Rohnert Park, California — The School of Business and Economics (SBE) at Sonoma State University (SSU) today issued the following statement from Dean William S. Silver regarding the wildfires burning in the north San Francisco Bay Area, and the SBE’s role as an educational and community nucleus for the region’s economic recovery efforts.
From Dean William S. Silver:
“Our communities have suffered extensive shock and loss over the past week and we remain vigilant and hopeful that the fires burning in our region and throughout California can be contained over the coming days. Amid disaster, the outpouring of caring and support across our shared communities has been vital and tremendous. Now, we begin the process of rebuilding our businesses and communities with a common focus and shared resilience to take this challenge head on. Our success will depend on a spirit of collaboration and entrepreneurship, and the School of Business and Economics is working across student, alumni, faculty, and business communities to facilitate action that ensures a complete and vibrant economic recovery.”
Dean Silver is a founding member of Rebuild North Bay, a 501(c)4 organization dedicated to recovery efforts in Sonoma, Napa, Mendocino, Lake and Solano counties. The organization is working with both public and private sector leaders to address immediate funding needs, future environmental issues, assessment of recovery efforts, assessment of above ground infrastructure, future legislative reform, and to partner with organizations that are raising funds for those impacted in the various communities.
For information regarding Rebuild North Bay, please email info@rebuildnorthbay.org. The Sonoma State University campus is currently closed to ensure the safety of students and employees. An SBE community support page was created for Facebook users here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/702691229931493/. SSU is providing information regarding fire status updates here: http://news.sonoma.edu/sonoma-county-fires-updates. University officials are preparing a survey for students, faculty and staff to begin to assess the impacts of the fires on our community and to collect information on unmet needs for a donation website to build disaster relief funds.
