Sonoma County is putting county hall on wheels. A new program called Open Doors Mobile Services is sending two 24-foot converted vans into towns without a nearby county office — and the first van rolls into Cloverdale on April 21.
Key takeaways
- Two mobile service vans will visit Cloverdale (April 21), Windsor (May 5) and Healdsburg (May 12), with more stops to follow.
- Staff can sign residents up for CalFresh, Medi-Cal, EBT replacement cards, child support cases, and behavioral health or senior services.
- The Board of Supervisors put $800,800 toward the program in 2023 to buy and outfit the vans.
- Three departments — Human Services, Health Services and Child Support Services — are running it jointly, and collectively already serve about one in three county residents.
- The vans extend the broader Open Doors initiative launched in September 2025, anchored by the OpenDoorsSC.com directory of 600-plus local resource providers.
Why this matters for north county residents
If you live up-valley or out toward the coast, getting to the county building in Santa Rosa to handle a CalFresh renewal or swap an EBT card can mean a half-day off work and a chunk of gas money. Open Doors Mobile Services is pitched squarely at that access gap.
District 4 Supervisor Rebecca Hermosillo said the program “brings County resources and support directly into those neighborhoods” that have historically struggled to tap state and federal benefits — rural households, monolingual Spanish-speaking residents, seniors who don’t drive, and working families who can’t burn an afternoon on a DMV-style errand. The three departments involved already touch roughly one in every three Sonoma County residents, so demand isn’t hypothetical; the delivery model is just catching up.
Where and when the vans will be
Launch dates are April 21 in Cloverdale, May 5 in Windsor and May 12 in Healdsburg. At each stop, county staff will work alongside local nonprofit partners — Alexander Valley Healthcare, La Familia Sana, Calvary Chapel River Fellowship and Corazón Healdsburg — that already know the neighborhoods. Services on the menu include:
- CalFresh and Medi-Cal applications and renewals
- Creating or fixing a BenefitsCal account
- Printing and replacing EBT cards on the spot
- Referrals to behavioral health, nutrition and employment programs
- Opening and managing child support cases, plus financial assistance
- Help for seniors and people with disabilities
How it fits the wider Open Doors push
The vans are the physical arm of a program that went live online last fall. The broader Open Doors initiative, launched in September 2025, points residents to OpenDoorsSC.com, a directory connecting them to more than 600 organizations offering housing, healthcare, food help and job support. The mobile units essentially carry that directory into places where Wi-Fi, English-language navigation, or simple awareness is the real barrier.
The rollout also lands at a tense moment for the county budget: supervisors are holding public budget workshops with federal safety-net cuts on the horizon, and the recent supervisor candidate forums have put how the county reaches underserved residents squarely on the campaign trail. Programs like Open Doors, which stretch existing staff across multiple agencies, are exactly the kind of cross-department play the county is leaning on.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need an appointment to use the mobile services van?
No. Open Doors Mobile Services is a walk-up operation — residents can show up at a scheduled stop and get help on the spot. Bring any ID, documentation or existing case info you’d normally take to a county office so staff can look up or update your file.
What can the van actually do that I can’t do online?
A lot of the work — CalFresh applications, Medi-Cal renewals, BenefitsCal account fixes and program referrals — is technically possible online, but the van lets you sit down with a live person and finish it in one visit. The standout in-person service is EBT card printing and replacement, which the van can do the same day instead of waiting on a mailed card.
When will the vans come to my town?
The first three confirmed stops are Cloverdale on April 21, Windsor on May 5 and Healdsburg on May 12. The county says additional communities will be added based on gaps in office coverage and local demand, so keep an eye on the county’s Open Doors page and local nonprofit partners for later stops.
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