In October 2024, Sonoma County released its Master Plan for Aging. The plan is a comprehensive set of strategies to support the large, and rapidly growing number of seniors across the county. However, this plan is not THE “answer” to the challenges ahead. Rather, it’s a wakeup call for Sonoma Valley to get prepared. Why? There is very limited funding to implement the strategies in the Master Plan and our community is likely to see a greater need, and faster, than other areas due to the specific challenges present in our Valley. Namely, we have a significantly higher percentage of seniors than the county overall; the cost of living in the Valley is also higher, particularly housing; and we are unlikely, as an outlying area, to be the focus of the limited funding from the county, leaving communities like ours to fend for ourselves.

The State of Aging in Sonoma Valley white paper provides insights into what aging is like (and will be like going forward) for many residents of Sonoma Valley, particularly those without significant personal wealth. As you will note, many of those in our community will face significant financial and personal challenges when aging and we are not prepared to provide support. The white paper also includes background information for those in the community seeking to mitigate some of these challenges. We, at Catalyst, hope that these data can be used to raise awareness about the challenges of aging for some many in our community and suggest some early ideas for how we might address or mitigate these.

Download the full white paper HERE