The Santa Barbara County Regional Climate Collaborative (SBCRCC) is celebrating its 5th Anniversary with the release of its 5-Year Impact Report. To view the report, click here.

The SBCRCC was formed on March 13, 2020 as an open, voluntary network by the county, UCSB, cities and nonprofits to identify ways to work across sectors and jurisdictional boundaries to address the region’s climate challenges.

SBCRCC works primarily through committees, which focus on topics such as clean energy, sea level rise, equity, and climate resilience.

“The collaborative is a unique and vital space to find peers and resources to develop partnerships to solve some of our most wicked climate problems,” said Garrett Wong, climate program manager for the County of Santa Barbara County, and network manager for SBCRCC.  

Since 2020, the collaborative has expanded and diversified its membership and work across the county by securing some $3.5 million in grants to launch regional initiatives, such as the following:

  • Resilience Hubs Pilot Program – In 2023, the collaborative was awarded $225,000 to work with community centers in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria, and Cuyama Valley to identify facility improvements, build emergency preparedness and planning efforts and seek funding to support community climate resilience.  
  • Resilient Cuyama Valley Initiative – In 2023, SBCRCC was awarded a $1 million Transformative Climate Communities grant to invest in projects such as home improvement, backyard composting, fresh food access, water infrastructure, and walking/bike paths.
  • Guadalupe-Lompoc Initiative – In 2024, the Community Environmental Council was awarded a $1.6 million state grant to launch a multi-year collaborative effort that supports 10 community-serving organizations and local governments with capacity building, planning, project development, and community engagement so they can address air quality, extreme heat, water supply, food security, and wildfire risk.

The SBCRCC also marked the milestone with a network event on March 13 featuring a panel talk and speakers from the California Strategic Growth Council.

The discussion targeted ways the collaborative can prepare the region to access future funding opportunities from the recently passed Prop 4 Climate Bond.

SBCRCC currently has some 60 member organizations, and 110 individuals. Membership is currently free to all organization types. The Santa Barbara County Sustainability Division provides fiscal and administrative support for the collaborative.

Learn more about the collaborative and view the report online, visit countyofsb.org/collaborative.