 SANTA BARBARA — The Community Environmental Council (CEC) is pleased to share the critical work of two new staff members who are expanding CEC’s climate justice efforts and building climate resilience among vulnerable communities on the Central Coast: Community Ambassadors Ana Rico and Alhan Diaz-Correa.
Ana Rico was raised in Santa Barbara’s Eastside neighborhood. Over the past 30 years, she experienced many traffic dangers as a pedestrian, including a pivotal moment when she and her three kids were nearly struck by a vehicle on their daily walk to school. This experience sparked Ana’s career as a community advocate; ever since she has been committed to engaging and working hand-in-hand with frontline communities to develop truly sustainable solutions to climate change.
Alhan Diaz-Correa is a Santa Maria native who recently returned from living in Montana for eight years, where he earned a B.S. in Biochemistry from the University of Montana. In solidarity with the community that raised him, he actively works in his hometown and the broader region to address areas of racial, economic, and environmental justice.
Rico and Diaz-Correa first joined CEC in early 2020 to support efforts with Connected 2050, a Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) project to develop a community vision for transportation and housing that balances social, economic, and environmental goals. As Community Ambassadors, they led outreach and engagement efforts with a goal of ensuring that the voices of more vulnerable and underrepresented communities throughout the county were included in developing this vision.
“Despite the pandemic, we were able to gather valuable input from communities most impacted by this plan — and we gained important insights into how we can improve access to safe, reliable transportation, housing, jobs, and supportive services in our communities,” Rico said, adding that this experience shed light on the depth and complexity of the outreach work that needs to be done to ensure equitable and just planning processes. She and Diaz-Correa will share more about these learnings in a joint public webinar with SBCAG on Thursday, October 29 (details below).
Their outreach — including many one-on-one conversations about individuals’ transportation and housing challenges and needs — also led directly to CEC piloting a program to increase support for frontline community members: Community Ambassador Resilience and Equity Response (CARER). Through this program, Rico and Diaz-Correa worked to foster community resilience and support climate justice efforts by responding to immediate needs of frontline communities during the pandemic. In addition to sharing resources and information related to COVID-19 public health, food access, and tenant rights, Diaz-Correa noted, “we had an opportunity to acknowledge the contributions of frontline communities — including the additional emotional toll of the work they do during COVID.”
Diaz-Correa also supports CEC’s expansion into Spanish-language offerings and information as a Bilingual Communications Associate. Through this role he is helping to strengthen CEC’s ability to effectively engage with Spanish speakers, including through a Spanish-language Facebook group — Boletín Comunitario de CEC — which shares resources and welcomes Spanish-speaking community members to ask questions, share stories, and engage in dialogue around their community needs and climate resilience solutions.
“Our efforts to develop rapid and equitable solutions to the climate crisis hinge on our ability to engage our full Central Coast community,” said Sigrid Wright, CEO of CEC. “Alhan and Ana are helping us actively address language and climate justice across all of our programs.”
To learn more about how CEC’s Community Ambassadors are helping to shape future outreach and inclusion efforts in our region, attend one of these free webinars on Thursday, October 29, 2020:
Lessons from the Field:
A Listening Session for Planners
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Join CEC’s Community Ambassadors and SBCAG staff to hear about their experience, lessons learned, and insights for planning and implementing inclusive outreach and engagement strategies.
Community Food & Farming Discussion Series:
Food Access and Food Security
12:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Alhan Diaz-Correa is helping support this panel hosted by the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network, which is implementing a countywide action plan spearheaded by CEC and the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. The discussion will center on how we can meet the basic food needs of our entire community and ensure fair access to local food resources. It will also highlight current efforts to support and care for Santa Barbara County’s vulnerable populations by ensuring access to nutritious and affordable food, and opportunities to scale and deepen these efforts. |
