Tag: Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN)

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN) — CASE STUDY: SATICOY FOOD HUB

by Community Contributor • December 30, 2025 • Comments Off

Nestled in the heart of an unincorporated community to the east of Ventura, the Saticoy Food Hub stands as a beacon of hope in a food desert. Despite being surrounded by vast fields of agriculture, the town of Saticoy has been designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) as a low-income, low-access (LILA) census-tract, meaning that the area has a poverty rate of 20% or more, and a significant portion of the population lives more than a mile from the nearest supermarket. More than 80% of its households with children rely on SNAP/EBT benefits, and its families struggle to access fresh, healthy, and affordable food.

Without SBCFAN, $500,000 in local food wouldn’t be reaching our communities

by Community Contributor • December 29, 2025 • Comments Off

Santa Barbara County’s food system is powered by many small, community-based organizations working to increase access to fresh food, strengthen local agriculture, and support community health. Yet these organizations face the same challenge: they are deeply embedded in their own neighborhoods but lack the capacity to navigate countywide opportunities, state and federal funding, or cross-regional partnerships. SBCFAN serves as the essential backbone that connects these efforts.Continued investment in SBCFAN ensures that organizations like Route 1 can thrive, scale, and sustain their impact.

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN) — Join Our Monthly Giving Challenge – Every Dollar Counts!

by Community Contributor • October 23, 2025 • Comments Off

Right now, our Central Coast faces a critical task:
we must strengthen our own community resilience and adaptation because our larger government, health, environmental, and economic systems are increasingly unpredictable.

At Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN), we know that when food is produced and purchased locally, our entire community benefits. Farmers, ranchers, and fisherfolk keep their livelihoods, we reduce transportation-caused pollution, and local dollars stay in our community.

But this shift cannot wait. The challenges of climate change, rising costs, poor health, and inequitable access to food are already here. Our community needs action now.

That’s why we’re asking you to join us as a monthly donor.
Your consistent support helps us:

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network — Every Dollar Counts—Plant a Seed for Change

by Community Contributor • December 18, 2024 • Comments Off

At SBCFAN, we believe in making every dollar count. We’ve mastered the art of stretching every contribution to its fullest potential to create meaningful change in our local food system.

In our hands, $5 can go a long way. Like planting a seed, your contribution has the potential to grow into something extraordinary—providing vital resources for local food producers, supporting innovative programs, and addressing food inequity in our community.

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network — Build Resilience: Support Community Kitchens & Local Meat Processing

by Community Contributor • December 16, 2024 • Comments Off

At SBCFAN, we’re building a stronger local food system through programs like the Community Kitchen Online Hub and the Meat Processing Social Enterprise. These initiatives empower food entrepreneurs, reduce waste, and ensure families across Santa Barbara County have access to nutritious, locally-sourced food.

The Community Kitchen Online Hub provides centralized information for affordable, shared spaces for local food entrepreneurs, small-scale producers, and community organizations to create and distribute nutritious meals. These kitchens foster economic opportunity, reduce food waste, and ensure more people have access to healthy, locally-sourced food. Visit the Hub >>

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network announces grant opportunity

by Community Contributor • May 16, 2024 • Comments Off

I am contacting you because I thought you or someone you know may be interested in applying for the Food Justice Micro Grant program. Applications are being accepted now. This is really a unique opportunity as you can dream, plan, research, launch, grow, leverage – the options are fairly limitless in terms of how you may use these funds. The key is that the funds drive food justice, food sovereignty, and/or agroecological practices.

Bilingual report — The Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN) is pleased to welcome Ashley Lopez Estrada as its first Community Liaison

by Community Contributor • May 15, 2023 • Comments Off

The Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN) is pleased to welcome Ashley Lopez Estrada as its first Community Liaison.

Lopez brings deep, bilingual customer service and administrative experience to the team, as well as passion and desire to help make food more accessible in our region. While still in college, she distinguished herself with a sociological research project on privilege discrepancy for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) students.

Santa Barbara Food Action Network — Spring Member Newsletter

by Community Contributor • May 10, 2021 • Comments Off

Spring is a vibrant time for our food system – farmers are harvesting their first crops of the year, eaters are savoring the abundance, and many of you are busy working on and/or trying to garner funding for projects (see below for the latest funding opportunities).

This season, SBCFAN is sharing stories of collaboration that are activating closed loop systems and projects that build resilience, access, justice, and sovereignty into the food system – read our South County Community Profile to learn more.

Santa Barbara County Food Action Network Announces its 2020 Food System Resilience Grants

by Community Contributor • October 13, 2020 • Comments Off

The Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN) announces its call for proposals for the 2020 Food System Resilience Grants. The grants are given to support the achievement of Food Action Plan goals by contributing to the broader food systems of Santa Barbara County. SBCFAN will be awarding the grants in partnership with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County. Funding for this program is made possible by a grant from the Santa Barbara Foundation.