Greenbelt Alliance and partners are embarking on a multi-year engagement process in Southwest Santa Rosa—a priority Resilience Hotspot—to boost community preparedness to extreme heat!
Vulnerability to extreme heat and wildfires as a result of large areas of paved surfaces, sparse tree canopy, and fewer homes with air conditioning, makes Southwest Santa Rosa a critical Bay Area Resilience Hotspot.
As climate change impacts worsen, communities will be more frequently exposed to more hot days and warm nights. The size and severity of wildfires have increased across Sonoma County in recent years. Wildfire smoke, accompanied by an increase in extreme heat days, has negatively impacted the health and well-being of residents, particularly those who work outside.
Greenbelt Alliance is joining forces with Santa-Rosa-based Latino Service Providers (LSP) to develop a community roadmap for extreme heat resilience and empower local leaders and existing service networks to educate and inform the community about heat risks, emergency response, and culturally-appropriate resources.
Conducted over a multi-year engagement process, the project is made possible by the Governor’s Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.
The HEAT Action Plan will engage the communities most impacted by extreme heat in Southwest Santa Rosa to identify shared priorities and uplift community knowledge. The plan fosters collaboration between community-based organizations, residents, and the public sector in planning for resilience to climate hazards.
In September 2025, we launched a 9-month course with LSP to engage thirteen Southwest Santa Rosa “Climate Impact Innovators” in skill-building workshops focused on increasing their understanding of the science behind extreme heat, the impacts of extreme heat in their local neighborhood, and supporting the development of the policies and actions for the Plan.
Header photo by Karl Nielsen/Greenbelt Alliance
At a time when communities are reeling from the devastating impacts of destructive fires and losing insurance protections, a solution is needed now more than ever. Greenbelt Alliance offers a new, creative intervention for fire-prone areas statewide to adopt.
On May 31st, under the heat of a Sonoma County summer day, our incredible community of supporters gathered once again for one of Greenbelt Alliance’s most beloved annual traditions – our Sonoma Leadership Council Luncheon at the beautiful home of long-time supporter Linda Dodwell. Even with soaring temperatures, the spirit was high as friends reconnected,
Healdsburg voted No on Measure O, missing out on an opportunity to build more multi-family housing for the middle class and workforce residents.
