Weekly Roundup for December 29, 2023

Today’s digest provides helpful and important news on the following:

1. Learn how to recycle your Christmas tree
2. Find out how to improve the energy efficiency of your home at January 6 workshop
3. Prop. 47 advisory committee to discuss services that keep people out of jail on January 17
4. Other Sonoma County news

Learn how to recycle your Christmas tree

Just because the gifts are gone from under your Christmas tree doesn’t mean it has to stop giving. By recycling your tree, you can turn it into mulch and compost that can be used in yards and gardens. 

There are three ways to recycle your tree: curbside residential collection, drop-off, or pick-up by a nonprofit organization ($10-15 suggested donation). Only real trees with no decorations, lights, stands, tinsel and flocking can be recycled. 

For details about how, when and where you can recycle your unflocked, debris-free tree, visit Zero Waste Sonoma at https://zerowastesonoma.gov/materials/christmas-trees

Find out how to improve the energy efficiency of your home at January 6 workshop

Start 2024 by making your home more efficient and comfortable. Attend the county’s free Energy and Sustainability workshop on January 6 in Windsor to discover ways to enhance the energy efficiency, safety and resilience of your home.

Participants will also gain insights into rebates, incentives and financing options to pay for home improvements, as well as DIY projects you can do on your own. All participants will be entered into a drawing for a free Home Energy Score worth approximately $450; people who register in advance will receive an additional entry in the drawing.

The 90-minute workshop will begin at 2 p.m. on Jan. 6 at the Windsor Regional Library,  9291 Old Redwood Highway, Building 100. Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/your-energy-efficient-and-resilient-home-tickets-718174889427?fbclid=IwAR2Ntw0-SLztgUVjocpSpetICwcXnoreilI2nefpArr8iaYQf09FPrK3-wk

Additional workshops will be held in other cities over the next three months.

Prop. 47 advisory committee to discuss services that keep people out of jail on January 17

Community members are invited to attend the Jan. 17 meeting of an advisory committee that will guide investments in mental health and drug treatment services to people who are repeatedly arrested and placed in the Sonoma County jail.

The purpose of the program is to use intensive engagement strategies to establish relationships with individuals who have serious mental health and/or substance use disorders, are unhoused or precariously housed, and are repeatedly incarcerated. The project, overseen by the county’s Department of Health Services, is designed to gain trust with these individuals while they are incarcerated and connect them with ongoing services, supports and resources.

The program was created under Proposition 47, the 2014 statewide ballot measure that reclassified some felonies to misdemeanors and sought to shift funding from prisons into community-based prevention programs.

The meeting begins at noon on January 17. For information on how to participate, visit https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/2nd-prop-47-advisory-committee-meeting

Other Sonoma County news of note

Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office announces change to public hours
https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/sonoma-county-registrar-of-voters-office-announces-change-to-public-hours

View a list of current and upcoming job opportunities with the County of Sonoma
https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/job-opportunities

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https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/Newsroom/SoCo-Correspondent/