The Fund for Santa Barbara has announced its 2022 Fall General Cycle, and Multi-Year grant recipients.

From safeguarding access to reproductive care, to community organizing to strengthen Santa Maria’s labor justice, to advocating for the rights and wellness for LGBTQ+ and HIV-impacted communities in Santa Barbara County, the Fall and Multi-Year Grantees are carrying out critical work that will have a lasting and formative impact.

The Fund for Santa Barbara also acknowledges the work of its grant making committee for their commitment to advancing progressive change by strengthening movements for Economic, Environmental, Political, Racial, and Social Justice.

Learn more about the Fund for Santa Barbara’s 2022 Fall General Cycle and Multi-Year grant recipients below. Community members are invited to join in honoring the grantees Dec. 13 at the Fall Grant Awards Celebration in Santa Maria.

RSVP to fundforsantabarbara.org/fall-gac-rsvp/.

Fall General Grants ($103,000)

Community Health Centers of the Central Coast, INC (CHCC) – Wisdom Keeper Circle – $10,000: CHCCC will engage directly with Indigenous communities and the organizations that serve them to better understand the cultural and linguistic gaps that exist by creating a Wisdom Keeper Circle of Indigenous leaders and trusted messengers. Funding will be used for compensation and ofrendas/offerings for the Wisdom Keeper Circle members.

Family Service Agency of Santa Barbara County – Extendiendo Lazos de Liderazgo – Extending Leadership Bonds – $10,000: Funding will support recruitment, coordination, and facilitation of community discussions, as well as provide community organizing workshops and other leadership development opportunities.

Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project – The Indigenous Youth and Farmworker Empowerment Project – $10,000: Funding will support MICOP Santa Maria’s labor justice, youth development, and language access programs through general operating support in Santa Maria.

North County – Food Resilience, Equity, Sustainability, and Action (FRESA) – FRESA Esta Presente! (FRESA is Present!) – $5,200: Continued funding to support the FRESA coalition’s action meetings, community outreach, and language services as well as social media tailored to reach community members, taking into account the best practices of Language Justice (to include Spanish, English, and increasing Mixtec translation capacity).

North Santa Barbara Manufactured Homeowners Team (NSBMHT) – Rent Stabilization Project – $10,000: Continued support to pay legal fees for negotiations with the Santa Maria city attorney, city manager, park owners’ legal counsel, and guidance to the subcommittee working on developing and implementing the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.

Planned Parenthood California Central Coast (PPCCC) – Santa Maria Patient Escort Program – $10,000: Funding will support a paid Community Organizer Intern in Santa Maria who will be responsible for launching a new Patient Escort Program.

Santa Barbara Foundation (fiscal sponsor for Healing Justice Santa Barbara) – Healing Justice Parenting Fellows – $10,000: Funding will support costs to offer leadership and skill-building training for the “Healing Justice Parenting Fellows” program for a fellowship of mothers and caregivers of color.

Santa Barbara Response Network – SBRN’s Thriving Organizations, Thriving Staff for Systemic Change – $10,000: Continued funding to expand SBRN’s Thriving Organizations, Thriving Staff program to foster systemic change within 4-10 local organizations by providing mental health recovery and implementing their own healing and wellness modalities.

Uffizi Order dba Santa Barbara Alliance for Community Transformation – Homelessness Lived Experience Leadership Project – $10,000: Funds will pay for a leader with lived homelessness experience and a coordinator for a group of individuals experiencing homelessness taking action for housing needs.

University of California Santa Barbara – Undocumented Student Services – $10,000: Funding to support UCSB’s Undocumented Student Services Department implement the UndocuThriving programming and the Peer Success Advisors Program to provide professional development through internships for undocumented students.

Women’s March of Santa Maria Valley – Women’s March of Santa Maria Valley – $7,800: Funding to support mandatory fees for the January 2023 Women’s March in Santa Maria to promote and celebrate the power of women through change driven by grass-roots activism as well as interpretation/translation services.

2022 Multi-Year Grants ($90,000): Cultural and Creative Arts Center of the Santa Maria Valley — Corazon Del Pueblo: Equitable Access to Our Culture & Our Arts for Our Communities – $30,000 ($10,000 annually in 2022, 2023, 2024): Funding will support programs focused on establishing arts as a vehicle for racial equity in the Santa Maria Valley that will bring arts directly to underserved community members, allowing for the development of leadership skills, free expression of creative thought and advocacy work through their youth artivism group.

Santa Barbara County Action Network (SBCAN): Youth ARTS Alive – $30,000 ($10,000 annually in 2022, 2023, 2024): Funding will support advocacy to lobby the Santa Maria City Council and local school boards to designate more tax dollars for performing and visual arts education and the coordination of free visual and performing arts education for children 8-18 in Santa Maria’s most economically challenged neighborhoods.

The Pacific Pride Foundation, Inc. – General Operating Support – $30,000 ($10,000 annually in 2022, 2023, 2024): Funding will directly support PPF’s work advocating for rights, visibility, and wellness for LGBTQ+ and HIV-impacted communities in Santa Barbara County through core social change initiatives: Rainbow Roundtables, youth leadership development, language access, and the Pacific Pride Festival.