Arcata Mayor Sofia Pereira Stepping Down to Take Job as Humboldt’s New Director of Public Health
UPDATE: The City of Arcata has announced that Pereira will be stepping down from both her position as the city’s mayor and her seat on city council the Friday before she is scheduled to begin her new job as Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services’ Director of Public Health. A letter from Pereira to her constituents can be found farther down in this post. Our headline has been updated to reflect the totality of this news.
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Humboldt County Department of Health & Human Services release:
Sofia Pereira was first elected to the Arcata City Council in 2014 and is currently in her second go-round as mayor
Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) employee Sofia Pereira has been named the department’s new director of Public Health and will be stepping into her new role June 27. Pereira is replacing Michele Stephens, who was promoted to Assistant Director of DHHS in March after serving in an interim capacity since April 2020.
Pereira previously worked as a legislative analyst for the department from 2014 through early 2017, at which time she left to work as a community manager and then a program director for She Should Run, a nonprofit that focuses on increasing the number of women who run for political office. She returned to DHHS in 2019 as an Emergency Preparedness Analyst for the Public Health Branch and was promoted to Program Coordinator for the same program less than a year later.
During the county’s COVID-19 response, Pereira has served as the Operations Chief working closing with Stephens and Health Officer Dr. Ian Hoffman and overseeing approximately 200 staff working in communicable disease investigations, testing, human services and vaccination.
In her new capacity, Pereira will focus on guiding Public Health programs and services through the new lens of COVID-19, while integrating lessons learned during the pandemic and continuing to improve the community’s health and preparedness. She will also advocate for continued investment in Public Health by the state and federal government and work with community partners on the Public Health Strategic Plan and Community Health Improvement Plan, which focus on long-term efforts to address health-related issues in the community.
DHHS Director Connie Beck said, “Sofia has well-established relationships at both the local and state level, which will be beneficial in her new role.”
As Public Health Director, Pereira will be responsible for the Communicable Disease Program and its continued expansion due to COVID funding; the Public Health Clinic; Public Health Nursing; Environmental Health; Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health programs including the Women, Infants & Children nutrition program; the department’s state-of-the art laboratory; and a variety of grant-funded programs focused around improving the health of our communities.
Pereira holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Humboldt State University.
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City of Arcata Press release below:
Council Member Sofia Pereira will be stepping down from her
position on the Arcata City Council, effective Friday, June 25.
Pereira was first elected to the Arcata City Council in 2014 and served as a Council Member for
over six consecutive years, serving as Mayor in 2018 and 2021. She has represented the region on
Governor Newsom’s Council of Regional Homeless Advisors and has served the community on
many boards for organizations including the Humboldt Waste Management Authority, Arcata
House Partnership, the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, in addition to her
service with Humboldt State University Liaison’s Working Group and the Humboldt Bay
Municipal Water District’s Water Quality Task Force.
City Manager Karen Diemer describes Pereira as, “a champion for housing, protecting those most
vulnerable in our community, committed to breaking barriers to build racial equity and
maintaining strong local infrastructure to support residents and businesses,” and added, “Sofia has
a sharp mind for developing sensible public policy that will serve this community for generations
to come. She will be missed as an Arcata City Council Member, but I am certain we will continue
to benefit from her leadership at the County level.”
In a letter submitted today, Pereira shared the difficulty of her decision to resign in order to accept
her appointment as Humboldt County’s new Public Health Director:
Dear Arcata,
I am submitting my resignation from the Arcata City Council, effective Friday, June 25,
2021. Starting June 27, I will begin a new chapter as the Public Health Director for the
County of Humboldt, Department of Health and Human Services. I am honored and
excited to take on this new role to serve our community and improve our community’s
health and wellbeing. However, this decision was not taken lightly and prompts me to
reflect on our time together since December 2014.
Serving the people of Arcata as a council member and your mayor has been an immense
privilege. I am grateful to have been entrusted with the stewardship of our city budget,
services, and planning for the future. I am grateful to all who engaged with the city’s
work, pushing us to do better and be better.
Together we advanced the development and protection of affordable housing and created
the tenant-based rental assistance program to keep our low-income neighbors housed. We
expanded our city trail system and improved safe routes to school. We created new
partnerships to support our most vulnerable, connecting mental health staff with our
police department, and strengthened partnerships with service providers like Arcata
House Partnership to expand services for the homeless.
I am grateful to have shepherded some of these achievements, and yet, I could not
advance these policies alone. I want to express my appreciation for my current and
former council colleagues, our city manager, and city staff for their dedication to our city
and for what I learned from each of them during my time on the council.
I have the utmost confidence that the city council will continue to advance the work of
making Arcata a more equitable, healthy, and livable community for all Arcatans. Arcata,
you are in good hands! And I will continue this mission for Arcata and the County. My
career in public service began well before I was an elected official, and I will continue to
serve the public’s interest beyond my time as an elected official.
Thank you again for the opportunity to lead and guide our community through many
complex challenges. The work to improve our community’s health and wellbeing will
take all of us, and while I will no longer be on the city council after June 25th, my
commitment will continue.
With gratitude,
Sofia
PS: I hope to see many of you at a Crabs game or the Saturday Farmers’ Market!
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