County Resources | California Making Access Possible (MAP)

Sonoma County

Sonoma County is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa.

Regional Centers are nonprofit private corporations that contract with the Department of Developmental Services to provide or coordinate services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. They have offices throughout California to provide a local resource to help find and access the many services available to individuals and their families. For more information, please see the California Department of Developmental Services page on Regional Centers.

North Bay Regional Center

Executive Director: Gabriel Rogin
Phone: 707-256-1100
TTY: N/A
Fax: 707-256-1112
Early Start Intake: 707-256-1181
Address: 610 Airpark Road Napa, CA 94558

Counties Served: Napa, Solano, and Sonoma counties

Implementation of Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates states to implement a comprehensive early intervention service system for all infants and toddlers with disabilities or at risk, and their families. Family support services are included in these systems.

In California, Early Start Family Resource Centers are part of the Early Start Program. Staffed by families of children with special needs, family resource centers offer parent-to-parent support and help parents, families, and children locate and use needed services. They offer support services and resources in many languages, which may include newsletters, resource libraries, websites, parent-to-parent groups, sibling support groups, warmlines, and information and referral for parents and professionals.

Matrix Parent Network & Resource Center – North Bay FRC

2400 Las Gallinas Ave, Suite 100
San Rafael, CA 94903-1454
(415) 884-3535

In 1977, all school districts and county school offices were mandated to form consortiums in geographical regions of sufficient size and scope to provide for all special education service needs of children residing within the region boundaries. Each region, Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA), developed a local plan describing how it would provide special education services.

SELPAs are dedicated to the belief that all students can learn and that special needs students must be guaranteed equal opportunity to become contributing members of society. SELPAs facilitate high quality educational programs and services for special needs students and training for parents and educators. The SELPA collaborates with county agencies and school districts to develop and maintain healthy and enriching environments in which special needs students and families can live and succeed.

Sonoma County Charter SELPA

5860 Labath Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

707-524-2752

Sonoma County SELPA

5860 Labath Avenue
Rohnert Park, CA 94928

707-524-2752

Child Care Resource and Referral (R&R) agencies are located in every county in California. Over the last four decades, R&R services have evolved from a grassroots effort to help parents find child care, to a well-developed system that supports parents, providers, and local communities in finding, planning for, and providing affordable, quality child care. The state, through the California Department of Education, Early Education & Support Division, has supported these efforts since 1976.

4Cs of Sonoma

131-A Stony Circle, Suite 300
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
(707) 544-3077
M-F: 9-3
Services in English, Spanish

River to Coast Children’s Services

16300 First Street
Guerneville, CA 95446
(707) 869-3613
M-F: 9-5
Services in English, Spanish

The primary mission of the Local Child Care and Development Planning Councils (LPCs) is to plan for child care and development services based on the needs of families in the local community. LPCs are intended to serve as a forum to address the child care needs of all families in the community for all types of child care, both subsidized and non-subsidized. There are currently LPCs representing each county in California. (See Education Code, Chapter 2.3, Article 1, Section 8499 and Article 2, Sections 8499.3, 8499.5 and 8499.7.)

Sonoma County Office of Education

Liz DePrimo
5340 Skylane Boulevard
Santa Rosa, CA 95403-8246
Phone: (707) 524-2792

The County First 5 Commissions work to improve the lives of the county’s youngest children and their families through an effective, coordinated, and inclusive implementation of the California Children and Families Act also known as Proposition 10, which was enacted in 1998. The ultimate goal is to enhance the health and early growth experiences of children, enabling them to be more successful in school and to give them a better opportunity to succeed in life.

First 5 Sonoma

5340 Skylane Blvd.
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
(707) 522-2020
info@first5sonomacounty.org

Early Head Start is a federally funded community-based program for low-income families with pregnant women, infants, and toddlers up to age 3. It is a program that came out of the Head Start Program. In addition to providing or linking families with needed services—medical, mental health, nutrition, and education—Early Head Start can provide a place for children to experience consistent, nurturing relationships and stable, ongoing routines.

Early Head Start Programs offer three different options and programs may offer one or more to families. The three options are: a home-based option, a center-based option, or a combination option in which families get a set number of home visits and a set number of center-based experiences, There are also locally designed options, which in some communities include family child care.

Community Action Partnership of Sonoma County

141 Stony Circle, Suite 210
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
707-544-6911 x1032

The Family Empowerment Centers (FECs) serve families of children with disabilities from age three to twenty-two. They were established in Chapter 690 of the Statutes of 2001 (Senate Bill 511, Alpert), enacted as Education Code (EC) 56400-5641. The intent of the Legislature is to ensure that parents, guardians, and families of children and young adults with disabilities have access to accurate information, specialized training, and peer-to-peer support.

Many of the parent organizations that receive FEC grants also receive federal, state, or local funding from other affiliations such as Parent Training and Information Center, Family Resource Center, and varied direct Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) or Local Educational Agency (LEA) grants and contracts.

Matrix Parents at Marin CIL

Phone: 415-884-3535
Helpline: 800-578-2592
Serves: Marin, Solano, Sonoma Counties

The State Council on Developmental Disabilities is established by state and federal law as an independent state agency to ensure that people with developmental disabilities and their families receive the services and supports they need.

Consumers know best what supports and services they need to live independently and to actively participate in their communities. Through advocacy, capacity building and systemic change, SCDD works to achieve a consumer and family-based system of individualized services, supports, and other assistance. Regional offices serve communities throughout California.

North Bay Regional Office

236 Georgia Street, Suite 201
Vallejo, CA 94590
(707) 648-4073
northbay@scdd.ca.gov
Serves: Napa, Solano, Sonoma Counties

School districts, preschool programs and county collaboratives that are implementing the CA Teaching Pyramid approach system wide are listed here with a brief description. The implementation sites listed have a leadership team that meets regularly, staff trained on all modules of the CA Teaching Pyramid, and have received coaching. For more information, contact teachingpyramid@wested.org.

North Bay Children’s Center

North Bay Children’s Center (NBCC) is a Partner Site Program that has locations in Novato, Petaluma, Rohnert Park, Sonoma, Santa Rosa and Healdsburg. The CA Teaching Pyramid Partner Site is located in Santa Rosa at the North Bay Children’s Center Steele Lane. This site has 1 full-day year-round preschool program serving up to 24 children. Services provided include early intervention services, full inclusion, healthy eating and garden education, parent education, professional development for staff and resources for families from the community. North Bay Children’s Center’s, mission is to ensure that all children, especially our most vulnerable, have access to those critical early learning experiences that build the foundation for life-long success.

North Bay Children’s Center Steele Lane began implementing the CA Teaching Pyramid in 2018 and became a Partner Site in 2021. NBCC works bridge the gap so that implementation of CA Teaching Pyramid is happening both at school and at home so the same language is being used essentially everywhere. We love to share about our use of CA Teaching Pyramid because it works! Because of implementation our staff is able to spend more time with the kids and build on their skills almost eliminating any behavior viewed by adults as challenging due to the tools learned from CA Teaching Pyramid.

“Teaching Pyramid has greatly changed our program in the most positive way. Behavior in the classroom has greatly decreased and staff expressed that they feel like they have the necessary tools to use with children who may display challenging behaviors.”

Old Elm Child Development Center

The 4Cs Old Elm Child Development Center program located in Sonoma County offers full-day and full-year childcare services. They have 40 children and 2 classrooms; one toddler and one preschool. They provide care to 8 toddlers (2yrs), and 32 preschoolers (3-5yrs). The program provides services to low-income families, with enrollment priority given to at-risk families. There are limited tuition slots for those families that are interested but do not qualify as at-risk.

The 4Cs Old Elm Child Development Center program also works and provides care to children who have been exposed to or have experienced trauma, thus, were hoping to find something to help reduce stress and provide appropriate interventions in their classroom. They feel they finally found it through the Teaching Pyramid Framework. They have seen it really is “close to magic”. Although they have just begun implementing the Teaching Pyramid practices this year, they are highly invested due to the immense progress they have already seen in the center. By using reflective practice through a lens of understanding, the culture at the center has grown in a positive way, and they feel they owe it all to their work with using the Teaching Pyramid framework. They hope to continue implementing the Teaching Pyramid framework’s, practices and strategies for further success. The 4C’s Old Elm Child Development Center became a Teaching Pyramid Partner Site in 2019.

Storybook Village Preschool

Storybook Village is a Reggio-inspired program serving approximately 50 children 18 months to 5 years of age in four classrooms. The staff of ten adults was trained in the Teaching Pyramid in 2019 and became a Partner Site in 2020. Storybook Village has built the Teaching Pyramid framework into their program in a variety of ways. They have structured their environment to act as the “extra teacher” in the classroom—creating classrooms rich with visuals that guide children in the daily schedule, in the sequence and timing of key routines, and in positive Behavior Expectations. They share Teaching Pyramid strategies with parents through regular newsletters, Positive Solutions for Families sessions, involving families in classroom activities, and a parent area with Scripted Stories for home use.

The Storybook Village teachers have been extremely creative in teaching key social skills and emotional competencies. For example, they have rich cozy spaces where children can find photo albums of their families and other tools to help them manage strong feelings. Teachers have children act as problem solving leaders—bringing the Solution Kit to help others resolve conflicts and solve common problems. They highlight friendship skills by providing various media to create and display Friendship Art in the Regio art studio. The teaching teams are also adept in using Positive Descriptive Acknowledgment—short phrases that help children recognize their own positive behavior and the impact of that behavior on others—to create a classroom community that is Respectful, Healthy, Kind, and Safe.