Hope Endures: Reflecting on 2020
As we enter the holiday season and look ahead to the New Year, my most enduring sentiment is one of gratitude and awe at the generosity, resilience, and grace of our communities over the past year here in Napa and Sonoma Counties.
2020 has truly put us through the wringer in more ways than one – a pandemic, wildfires, high rates of unemployment, and so much more. And, as we all know, it’s the friends, family members, neighbors and workers in our communities who already struggled with a lack of food on the table, a roof over their heads, or the reliance of stable work who have faced the most challenging repercussions.
Yet in spite of it all, as the Director of the Napa Sonoma ADU Center I have had the privilege in the first seven months of our launch as a new nonprofit program to witness firsthand the resounding spirit of hope that endures in our community, as local homeowners reach out to me on a daily basis about building accessory dwelling units.
I’m moved by this because I know that each and every ADU that is built represents one more sturdy roof over the head of an individual in our community:
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A senior who can now afford to age in place;
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A restaurant worker who now doesn’t have to commute from out of county to work;
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A teacher who can become a part of the fabric of the neighborhoods where his students live;
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A person with a disability who can live close to familial support;
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An adult child like me who can return to her hometown and live close to her aging parents;
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And so many others.
In our first handful of months as an organization, thanks to people like you, the Napa Sonoma ADU Center has:
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Launched a portfolio of concrete tools to help homeowners build ADUs, including an ADU Workbook, ADU Calculator, Address Lookup Tool, and much more;
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Held multiple ADU webinars educating hundreds of homeowners;
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Worked with homeowners to provide 40 free and customized ADU Feasibility Consultations (and counting!);
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Answered individualized ADU questions for over 100 local homeowners;
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Collaborated with planning & building divisions across Napa and Sonoma Counties to support even more streamlined ADU services for local homeowners when they arrive at their planning & building counters;
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And so much more.
Going forward, we have more resources and information to empower local homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, starting off with a webinar I’ll be moderating TODAY (December 3!) put on by the nonprofit Build it Green focused on “Owning and Renting ADUs” (register here).
And don’t forget to check out our new ADU Winter Webinar series launching December 15 with “Building ADUs in Napa & Sonoma Counties: Live Audience Q&A Session,” featuring our resident ADU Expert along with planning & building staff from across the two counties (register here).
Additional ADU Winter Webinars will feature a webinar on How to Finance Your ADU and How to Build an ADU in Sebastopol.
Stay tuned for the roll out of more brand new types of ADU programming and resources in the New Year!
Thank you all for holding the candle of hope for your neighbors, loved ones, and everyone in our community throughout this past unprecedented year – the Napa Sonoma ADU Center looks forward to continuing to support you as we look towards a brighter future, together.
Warmly,
Renée J. Schomp
Director, Napa Sonoma ADU Center
PS – Follow us on social media to stay in touch and to hear as we roll out new free ADU resources and tools for homeowners!
PPS – Este boletín completo y todas las publicaciones del blog se pueden traducir al español en nuestro sitio web! // The full newsletter and all blog posts can be translated to Spanish on our website here!
Support Homeowners this holiday season
If you would like to support our nonprofit program’s continued efforts to help homeowners in Napa and Sonoma Counties, please feel free to do so at this link (to our fiscal sponsor, Napa Valley Community Foundation) where you can designate it to the Napa Sonoma ADU Center.
