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United Way tells Cloverdale 211 Sonoma is a key local referral service as county funding ends
Summary
United Way of the Wine Country presented six years of Cloverdale-specific 211 data and urged the city to partner on outreach and emergency planning after the county signaled it will stop funding 211 Sonoma on July 1. The presentation highlighted housing and food as top needs and described a Lyft-funded Ride United pilot expanding transportation access.
United Way of the Wine Country CEO Lisa Karano told the Cloverdale City Council on May 13 that 211 Sonoma provides a phone, text and web-based resource that has answered roughly 1,500 contacts and provided 2,265 referrals for Cloverdale residents over the past six years.
"211 is a phone, texting, and web-based interface . . . to help connect residents, no matter who they are or where they're situated in Sonoma County, with the social care and health and other basic needs resources that they may need," Karano said during a 45-minute presentation.
Karano summarized city-level data showing that callers are disproportionately women and people over 50 and that housing is the most frequent need, followed by income support and food assistance. She described two recent initiatives: a text-food service that routes people to local food resources, and a Ride United pilot—funded by Lyft—that has scheduled over 200 rides for essential appointments.
Council members pressed Karano about disaster capacity and mutual-aid agreements for spikes in call volume. Karano said 211 Sonoma maintains mutual-aid pacts with other call centers and routed overflow calls from outside California during a previous county evacuation. "We plan for it. We work real hard on it," she said.
The presentation included a funding warning: Karano said the County of Sonoma will stop funding 211 Sonoma as of July 1 and United Way is seeking alternative funding and local partnerships to keep coverage in the northern county. That prompted multiple council members to suggest advocating for 211 at intercity meetings and to invite United Way to hold a local workshop or a satellite presence in Cloverdale.
Members of the public asked practical questions: 211 is available by dialing 211 or visiting 211.org; the service can be filtered by zip code and exported as city-level dashboards. Karano offered to provide tailored data products for Cloverdale and to convene follow-up workshops on senior services, disaster readiness and youth outreach.
The city expressed interest in exploring partnerships and workshop formats; Karano said United Way would share a written proposal and discuss potential pilot activities, including tax-preparation sites and targeted outreach to older residents.
What happens next: United Way will provide its proposal and data products to city staff, and council members asked staff to consider a city-hosted workshop to explore satellite services or funding supports.
Sources: Presentation and Q&A with Lisa Karano, CEO, United Way of the Wine Country; Cloverdale City Council meeting, May 13, 2026.
