Local

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PLAG Santa Rosa Chapter id Here to Help

PFLAG is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to supporting, educating, and advocating for LGBTQ+ people and those who love them. PFLAG provides peer-to-peer support through in-person and virtual meetings, online outreach, and a variety of additional resources and programs.

Santa Rosa Chapter | ‪(707) 723-2844 | pflagsonomacounty@gmail.com

The deluge of Executive Orders is a tactic to overwhelm us into inaction – don’t let them. Be an active ally and get the information that matters most directly to your inbox:

  • Rapid-response Action Alerts with quick and effective ways you can make your voice heard
  • Legislation updates across state and federal levels
  • Educational materials and tips for better allyship

All of these resources and MORE are available through our PFLAG newsletter. Don’t miss out! Sign up today and let’s get to work: 

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Beat Inflation with Your Library Card/Vence la inflación con tu tarjeta de biblioteca

Gas prices rise and fall, inflation is scary, and finances can feel challenging … we’re here to help. Give your credit card a rest and take advantage of all the library has to offer, free with your library card!
Save on Streaming
Drop Spotify for Freegal, our free music app Kick Netflix and Hulu to the curb and stream movies and TV with Kanopy and hoopla Break up with Audible and fall in love with Libby
Save on Activities
Check out a California State Library Parks Pass to explore state parks Grab a free or discounted pass from Discover & Go to visit museums, art centers, and more Build community and your skills at workshops for every interest
There’s more! Explore all the ways you can save here.
Save Money
A Reminder From Your Library
All libraries will be closed on Monday, February 17.We look forward to seeing you when we reopen on Tuesday, February 18!
Thank you for being a member of the Sonoma County Library community. Visit our online library for thousands of films, TV shows, eBooks, databases, magazines, classes, video games, and more. Be sure to check out open jobs at Sonoma County Library here.  Questions? Please call the library or click here to send us a message. 
 Ahorra dinero con tu tarjeta de biblioteca Los precios de la gasolina suben y bajan, la inflación da miedo y las finanzas pueden darnos problemas … y nosotros estamos aquí para ayudarte. ¡Dale un descanso a tu tarjeta de crédito y aprovecha todo lo que la biblioteca te ofrece gratis con tu tarjeta de biblioteca!
Ahorra en transmisiones instantáneas
Deja Spotify por Freegal, nuestra aplicación de música gratuita

Dile adiós a Netflix y Hulu y transmite películas y series con Kanopy y hoopla

Termina tu relación con Audible y enamórate de Libby
Ahorra en actividades
Saca un pase de parques de la Biblioteca Estatal de California prestado para explorar parques estatales Obtén un pase gratuito o en descuento con Discover & Go para visitar museos, centros de arte y más Crea comunidad y desarrolla tus habilidades en talleres para todos los intereses
¡Y hay más! Explora todas las formas en que puedes ahorrar aquí.
Ahorra dinero

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QTBIPOC Monthly Hang Out at Positive Images The First Monday of the Month

Positive Images, 200 Montgomery Dr c, Santa Rosa, CA 95404, USA

Join us for art activities at our first hang out of 2023! Materials and snacks provided! This group is BIPOC only and will be happening the 1st Monday of every month. It is meant to be a social hangout space for Black, Indigenous, Queer, and Trans people of color (18+). Se habla español! For questions please reach out to marian@posimages.org

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As immigrant roundup fears swirl, local orgs are working to empower the undocumented

Immigrants here in the wine country have been on edge ever since Donald Trump was elected president in November, given his campaign promises to deport everyone in the U.S. who hasn’t been able to obtain legal residency status. But it wasn’t until a surprise federal immigration raid down in Bakersfield on Jan. 7 — one day after the election results were certified, but two weeks before Trump’s actual inauguration — that the panic wheel really started spinning. CalMatters reported that Border Patrol officers took local farmworkers by surprise that day, showing up to businesses where they’re known to hang out. “They were stopping cars at random, asking people for papers,” a spokesperson for the United Farm Workers labor union told the news outlet. “They were going to gas stations and Home Depot where day laborers gather. It’s provoking intense anxiety and a lot of fear in the community.” More from the story:

On social media, Gregory K. Bovino, the Border Patrol chief in El Centro, called the sweeps “Operation Return to Sender.”

“We are taking it to the bad people and bad things in Bakersfield,” the El Centro Border Patrol said in response to a comment on its Facebook page. “We are planning operations for other locals [sic] such as Fresno and especially Sacramento.”

In the end, at least 78 people were arrested during the three-day Kern County raid, according to the Border Patrol division responsible for the raid. And while that immigrant roundup was real, it has set off a chain of false rumors about additional roundups across the state — including here in the North Bay. According to multiple local organizations tracking this panicked phone tree, there have since been false reports of immigration raids at the Home Depot locations in Santa Rosa and Rohnert Park, as well as the Foodmaxx in Santa Rosa’s Roseland neighborhood and Manzanita Elementary on the east side of town. More from the PD:

Vikki DuRee, lead dispatcher at the 24-hour hotline run by the North Bay Rapid Response Network, said she’s been extremely busy over the past two weeks taking calls from worried residents.
“I haven’t kept a tally today, but we’re getting about 25 calls a day right now, mostly people who are worried about rumors that they’re seeing on social media and anecdotally in the community,” DuRee said Thursday afternoon.
For one person, all it took was a Trump sticker on a black Escalade to spark fear that immigration officers were on the road, she said.

“People who call with a rumor, they’re frightened that either they or people they care about are at risk,” she said.
This rapid response network mentioned by the PD is an arm of the North Bay Organizing Project, a Santa Rosa-based organization that has come to the forefront since Trump’s election. Org leaders have been posting all sorts of information for immigrants — as well as tips to avoid spreading fake news of raids — to their Facebook and Instagram pages. They’re also encouraging people who think they notice signs of la migra to reach out to their hotline first (at 707-800-4544), so they can verify the info before blasting it wide. “Together we can transform our fear and anxiety into power and action!” they say. If you want to volunteer to join the North Bay Rapid Response Network and help with this work, you can apply online.

Here in Healdsburg, another well-known local nonprofit called Corazón Healdsburg is leading the charge on arming immigrants with critical info. Org leaders told me recently that me they’ve been handling raid rumors on an almost daily basis. So on Jan. 16, “our dedicated staff and volunteers… knocked on 712 doors in Windsor, Healdsburg, Geyserville and Cloverdale,” the org said on social media. Door-knockers were handing outlittle red and yellow cards with simple instructions about what to do if you encounter immigration officials. “Knowledge is power,” Corazón says. “Our goal is not to spread fear, but to empower our community. By staying informed and united, we can create a network of support and resilience.”
The red and yellow cards that Corazón Healdsburg staffers have been passing out around town. (Photos: Corazón Healdsburg via Instagram)
Still, the thought of what actual local immigration raids would mean for community and industry here in the North Bay are haunting us all right now — some more than others, of course. School officials are worried that the children of immigrants will stop coming to class, especially now that Trump has reportedly “put an end to a longstanding policy that restricted federal agents from making immigration arrests at sensitive locations like churches, hospitals and schools.” And much like in Kern County, where farm owners said immigrants didn’t show up to work after last month’s raid, wine-industry bosses in our area — who are already fighting an uphill battle against the sober movement, and dealing with labor shortages as it is — say they’re not sure their businesses would survive if something similar happened here. A recent headline in the Daily Mail reads: “Upscale Napa Valley wineries fear Trump’s migrant raids could finish them.” Other local food and hospitality businesses — and consumer prices — would feel the burn too, naturally. (Rolando Herrera, who owns Mi Sueño Winery in St. Helena with his wife Lorena, tells the PD: “If this administration really wants to ‘make America great again,’ they should put a program together that registers these important workers and gives them a temporary work permit. That’s what they really want.”)

A long list of local government agencies and police departments across Sonoma and Napa counties have vowed they won’t enforce Trump’s calls for mass deportation. Still, many activists have been urging police and politicians to go even further by explicitly cutting off all ties with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and declaring Sonoma County an official “sanctuary county” for undocumented immigrants. And although county leaders have issued some strong statements of their own in support of immigrants, they’ve stopped short of using the word “sanctuary,” the Press Democrat reports — partly because that might put “a target on Sonoma County, doing more harm than good.” And as the San Francisco Chronicle points out, none of these declarations are enough to “stop federal bodies like the U.S. Border Patrol from conducting raids.”

In the meantime, looks like we’ll have to rely on local networks of concerned civilians to keep each other safe. In the words of Corazón Healdsburg: “Help us build trust in our community, spread knowledge and empower families.” You can follow them and the North Bay Rapid Response Network on Facebook for ways to get involved.

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Billy Club & BillyKin Sunday Afternoon Delight Happens Online

Sunday, February 23·3:00 – 5:00pm

 http://www.thebillys.org/events/ 

for Billys and Billykin of all genders

Please join us on the virtual porch for our regular Sunday Afternoon Delight to see where the Mystery takes our conversation. Drop in for a few moments or stay the whole time, whatever works for you. If the conversation on the porch doesn’t draw you in, feel free to wander off to a breakout room with a friend and talk about whatever you’d like. 

Are you interested in a more focussed discussion? We offer you the opportunity to create your own themed breakout room. If you’d like to host one in the future, please let us know and we’ll be happy to schedule and promote it for you.

Are you interested in a more focussed discussion? We offer you the opportunity to create your own themed breakout room. If you’d like to host one in the future, please let us know and we’ll be happy to schedule and promote it for you.

Phat Huynh: kbj0888@att.net

Bob Russell: bobrussell43@gmail.com

If you are new to The Billys, please be our guest the first couple times you join us at an online Heart Circle or Sunday Afternoon Delight.  If you regularly attend any of these, they will remain free for all who need them to be,though as you are able please strongly consider supporting these by donating to our General Fund. 

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LGBTQI Seniors: Santa Rosa at the Glaser Center in Santa Sosa Tuesday Afternoon

Tuesday, February 25·1:00 – 3:00pm

Glaser Center, 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401, USA

Social time 1:00 – 1:30 PM; facilitated discussion 1:30 – 3:00 PM

Join us for lively discussions, mutual support, sharing information, and all the while celebrating who we are. Everyone is welcome; there is no charge. Whether you’re in the closet or out, you are welcome!.

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