Frank X. Moraga
By Frank X. Moraga / Amigos805
While change is in the air for two 805 area nonprofits, the new faces of those organizations will be quite familiar to local residents.
Marcos Vargas has left his position as executive director of the Central Coast Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) to become the new executive director of The Fund for Santa Barbara.
Vargas will lead the nonprofit community foundation that supports grassroots organizations working for social, economic, environmental and political change in Santa Barbara County.
In the past 30 years, The Fund, whose motto is “Change Not Charity,” has distributed more than $5 million to more than 900 grassroots projects in the region working for social justice, fair and affordable housing, accessible education, economic renewal and a clean and healthy environment for all, the organization reported on its website.
Marcos Vargas and Maricela Morales. Courtesy photo
Vargas replaces longtime Fund leader Geoff Green, who took a position in late 2014 as executive director of the Santa Barbara City College Foundation. Vargas will assume his position in mid-June, taking over for Nancy Weiss, the fund’s interim executive director. Since he co-founded CAUSE 14 years ago, Vargas has worked with others to create an organization that has helped raised wages and benefits for thousands of working families, changed a history of political disenfranchisement of immigrant communities through redistricting and defeated the largest mining company in the world by stopping a liquified natural gas terminal that would have been the largest source of pollution in the region, the organization reported.
Two years ago, Vargas completed the successful merger between the Ventura County-based CAUSE and its Santa Barbara County-based sister organization PUEBLO, ensuring the long-term viability of both organizations.
“I’m honored to join The Fund for Santa Barbara team,” Vargas stated in a media release, “and proud to continue to carry out the decades of positive change The Fund has brought to Santa Barbara County through tackling the root causes of our community’s social, economic, environmental and political challenges.”
While Vargas is leaving, CAUSE will continue to operate under familiar hands. CAUSE co-founder Maricela Morales officially takes over the executive director position in June. She has served as associate executive director since the organization was created and acted as executive director during Vargas’s recent sabbatical leave.
The daughter of immigrant parents, Morales grew up in Fillmore, completed a bachelor’s degree at Stanford University, a master’s from Pacifica Graduate Institute and went on to become the first Latina mayor of Port Hueneme. Morales has played a critical role alongside Vargas developing CAUSE’s strategic vision, the organization reported.
At The Fund, Vargas will continue to build a movement for justice in the Central Coast and work closely with the CAUSE community. The Fund is a vital institution in this region that for decades has fueled local organizations like CAUSE with technical support and financial sustainability to tackle the root causes of social, economic, environmental and political challenges, CAUSE reported.
Congratulations to both Marcos Vargas and Maricela Morales on your new positions. Wishing you much success in the years ahead.
— Frank X. Moraga is editor/publisher of Amigos805. He has served as business editor, director of diversity and general manager of a bilingual publication at the Ventura County Star, and as a reporter in the community editions of the Orange County Register and Los Angeles Daily News. You can reach him at frank@amigos805.com