Das Williams, from left, Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, Jack Lorenz, Regional Advancement Officer for DignityMoves, Jeff Zamora, Santa Barbara Field Operations Manager, Cox Communications, Matt Riley, Advisory Board Member for DignityMoves, Terri Doughty, Sales Manager, Cox Business, Laura Capps, County Board of Supervisors, Kirsten McLaughlin, Santa Barbarba Market Vice President, Cox Communication, Bill Brown, Santa Barbara County Sheriff. Photo: ©2024 Isaac Hernández de Lipa / IsaacHernandez.com
SANTA BARBARA — DignityMoves’s Santa Barbara Capital Campaign has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the James M. Cox Foundation. The Foundation is the charitable arm of Cox Enterprises, parent company of Cox Communications, and named after the company’s founder. The funds will support a housing community called “La Posada Village,” with the goal of reducing homelessness in Santa Barbara County.
“DignityMoves is honored to be the recipient of a James M. Cox Foundation grant. We are incredibly grateful for this type of community support. Without partners like Cox, we cannot help as many people as we do,” said Jack Lorenz, Regional Advancement Director for DignityMoves.
DignityMoves has an ambitious yet realistic goal to end homelessness in Santa Barbara County. With approximately 3,500 people County-wide experiencing homelessness, the organization is raising funds to build 300 units across four sites, three in South County and one in North County, to reach all unhoused individuals over the course of 18 months as residents matriculate out of the program and others move in.
The organization builds interim supportive housing for unsheltered individuals for a six-to-12-month period as a stopover between being homeless and permanent housing. Everyone is housed in a private, furnished room with Wi-Fi, AC/heating, a door that locks, bathroom and showers, laundry facilities, and a food service area and kitchen. Concurrently, tenants receive intensive wraparound supportive services to help get them back on their feet. This includes onsite case management and small offices for other services including medical and mental health support, drug counseling, career development, etc. Each resident has a specific program designed for them and their individual needs.
“At Cox, we are committed to empowering our employees and communities to build a better future for the next generation. We are thrilled to do just that and support the transformational work of DignityMoves through this generous gift from the Foundation,” said Kirsten McLaughlin, Market Vice President for Cox Communications in Santa Barbara.
DignityMoves’s La Posada Village, at 4500 Hollister Avenue, will house individuals living in encampments in the immediate area, particularly along the 101 Freeway and train tracks. This community will have 80 rooms, provide 24/7 security, intensive case management for each resident, three meals a day, and mental and physical health care services. The facility is slated to open its doors to residents by April 2024 and broke ground today.
About the James M. Cox Foundation — The James M. Cox Foundation is named in honor of Cox Enterprises’ founder and provides funding for capital campaigns and special projects in communities where the company operates. James M. Cox was Ohio’s first three-term governor and the 1920 Democratic nominee for president of the United States. The Foundation concentrates its community support in several areas, including conservation and environment, early childhood education, empowering families and individuals for success, and health.
About DignityMoves — DignityMoves works to end unsheltered street homelessness in communities through the construction of Interim Supportive Housing as a rapid, cost-effective, scalable solution. Using innovative approaches such as prefabricated materials and modular housing, DignityMoves takes advantage of vacant parking lots or other underutilized sites to build temporary “pop-up” communities which can be relocated, as necessary. DignityMoves also develops permanent sites such as those funded by California’s Project Homekey program. For information on bringing a DignityMoves community to your city, or to donate to this work, please visit www.dignitymoves.org