COTS :: Homeless Services

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The Petaluma Kitchen

Located at COTS' Mary Isaak Center facility, the Petaluma Kitchen serves free, nutritious hot meals at lunchtime, every day. All are welcome.

The Petaluma Kitchen serves a free midday meal seven days a week, 365 days a year, for men, women, and children in need.
The Kitchen provides more than 126,000 meals annually, thanks to volunteers from the community who donate more than 20,000 hours per year—cooking, serving meals, cleaning the eating area and kitchen, picking up food donations, shopping, and packing and delivering emergency food boxes.
Food donations come to the Petaluma Kitchen year-round through food drives, individual donations, and surplus food from grocery stores, restaurants, and local food growers and producers.
Most of the purchased food comes in bulk, for pennies a pound, from the Redwood Empire Food Bank.
Kitchen staff are often the initial contacts for families or individuals who need referrals for housing, clothing, or medical resources in the community (including COTS' own shelter programs).
The Petaluma Kitchen is the central contact point of COTS' outreach to persons living on the streets, to encourage them to seek shelter and support at the Mary Isaak Center.
In addition to a nourishing meal, Petaluma Kitchen guests are provided access to clothing, showers, and laundry machines during the morning hours before lunch.

Mary Isaak Center

COTS' Mary Isaak Center facility is the setting for the majority of COTS' programs and services. These programs help families and single adults to heal from trauma and homelessness, gain life skills, optimize their income, and acquire permanent housing. We know that trauma influences how people respond and live in the world. If we do not deal with this history, it is extremely difficult to help people move forward.

The second floor of the building is dedicated to the Family Transitional Housing program, which provides shelter and a wide range of transformative programs for up to 11 families at a time. Families may stay for up to two years, during which time they receive intensive support services and individualized case management. Parents are required to participate in Kids First, COTS' 12-week parenting skills training, and in Rent Right, a 9-week course in financial literacy and housing search. More than 70% of families graduate into permanent housing and independent stable lives.

The 100-bed Emergency Shelter for Single Adults is located on the first floor of the Mary Isaak Center. Services include food, clothing, showers, access to phones and a messaging system, access to computers, transportation assistance, mental health and chemical dependency recovery support, job skills training, and assistance in obtaining employment and/or public benefits. Residents may stay for up to six months and more than 50% graduate into either transitional or permanent housing. The Emergency Shelter for Single Adults serves up to 500 individuals annually.

Kids First Family Shelter

Child maltreatment in the County of Sonoma is a grave and ongoing problem. The Kids First Family Shelter (KFFS) is a 5-bedroom, 15-bed house serving homeless families who have been referred to COTS from Sonoma County Child Protective Services (CPS). The program's goals are to prevent child maltreatment and reduce the number of children who end up as wards of the county. Families receive comprehensive support services and counseling and may stay for up to 90 days. On-site staff provide parents with opportunities for respite, support and guidance when they need it most. Upon exiting KFFS, many families enter COTS' Family Transitional Housing program. KFFS serves up to 90 parents and children per year.

Community-Based Transitional Housing

COTS' Family Transitional Housing program extends beyond the Mary Isaak Center to 2 shared transitional homes in Petaluma and Rohnert Park, serving 11 families per year. Each family pays a small affordable rent, receives individual case management services, and participates in Kids First and other supportive COTS programs while working toward independence. Families can stay in COTS' transitional homes for up to 2 years.

COTS' Emergency Shelter for Single Adults extends beyond the Mary Isaak Center to 4 transitional homes in Petaluma, serving 69 single adults per year. Residents pay a small rent and may stay for up to 2 years, during which time they have access to COTS' counseling and alcohol/drug recovery groups, as well as other supportive services.. Residents are required to participate in COTS' Work Right job skills training and Rent Right housing search skills training.

78% of families and single adults in these transitional programs move on to homes of their own when they leave, making these programs twice as effective as similar programs across the country!