Sonoma County’s State of Latino Community forum focuses on pandemic recovery

The coronavirus pandemic highlighted inequities in economic stability, access to health care and education attainment among minority groups in Sonoma County and nationally.

But speakers at a Thursday forum said the community should do more than just work toward recovery; it must build resiliency, especially as local studies and figures show Latinos and other diverse populations were disproportionately harmed by the health crisis.

Oscar Chavez, Sonoma County’s assistant director of human services, said the pandemic has presented an opportunity to build a social and economic system that lifts underserved populations rather than just holding up the status quo.

“The pandemic forced us to break free from our calcified way of thinking, moving away from the idea that this is how we’ve always done it,” said Chavez, who served as moderator of the annual State of the Latino Community forum hosted by Los Cien, the local leadership group.

Now in its ninth year, Los Cien’s largest annual event attracted close to 600 civic leaders, government officials and community organizations to Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park to discuss the well-being of the Latino community in the region.

It was the first in-person State of the Latino Community address in two years.

The last census showed about 138,000 Latino residents live in Sonoma County, 28% of the total population, and that the average age is 30 years old, significantly younger than white residents in the area, according to Los Cien.

Still, they lag far behind white residents in economic power, accounting for just one-eighth of the wealth, according to figures shared Thursday by Juan Hernandez, CEO of Creser Capital Fund, which seeks to boost access to financing for Latino entrepreneurs.

The 2021 Portrait of Sonoma and the 2022 Latino Score Card issued by Los Cien, both data-driven reports that gauge community health, found disparities in wealth, education and health across race and ethnicity has prevented progress for Latinos.

It’s an issue that affects more than that population, though, with Black, Indigenous and other people of color in the community also impacted.

Los Cien Executive Director Herman G. Hernandez, who in June took over the organization his father helped start 13 years ago, said he hoped the event would help build bridges between different populations and increase community collaboration to address common issues.

Score card shows small gains for Latinos

The 2022 Latino Score Card, which was unveiled Thursday as part of the event, showed small gains over the last year in college education rates, homeownership and access to health care.

The score card was launched in 2019 as part of an effort by Los Cien to measure indicators of social, economic and political disparity between Latinos and white residents to advocate for greater equality. It uses U.S. Census data, information from the Bay Area Equity Atlas and state child care and health data to look at 10 categories.

While Latinos in Sonoma County on average earned more than Latinos in California overall, higher education rates, voter registration rates, homeownership and other economic and health factors were at or below statewide averages.

And local Latinos fell far below white residents in most categories.

Just 17% of Latinos 25 and older had a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared to 44% of white residents. That’s up from 15% in the previous score card.

On average, the medium household income for Latino households was $79,300, higher than the state average of $70,100 for Latinos overall, but $21,000 less than white residents in Sonoma County.

While white residents saw a $3,700 increase in average annual income compared to data in the 2021 score card, Latinos saw a $5,100 dip in earnings.

Latinos also saw lower rates of homeownership with just 46% of Latinos owning a home, 23% less than white residents. Still, that was a slight increase from 41% the previous year.

Among the other indicators, 13% of Latinos went without health insurance coverage compared to just 3% of white residents.

'When you are not counted, you are invisible’

Experts during three panels on Thursday touched on some of those disparities during discussions on equity work being done outside of Sonoma County, how federal pandemic aid has helped Latino entrepreneurs and why it’s important for minority groups to work together.

Marlene Orozco, CEO and founder of Stratified Insights Research Consulting, who moderated the small business panel, said Latinos statewide are opening small businesses at faster rates than white counterparts. But Latino entrepreneurs still face barriers to accessing funds, loans and other business assistance, she said.

That has led community groups to step up, capitalizing on federal pandemic aid that has trickled into the community, to help Latino entrepreneurs, she said.

Two people doing that work are Hector Velazquez of Nexo Media and Hernandez, the Creser Capital Fund chief executive, who spoke during the forum.

Through Velazquez’s Red LatinX Hub, which provides business assistance to Latino business owners, and Hernandez’s Creser Capital Fund, which provides financing, the pair are working to increase generational wealth among Latinos.

In a later panel, Kirstyne Lange, president of the Sonoma County NAACP, said when she moved to Sonoma County she found that minority groups weren’t connected and it created a division among the populations.

As the county prepared to update 2014 Portrait of Sonoma, she said Black residents weren’t included and she was told the population was “statistically insignificant.” Data on Asian and Indigenous populations is also largely missing from the conversation, she said.

Lange said having data is important to understanding the needs in the community and advocating for funding and resources to be directed to those populations.

“When you are not counted, you are invisible,” said Healdsburg Mayor Ozzy Jimenez, one of the panelists.

Lange, Jimenez and panelist Julie Kawahara of Kawahara & Associates, a Sebastopol consulting firm, said having more diverse voices in the decision making process could address disparities in the community.

“We have to make a concerted effort to ensure everybody is able to be at the table, make decisions and roll out these programs and initiatives together,” Lange said.

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.