About Us
We are empowering and advocating for our communities


The mission of COPE is to help residents, families, visitors, and neighbors become and remain better prepared to respond to and recover from emergency situations.
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Our Vision
By working together as residents, communities, and local agencies to prepare for emergencies, Northern Sonoma County will be safer and more resilient.
Our Values
Community
Share best practices
Trust
Collaboration
Advocacy
Action
Who we serve
COPE Leaders who represent communities in the 4th District (including our most vulnerable (seniors, Spanish speakers, poor, etc.).
Initiatives
We serve as a California Fire Safe Council and serve our communities as leaders in emergency preparedness.
We promote partnership and collaboration with government agencies, public safety organizations and other organizations.
We also provide monthly Info Sessions for 1-on-1 assistance to emerging COPE Leaders.
We are a public forum to educate, train and encourage additional Northern Sonoma County communities to create COPE programs and prepare for emergencies.
We identify, plan, organize and spearhead projects that lead to increased emergency preparedness.
We advocate for our communities by influencing policy, bureaucratic processes and the allocation of resources for emergency preparedness.
The COPE Board


Priscilla Abercrombie
Chair
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Geoff Peters
Vice Chair
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Rebecca LaLonde
Treasurer
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Marshall Turbeville
Board Member
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Nancy Brown
Board Member
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Dyan Urban
Secretary
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Dyan is a Marketing specialist who advises large corporations, such as Citibank, FedEx and Nabisco. Dyan earned her BA from UC Berkeley and her MBA from the Harvard Business School. She recently moved back to Northern California from Boston where she and her husband, Roger, lived for 35 years. While in Boston she was a Board Member of the local United Way organization where she ran special events and other fundraising activities. Having moved to Sonoma County, Dyan was impressed by the constructiveness and positiveness of this community. Dyan decided to join COPE because it so embodied these values; specifically, she was inspired by the faith that COPE places on “Neighbors helping Neighbors” responsibilities.
Marshall Turbeville is currently the Fire Chief of the Northern Sonoma County Fire District and a Battalion Chief with CAL FIRE. He feels that what we do in prevention and preparedness is much more important than what we do during an emergency response. Working together before an emergency, we may be able to prevent the emergency and if the emergency does occur, we are able to reduce the damages and losses. This opinion comes from his experience of being a responder for over 25 years and being a member of the Northern Sonoma County community. COPE provides a model to support grassroots individual and neighborhood level preparedness and helping each other during an emergency where they may not be enough responders to properly help everyone. COPE NoSoCo supports collaboration and coordination between neighborhoods and communities. Chief Turbeville was awarded the 2021 national Wildfire Mitigation Award by the National Association of State Foresters (NASF), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), and the USDA Forest Service (USFS).
Dr Nancy Brown is the Community Preparedness Program Manager for the Sonoma County Department of Emergency Management. Originally from Southern California she previously served as Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for The Hotels at the Disneyland Resort® in Anaheim, California. In this capacity their power of community to fill in response gaps and move preparedness forward was demonstrated daily by Cast Member commitment to support emergency preparedness to keep staff and guests safe in disaster. Nancy began attending COPE meetings in her professional capacity, to support community preparedness. Once again the power of community was being leveraged to get communities ready to stay safe in disaster. NoSoCo COPE has been her model for other areas of the County, demonstrating what local leadership and involvement can accomplish in both mitigation and preparedness efforts for neighborhoods across the County.