About Revillage

Remembering how to belong to a place.

Cultivating local commons, cultures, and economies.

ReVillage is a dual-entity initiative rooted in the Green Valley watershed of Sonoma County, cultivating local belonging and resilience. We believe communities can become small islands of coherence — where people and place learn how to thrive together again.

Vision

Joyfully remembering our interdependence with each other and the living earth.

We're not meant to do this alone. Yet increasingly, we are. Across small towns and cities alike, many people are living with fewer shared places, thinner local economies, and less day-to-day connection to neighbors, land, food, and culture.

ReVillage began from a simple question: What would it look like to remember the village layer of life in a modern world?

For us, that starts here, in Graton and the Green Valley watershed of West Sonoma County. It looks like public commons, shared meals, seasonal festivals, youth and elder storytelling, local food systems, community businesses, and places where people can show up alone and not feel alone.

Origin Story

Joyfully remembering our interdependence with each other and the living earth.

ReVillage began in 2024 as a community organizing effort in Graton, California.

Our first major project was transforming the last undeveloped parcel in downtown Graton, a former gas station, into the new Graton Town Square. In collaboration with the Graton Community Services District, neighbors came together to imagine, fund, and begin building a public commons for the village.

Since then, hundreds of volunteers have helped plant gardens, build gathering spaces, host festivals, welcome students, support artists, and bring new life to the center of town.

What else becomes possible when a place starts organizing around belonging?

A hybrid organization

Two structures. One shared purpose.

ReVillage operates through both a nonprofit foundation and a mission-aligned development company. Thriving communities need more than programming alone — they also need places to gather, locally-rooted businesses, housing, cultural infrastructure, and long-term stewardship of shared resources. Different tools, one shared purpose.

California Benefit Corporation

ReVillage Development

Cultivating mission-aligned businesses, real estate, and local economic infrastructure.

Focus areas

Community-serving enterprises like Graton Station
Adaptive reuse and village-scale development
Shared ownership, reinvestment, and stewardship models
High-quality local livelihoods

A portion of profits flows back into community benefit initiatives through partnership with ReVillage Foundation.

Shared mission

Cultivating belonging & resilience through:

Commons

Shared Culture

Thriving Local Economies

501(c)(3) Nonprofit

ReVillage Foundation

Stewarding public space, arts, ecological resilience, and intergenerational culture.

Focus areas

Public commons & civic gathering spaces
Festivals, arts, and storytelling
Youth stewardship & ecology education
Community resilience initiatives
Participatory visioning & governance

Works closely with local governments, schools, artists, and grassroots organizations.

The Foundation and Development organizations maintain separate governance, finances, and decision-making while collaborating around a shared long-term vision.

Leadership & core contributors

The people holding the work.

Ferrell Carter

Food Systems

Adrian Apana

Food Systems

Spencer Honeyman

Civic Design

Cristina Valverde

Public Arts

John Nagle

Ecosystems

Niko Kush

Build & Infrastructure

Lindsey Dyer

Stewardship & Youth Engagement

Tori Immel

Cofounder, Operations & Programming

Matt Jorgensen

Founder

Partners & key allies

We build in relationship.

ILALI
Landwell
Safer Graton / Green Valley
BioFi Project
Sonoma County District 5
Graton Day Labor Center · Centro Laboral de Graton
Stone Creek Zen Center
Sonoma Land Trust

Frequently asked questions

The questions we hear most.

What is ReVillage?

ReVillage is a place-based initiative rooted in the Green Valley watershed of West Sonoma County, California. Through public space, shared culture, and mission-aligned development, we work to cultivate stronger local communities, resilient local economies, and deeper connection to place.

Is ReVillage a nonprofit?

Partly. ReVillage operates through two aligned entities with a shared mission:

ReVillage Foundation

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on public space, arts & culture, stewardship, youth programming, and community resilience.

ReVillage Development

A California Benefit Corporation focused on community-serving businesses, housing & adaptive reuse, local economic infrastructure, and long-term stewardship models.

Why operate through two organizations?

Because thriving communities need both commons and livelihoods. Some work is best stewarded through nonprofit structures — public arts, youth programming, civic gathering spaces. Other work, like operating businesses, developing housing, or experimenting with shared ownership models, requires different tools and capital structures. Rather than separating these worlds entirely, we are exploring how they can work in healthy relationship with one another.

Are donations tax deductible?

Donations to ReVillage Foundation are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. Investments in ReVillage Development or affiliated businesses are not charitable contributions.

What is the relationship between the Foundation and Development company?

The two organizations share a mission and collaborate closely, while maintaining separate governance, finances, and legal responsibilities. The Foundation focuses on public benefit, community engagement, and stewardship. The Development company focuses on cultivating mission-aligned enterprises and infrastructure that support long-term community wellbeing.

What does "place-based" mean?

It means beginning with relationship to a specific place. Rather than scaling one abstract solution everywhere, ReVillage starts by listening deeply to the people, ecology, culture, and history of the Green Valley watershed — and allowing projects to emerge from those relationships over time.

What is "ReVillaging"?

We use the term "ReVillaging" to describe the long-term work of restoring the social, cultural, ecological, and economic relationships that help communities thrive — public commons, local food systems, shared rituals & festivals, intergenerational connection, ecological stewardship, local livelihoods, housing & belonging. Not a return to the past, but an exploration of what village life might look like in a modern context.

Is ReVillage political or religious?

ReVillage is nonpartisan and not affiliated with any religion. People from many different backgrounds participate in this work. While we often engage questions of culture, ecology, belonging, and stewardship, our focus is practical and community-rooted: creating spaces where people can gather, collaborate, and care for the places they call home.

Why Graton?

Because transformation becomes real somewhere specific. Graton is a small village in West Sonoma County with a strong sense of character, creativity, and local participation. Beginning in a smaller place allows us to experiment at a human scale and cultivate relationships across generations, sectors, and walks of life.

What does "working at the speed of relationship" mean?

It means prioritizing trust, listening, and long-term stewardship over rapid growth. Many of the challenges communities face today were created by systems moving faster than relationships can sustain. We believe durable change emerges through participation, care, and steady cultivation over time.