When you support SBCFAN, you’re supporting programs that make a tangible impact—programs like our Emergency Aid and Food Justice Program.
This year, we awarded $40,000 to 9 recipients across Santa Barbara County, providing critical funding to students, local food producers, small businesses, and community organizations addressing food inequity. These grants helped recipients plan, grow, experiment, strengthen, and ultimately build a more resilient local food system.
nueva unidad pediátrica
El miércoles 18 de diciembre, líderes locales, pacientes y sus familias se reunieron para celebrar la gran inauguración de la recién contruida Unidad Pediátrica del Ventura County Medical Center (VCMC por sus siglas en inglés).
Financiada con una subvención estatal de 15 millones de dólares de la Propuesta 4, la nueva unidad de 16 camas está diseñada para proporcionar una atención integral y centrada en la familia a niños, desde recién nacidos hasta adultos jóvenes.
Apply Now!
Thanks to legislation approved by Congress and signed by President Biden, SBA has received $2 billion to resume issuing disaster loans. Residents and businesses can now get the disaster loan assistance they need to recover from recent disasters across the nation.
SBA acted under its own authority to declare a disaster in response to a request SBA received from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authorized representative, Director Nancy Ward, of the California Office of Emergency Services on November 25. The disaster declaration makes low-interest federal disaster loans available to residents and businesses the counties of Ventura, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Kern who were affected by the Mountain Fire that began November 6.
Opening Reception: What is Beauty? Rethinking Women’s Portraiture in Art
Friday, January 17
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
@Museum of Ventura County
100 E. Main St., Ventura
Join us for the Opening of What is Beauty? Rethinking Women’s Portraiture in Art in the Wachtell Gallery at the Museum of Ventura County. This exhibition invites us to explore diverse perspectives on beauty through fourteen portraits by Ventura County artists from the Museum’s permanent collection.
Spanning works created between 1939 and 2011, this exhibition showcases a range of styles—from vibrant realism to minimalist simplicity—challenging traditional standards shaped by art, media, and society. Featured artists Carlisle Cooper, Hiroko Yoshimoto, Johanna Spinks, John Nava, John Nichols, Kitty Botke, Lis Schwitters, Michael Ward, Neal Barr, Omar d’León, and Robert Clunie offer eclectic interpretations of women’s portraiture.
Experience the beauty of the evening with live music from Ventura Music Festival, beer and wine for sale, and an atmosphere sure to inspire. Register free of charge by clicking HERE!
VENTURA — The Ventura City Council has approved the appointment of Tony Lee as Interim Police Chief, with the decision finalized on December 17, 2024. Lee brings more than 30 years of distinguished law enforcement experience, highlighted by leadership, community engagement, and operational excellence. He will assume the role on December 28, 2024, and serve until a new police chief is hired.
Lee most recently served as Chief of Police at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), leading the largest of the 10 University of California Police Departments for six years. His department served nearly 50,000 students, faculty, and staff, with a daytime campus population exceeding 100,000.
At its regular meeting on December 17, 2024, the Ventura City Council appointed Deputy Mayor and District 4 Councilmember Dr. Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios as the new Mayor and District 3 Councilmember Doug Halter as the new Deputy Mayor. Per the City of Ventura’s Charter, the Council selects the Mayor and Deputy Mayor, who each serve two-year terms in their roles.
Mayor Dr. Sanchez-Palacios has served on the Ventura City Council since her appointment in February 2021, followed by her election to a full four-year term in 2022. She holds a Doctorate in Higher Education from California Lutheran University, a Master’s in Public Administration from California State University, Northridge, and a Bachelor’s in Women’s Studies from UCLA.
“We are thrilled to have this dedicated space to care for the children of Ventura County,” stated Dr. Todd Flosi, Director of Inpatient Pediatric Strategy. “Our multidisciplinary team—comprising physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, physical and occupational therapists, dietitians, social workers, and child life specialists—has specialized training and expertise in caring for children. We focus not only on their medical needs but also on their developmental and emotional well-being. Our goal is to provide excellent care while minimizing the discomfort and disruption that hospitalization can cause for both the child and their family.”
CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE MEDIA RELEASE OXNARD — The Channel Islands Maritime Museum (CIMM) proudly hosted its sold-out Nautical Night of Lights gala on December 14, 2024, and the evening was nothing short of extraordinary. Set against the festive…
This year felt as if we have lived a thousand lives. As Executive Director of 805UndocuFund, and as someone who comes from an immigrant family, I carry the weight of these past days and year deeply. The numbers are staggering, but what stays with me are the faces, the phone calls, the children waiting for parents who never came home. This level of enforcement violence is not accidental, it is intentional, and it is devastating entire communities in real time.
What gives me hope is our collective response. Community members are showing up for one another with courage, care, and refusal to be silent. Mutual aid, rapid response, and collective defense are acts of love and resistance. As we close this year, I am asking you to stand with our community. Your support allows us to act immediately, protect families, and ensure that no one is taken in silence or forgotten.
In solidarity,
VENTURA COUNTY — Ventura County Public Works Agency (VCPWA) was scheduled to host a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for the Santa Rosa Road Bike Lane and Pedestrian Improvements Project on Monday, Jan. 6, at the Santa Rosa Technology Magnet School in Camarillo.
The bike lane improvements — which began in August 2024 — complete a stretch of missing bike lane facilities bridging the gap from Simi Valley to Camarillo. This route is part of the Ventura County Transportation Commission Regional Bicycle Wayfinding Plan to provide countywide regional bike connectivity.
Labor Market Report for November 2024
The California Labor Market Information Division has released its November 2024 report, showing no change to the unemployment rate, steady month-over-month at 4.9% and nearly unchanged year-over-year, though up a tick from 4.8% in November 2023.
For those who follow this report, apologies, we’ve been busy a bit and skipped last month. That noted, for this month, we’re providing only a brief summary, including a bit of a look back, over the five-year period to November 2019, to what was then just a couple of months short of the onset of pandemic. Next month we’ll have the full calendar year 2024 to look at and will make some observations accordingly.
PASADENA — Kaiser Permanente (which operates Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura) 2025 Rose Parade® float theme, “More Healthy Days for More Healthy Years,” will appear at the 136th annual Rose Parade on Jan. 1, 2025.
The theme represents Kaiser Permanente’s belief that everyone should have the opportunity to live their best, healthiest life every day. The float celebrates total health – body, mind, and spirit – and how Kaiser Permanente supports the health and wellbeing of its members and communities.
This year, Kaiser Permanente’s 19th annual float entry embodies the 2025 Rose Parade presented by Honda theme, “Best Day Ever,” celebrating life’s best moments. The float symbolizes a day of healthy living, featuring a sun at one end and a moon at the other, with various healthy activities in between. The float includes depictions of nutritious foods, physical activity, and mental wellness for people of all ages and abilities.
The light, the lives, and the textures of contemporary, working-class Mumbai are explored and celebrated by writer/director Payal Kapadia,who won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for her revelatory fiction feature debut. Centering on two roommates who also work together in a city hospital–head nurse Prabha (Kani Kusruti) and recent hire Anu (Divya Prabha)–plus their coworker, cook Parvaty (Chhaya Kadam), Kapadia’s film alights on moments of connection and heartache, hope and disappointment. Prabha, her husband from an arranged marriage living in faraway Germany, is courted by a doctor at her hospital; Anu carries on a romance with a Muslim man, which she must keep a secret from her strict Hindu family; Parvaty finds herself dealing with a sudden eviction from her apartment. Kapadia captures the bustle of the metropolis and the open-air tranquility of a seaside village with equal radiance, articulated by her superb actresses and by the camera with a lyrical naturalism that occasionally drifts into dreamlike incandescence. All We Imagine as Light is a soulful study of the transformative power of friendship and sisterhood, in all its complexities and richness.
VENTURA — Community members are invited to join the City of Ventura and local environmental partners to observe the King Tides event at the Ventura Promenade on Monday, January 13, 2025, starting at 9:00 a.m.
This engaging and educational event highlights the extraordinary natural phenomenon of King Tides when the alignment of the sun and moon increases the ocean’s gravitational pull. This event also explores how rising sea levels could impact our local coastline.
Jan. 15 — CLU School of Management to present ‘Life in Tune with Freddie Ravel’
Click here for more information
Schneiders & Associates, in partnership with the Ventura Chamber of Commerce and SCORE, invites you to the Annual Employment Law Update! This in-person event offers a comprehensive overview of the latest employment laws and practical insights to help your business stay compliant and ahead of the curve. This essential event covers critical topics like NLRB rulings, freelance protections, handbook updates, travel time rules, and IRS mileage rates.
THREE FREE PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
Friday, January 24 | 7 PM | Isla Vista School, 6875 El Colegio Rd, Goleta
Saturday, January 25 | 7 PM | Guadalupe City Hall, 918 Obispo St, Guadalupe, CA
Sunday, January 26 | 6 PM | The Marjorie Luke Theatre, 721 E Cota St, Santa Barbara
La Santa Cecilia exemplifies the modern-day creative hybrid of Latin culture, rock and world music. The group draws inspiration from all over the world, utilizing Pan-American rhythms including cumbia, bossa-nova, rumba, bolero, tango, jazz and klezmer music. Their unique sounds and the experience of their colorful, passionate performances continues to captivate both loyal fans and new listeners.
