CEC Earth Day
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 16, 2024

One of Santa Barbara’s longest-running community-organized festivals, our Earth Day celebration is also one of the oldest in the country, and among the largest on the West Coast. Santa Barbara is widely acknowledged as the birthplace of Earth Day, as it was the infamous 1969 oil well blowout that kickstarted the U.S. environmental movement into […]

New Beginnings
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 26, 2024

New Beginnings’ Safe Parking program turned 20 earlier this year, a milestone you need to celebrate. On the other hand, I wish it didn’t even exist in the first place. In an ideal world, there wouldn’t be homeless people living on the streets or in their cars. The latter is what the Safe Parking program […]

 

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More from Montecito

Channelkeepers Having a Ball
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

A tidal wave of generosity enveloped the Santa Barbara Channelkeeper’s sold-out 22nd annual Blue Water Ball at the Cabrillo Pavilion with more than 200 guests raising around $170,000 for the popular nonprofit. The boffo bash was emceed by the ubiquitous Andrew Firestone and 14 paintings by local artists, including Kelly Claus, Benjamin Anderson, Eric Foote, […]

One805 Getting Ready for Concert
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

Oscar winning actor Kevin Costner is again lending his oceanside estate on Carpinteria’s Padaro Lane for this year’s One805Live fall concert, which last year raised around $1 million providing equipment not available in normal budgets for first responders, including mental health support. At a socially gridlocked Honorary Board cocktail reception at the Montecito Club the […]

MBT’s Gives Grants
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

Montecito Bank & Trust celebrated its 49th anniversary by gathering with 11 local nonprofit representatives at the bank’s annual anniversary grants reception. Michael Towbes, the bank’s late founder, first started the anniversary grant program in 1993 to give back to the community. He wanted bank employees to have a voice in the direction of the […]

SBCC Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 19, 2024

It was Geoff Green, the longtime CEO of SBCC Foundation, who created and spearheaded the organization’s SBCC Promise, the program that provides all recent local high school graduates with the opportunity to attend the community college full-time free of charge for up to two years. The Promise is comprehensive and robust, covering virtually everything a […]

California Missions Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 12, 2024

Most locals are probably aware of the best Santa Barbara place to visit every Memorial Day weekend for a glimpse of the chalk drawings during the I Madonnari street painting festival. They know they can spend a colorful summer evening watching music and dancing from Mexico and other indigenous Californios cultures during La Fiesta Pequeña, […]

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  • Plane Fun and Fundraising
    By Richard Mineards   |   March 12, 2024

    Rain certainly didn’t stop play, nor pulling, when the Alpha Resource Center hosted its third annual Plane Pull at Santa Barbara Airport, raising more than $72,000 for the popular 70-year-old nonprofit, which empowers individuals with developmental and intellectual disabilities. Teams of ten in four divisions, including schools and public safety – military, EMTs and firefighters […]

    Women’s Fund of SB Passes $1 million Funding Goal for 2024
    By Joanne A Calitri   |   February 20, 2024

    Last year, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara (WFSB) posed a lofty goal to its members; to raise $1 million in funding for 2024 in honor of its 20th anniversary. The team at the WFSB has just announced it met and exceeded that goal, with an estimated record-breaking grants pool of $1.125 million. Indeed, happy […]

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    Santa Barbara Symphony
    By Steven Libowitz   |   February 13, 2024

    For the Santa Barbara Symphony, the 2023-24 season expresses a number of the outreach efforts in its mission: to enrich residents’ lives by producing and presenting the highest quality musical experiences, performed with artistic excellence and accessible to the entire community – as well as inspire a passion for symphonic music in the next generation […]

    Wayfinder Family Services
    By Steven Libowitz   |   February 6, 2024

    When Gina was preparing to adopt a baby girl, she experienced a rush of thrilling emotions that comes with going through the process for the first time that will dramatically change your life. First there’s making it through the selection process, then learning the name of your new child. With the day of the child’s […]

    UCSB A&L
    By Steven Libowitz   |   January 23, 2024

    UCSB Arts & Lectures’ fall season was one for the ages, with enviable events throughout the breadth of its programming. The dance program boasted an era-spanning array, from the launch of the Martha Graham Dance Company’s Graham100 programs to the stunning West Coast debut of Turn it Out with Tiler Peck & Friends. Pop music […]

    Festival of Hearts 2024 
    By Shianne Motter   |   January 23, 2024

    The Friendship Center lives true to its name. It’s a special place somewhere between Heaven and Earth – where loved ones with Alzheimer’s and dementia go to find compassion, dignity, and connection while their caregivers can find relief, care, maybe even hope. It’s like time traveling where, if only for a couple hours, everything is […]

    Sanctuary Centers
    By Steven Libowitz   |   January 16, 2024

    Last month’s groundbreaking ceremony marked Sanctuary Centers’ initiation of its forthcoming new building. To witness the launch of this transformative community benefit project was, of course, a thrilling moment. The project, which will provide 34 units of new housing along with co-located medical, dental and behavioral health clinics, represents a milestone moment in the nonprofit’s […]

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