well as staff costs. Professional development topics focused generally on the business aspects of art and included workshops on financial management for artists, selling creative work and products, managing nonprofit organizations, and more. Five $2,500 grants were awarded to Sonoma musicians and bands to further their music careers. In fire response grant making, Creative Sonoma disbursed over $160,000 to 129 creative individuals, organizations, and businesses (in quick grants of up to $1,500 each) that were either physically or economically impacted by the 2017 wildfires; as well as $36,000 to 8 arts organizations that are producing events or creative works in response to the fires. In addition, a cohort of teaching artists received specialized training to address trauma of school-aged populations, and Creative Sonoma is providing free teaching artist residencies to fire-impacted schools throughout the County. Finally, Creative Sonoma has continued work on an assessment of the state of”