County Spends Funds on Building Equity Culture, Other Initiatives

Santa Barbara Supervisors Wrestle with How to Distribute Remaining $270,800

ONE YEAR LATER: Nearly half of the county’s $500,000 in equity funds has been spent since last year’s Black Lives Matter protests. | Credit: Daniel Dreifuss (file)

Nearly a year after the Board of Supervisors set aside $500,000 to advance and support equity in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and subsequent protests calling for racial justice, it heard on Tuesday how the funds have so far been allocated.

From the initial set-aside, $94,200 was allocated to the Community Services Department and $135,000 was allocated to County Human Resources. Human Resources used the money to fund an initiative called JOIN, an acronym for Join Hands, Open Hearts and Minds, Ignite Action, and Navigate Change. The first two phases, Join Hands and Open Hearts and Minds, were meant to establish a shared vocabulary and open a continuous dialogue about race equity work.

“Building a race-equity and inclusive culture is not a linear path,” said Maria Elena De Guevara, director of county Human Resources, about JOIN. “To drive equity deep into systems and structures takes focused work, resources, both human and financial, and time, lots of time. Culture change requires a ton of support from all levels of the organization.”