Community Vitality Project

Based on plans made in 2019, the Sebastopol City Council authorized the engagement of local organization CoMission on the “Community Vitality Project” in March 2020. With the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, CoMission shifted their focus and priorities to address the new challenges and face the resiliency demands of the community not only as they were prior to COVID-19, but especially in the wake of the pandemic. The comprehensive community engagement portion of the program began on May 5, 2020. With outreach and engagement tactics ranging from community meetings to public surveys, proactively eliciting participation from our local business, nonprofit, and government stakeholders. These efforts culminated in the Community Needs Summit in May 2021.

Building upon the discoveries made at the 2021 Community Needs Summit, the City of Sebastopol and The Sebastopol Service and Action Committee scheduled a second summit for June 2022.

In 2021, the City of Sebastopol released a request for proposals for a plan that would help local business, bring new visitors to town, and re-ignite civic life. After a competitive bidding process, the Relaunch Sebastopol contract was awarded to Townie Media in January 2022. Townie Media’s proposal offered a smorgasbord of ideas for marketing, placemaking, and civic renewal. The next step is to work with the city council and city staff to choose which of these ideas to implement.

The city has allotted $86,000 to the Relaunch Sebastopol project, and the work is to be carried out from March 2022 to February 2023. The city council has created an ad hoc Relaunch Sebastopol Committee, comprised of two council members (Sarah Glade Gurney and Mayor Patrick Slayter), as well as City Attorney Lawrence McLaughlin and Assistant City Manager Mary Gourley, who are meeting with the Townie Media staff on a regular basis. The goal is to create real, tangible deliverables that improve the business and civic environment of Sebastopol.

Visit the Relaunch Sebastopol site.

See the Visit Sebastopol site.