Sonoma County Officials To Hold April 21 Community Briefing In Spanish

Press release from the Sonoma County Government:

April 19, 2021

Santa Rosa, CA – April 19, 2021 – General Consul of Mexico Remedios Gomez Arnau will be the featured guest speaker at the Sonoma County Community Briefing on Wednesday, April 21, a news briefing that for the first time will be conducted entirely in Spanish with English interpretation available. Previous sessions have been conducted in English with Spanish translation available.

Supervisor James Gore along with Board Chair Lynda Hopkins and Sylvia Lemus of the County’s Communications team will moderate the briefing, which will be streamed live on Facebook in Spanish and on YouTube in English. In addition to remarks from Mexico’s Counsel General based in San Francisco, the briefing will include an update on progress related to COVID-19 vaccines in Sonoma County and the County’s new Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which begins on April 19, 2021.

Sonoma County health officials, in addition to Supervisors Hopkins and Gore, will be available to answer questions. Members of the media are encouraged to submit questions in advance by emailing <u>publicaffairs@sonoma-county.org</u>. The questions can be submitted in English or Spanish. They also will be invited to ask questions live during the news conference.

“We wanted to do something different for this week’s briefing for our Spanish-speaking viewers, many of whom have been hardest hit by the health and financial impacts of the pandemic,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, Chair of the Board of Supervisors.

“I think this provides a unique opportunity for our Spanish-speaking audience to ask their questions in real-time and receive a response in their native language in real-time.”

The Emergency Rental Assistance Program will provide payment assistance for tenants who are behind on rent and utilities. ERAP additionally provides options for landlords to participate and receive financial assistance. This program is open to all County residents, regardless of immigration status, who are renters or landlords requiring rental assistance. Assistance can be used to pay unpaid rent or utilities including power, water, gas, and Internet services. Financial assistance for arrears can be from April 2020 to March 2021, up to 12 months.

This press release was produced by the Sonoma County Government. The views expressed here are the author’s own.