For three decades, Ann McCarty has provided a voice for the voiceless, supporting survivors of sexual assault, child abuse and human trafficking through advocacy, education and awareness in northern Santa Barbara County.

McCarty, who joined the staff of the North County Rape Crisis and Child Protection Center in 1994 and took the helm as executive director in 2015, retired at the end of June. She has been replaced by Dr. Nidia Delgadillo.

Several city councils in the North County highlighted McCarty in recent weeks, including Lompoc on Tuesday night and Buellton on Thursday night. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors honored her last month, along with the Solvang and Santa Maria councils.

On Thursday night, Buellton Mayor David Silva recognized McCarty for shining a light on the systemic problem of sexual assault and child molestation while operating with a level of kindness, steadfastness and tenacity.

“You’ve really provided a voice for the voiceless …,” Silva said. “I feel like you helped remove blinders on so many people to not just be aware but to also feel empowered of how we can move the dial just in the smallest of ways.”

Serving as the executive director of a nonprofit organization can be a thankless job, Silva said, before expressing appreciation for McCarty’s tireless commitment to the cause “and for the lives you have changed and saved and brought back from the brink because of your direct action.”

They presented her with a gift and posed for a group photo with McCarty, before she read aloud from the framed poignant present.

“It says ‘Difference Maker: A remarkable person who turns small actions into lasting impact through kindness, integrity and dedication. They inspire others to grow, achieve and dream bigger. Also known as Ann.’”

Days earlier, Councilman Jeremy Ball presented McCarty with a certificate of appreciation at the start of the Lompoc meeting.

“I can’t imagine the stories she’s had to endure, the trauma she’s had to witness, the hardest times for a lot of people, a lot of young people, a lot of women that she’s had to lift up,” Ball said, noting that McCarty found fulfillment connecting survivors with resources and educating communities about sexual assaults, child abuse and human trafficking.

“I’m a big fan and admirer of her work, her leadership and the pivotal role she plays in our community,” Santa Maria Councilwoman Gloria Soto said during a June meeting.

Center Serves Up Awareness, Advocacy

The Rape Crisis Center started in 1974 in Lompoc and since has added a second office in Santa Maria. In addition to sexual assault, child abuse and human trafficking victims, the organization has several programs focused on education, prevention and intervention.

Throughout the years, the center has assisted both male and female survivors, including adults and children.

“You have an uncommon ability to lead people gently but firmly to a truth that we might rather not face, that sexual violence is not a rare or distant tragedy, but a reality that’s actually woven into the fabric of our own communities, our own schools and our own families,” Third District Supervisor Joan Hartmann said at a June meeting.

The center’s work in North County classrooms has given a generation of students “the language, the awareness and the courage to recognize abuse, reject it and refuse to stay silent,” Hartmann added.

Through the center, McCarty has helped victims reclaim their voices and their futures, Hartmann said, adding that McCarty didn’t sugarcoat uncomfortable topics, including insisting that rape remain in the organization’s name.

“You spent your career, 32 years, asking Santa Barbara County to be braver and more clear-eyed than we might naturally choose to be, and because of you we are,” Hartmann said.

“Your enduring belief that facing hard truths is the first step toward a safer and more just community, and that’s the legacy that will carry on.”

McCarty Finds Vocation Through Center

Additional recognition is expected next week when Pedal the Pacific rolls into Santa Barbara County. The organization raises awareness about sex trafficking in the United States with participants cycling 1,700 miles along the West Coast.

McCarty, who plans to relocate to the East Coast with her husband, has been involved with multiple groups in the Lompoc Valley and other communities. Volunteer roles helped land her the Lompoc Valley Woman of the Year Award in 2018.

As the spotlight has been on her in recent weeks, McCarty said credit needed to be shared with many others.

“I have not done any of this work alone,” she said, recognizing the group’s team of amazing advocates, supportive board members, law enforcement members and medical professionals, as well as her family, who “lifted me up when I needed it the most.”

When she first started in 1994 as a hotline coordinator, she recalled thinking she would push daily to work herself out of a job by eliminating sexual assault and child molestation.

“That’s how naive I was 32 years ago,” she said.

McCarty said she never envisioned she would still work for the organization decades later. 

“But, you know, when you find your niche in life, and it brings you great pleasure to do what you do, even on your hardest days, that’s where you stay,” she said.

“And I’m so happy that I did, even on the darkest days and the darkest nights, because I know that the work that the North County Rape Crisis Center does in our communities that we serve is critically important, and without us, so many people are unserved.”