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(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) – The Santa Barbara County Regional Climate Collaborative (Collaborative) is celebrating its 5th Anniversary with the release of its 5-Year Impact Report.
The Collaborative was formed on March 13, 2020, as an open, voluntary network by the County, UCSB, cities, and nonprofits to identify ways to work across sectors and jurisdictional boundaries to address the region’s climate challenges. The Collaborative works primarily through committees, which focus on topics such as clean energy, sea level rise, equity, and climate resilience.
“The Collaborative is a unique and vital space to find peers and resources to develop partnerships to solve some of our most wicked climate problems,” says Garrett Wong, Climate Program Manager for the County of Santa Barbara and Network Manager for the Collaborative.
Since 2020, the Collaborative has expanded and diversified its membership and work across the County by successfully securing over $3.5 million in grant funding to launch regional initiatives, such as the:
• Resilience Hubs Pilot Program – In 2023, the Collaborative was awarded $225,000 to work with community centers in Santa Barbara, Carpinteria and Cuyama Valley to identify facility improvements, build emergency preparedness and planning efforts and seek funding to support community climate resilience.
• Resilient Cuyama Valley Initiative – In 2023, the Collaborative was awarded a $1 million Transformative Climate Communities grant to invest in an array of projects such as home improvement, backyard composting, fresh food access, water infrastructure, and walking/bike paths.
• Guadalupe-Lompoc Initiative – In 2024, the Community Environmental Council was awarded a $1.6 million State grant to launch a multi-year collaborative effort that supports 10 community-serving organizations and local governments with capacity building, planning, project development, and community engagement so they can address air quality, extreme heat, water supply, food security, and wildfire risk.
The Collaborative also marked the milestone with a Network Event on March 13, 2025, featuring a panel discussion and speakers from the California Strategic Growth Council. The discussion focused on waysthe Collaborative can prepare the region to access future funding opportunities from the recently passed Prop 4 Climate Bond.
The Collaborative currently boasts a membership of over 60 organizations and 110 individuals. Membership to the Collaborative is currently free to all organization types. The County of Santa Barbara Sustainability Division provides fiscal and administrative support for the Collaborative. To learn more about the Collaborative and to view the Report online, visit countyofsb.org/collaborative.
