Our Village Closet, Presented by Amanda Kitchens
Our speaker for October 29, 2026 was Amanda Kitchens, co-founder and executive director of Our Village Closet (OVC), a Santa Rosa nonprofit. OVC supports foster youth (up to age 25) and their caregivers by providing free essential items, dignity-centered shopping experiences, and wraparound community support. Amanda and her husband Chad have been foster parents for 15 years and have adopted four children from foster care. Amanda is proudly neurodiverse, has a degree in anthropology, and is a long-time social scientist.
OVC was founded in 2019 by Amanda and her husband Chad. For the first two years, OVC collected donated items and distributed them from garages and storage units across the county. In 2021, the organization opened a dedicated resource center on Mendocino Avenue in Santa Rosa. The center is designed as a boutique-style, free shop where foster youth and their caregivers can personally select the items they need. Available items include clothing, shoes, pajamas, underwear, hygiene products, books, toys, crafts, car seats (new only), and bikes. Seasonal programs include a back-to-school event with backpacks, lunchboxes, water bottles, and new shoes; a birthday gift program; and a December holiday gift event. Amanda illustrated the urgency of OVC's work through a vivid scenario: a caregiver receiving a call to take in a 7-year-old and a 3-month-old by 2:00 p.m. that same day. OVC exists to step into those critical moments by helping caregivers gather what they need and helping children feel seen, valued, and welcomed.
Amanda provided an overview of the local foster care system. Reunification to biological families is the primary goal of foster care. Adoptions have decreased as a result of greater investment in family stabilization and support. There has also been a rise in kinship placements, where close relatives or family friends step in to care for children. These caregivers have historically received less support than traditional foster parents. All resource parents, whether doing emergency fostering, concurrent planning (supporting reunification but open to adoption), or long-term fostering, undergo the same training. Children enter foster care primarily due to neglect (over 60% of cases). Reports are made to Child Protective Services (known locally as Family, Youth, and Children Services) by teachers, family members, or community members. In 2025, approximately 4,000 calls were made to the hotline in Sonoma County, resulting in roughly 71 new removals. As of 2025, there are approximately 471 foster children in Sonoma County.
OVC has also developed several programs to support the foster care community. The Adopted Youth Lounge is hosted at OVC's site in collaboration with TLC and serves teens and tweens adopted from foster care. OVC partners with Forget-Me-Not Farms Collaboration to offer therapeutic animal interaction sessions for foster and adopted youth. Community Adoption Conversations is open to the public with sessions held twice a year to educate and connect the community around adoption from foster care. OVC also actively works to expand educational resources and connection opportunities for caregivers to reduce placement disruptions. OVC operates with a staff of three with one full-time employee (Jennifer, Director of Operations) and two part-time staff including Amanda. The organization logged approximately 4,000 volunteer hours in the past year. The annual budget is approximately $300,000. OVC relies on individual donors, foundations, community groups, and volunteers; it receives no federal, state, or significant county funding. It recently raised $150,000 at its annual fundraiser.
Thank you, Jennifer, for the informative and thoughtful presentation and for all you do for our community.
