Even with “diversity” and “equity” programs now under relentless attack by the administration of President Donald Trump, the Santa Barbara County supervisors — often evenly split along regional lines — voted unanimously to approve a $233,000 funding package “to advance racial equity and justice.”
The Racial Equity Fund was started five years ago in the wake of the George Floyd murder to help promote organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination efforts. Among the eight recipients were the Martin Luther King Jr. Committee ($55,000), the NAACP ($30,000), and Gateway Education Services ($71,000), which promotes educational advocacy among the parents of Black school students. The grantmaking committee received 18 applications that totaled $1.1 million in requests.
Most of the recipients thanked the supervisors in advance; only the ever-outspoken Andy Caldwell, pro-business spokesperson for the organization COLAB, took issue and offense. If private individuals wanted to make “charitable donations” to these groups, Caldwell argued, they could, but the supervisors shouldn’t spend taxpayer dollars to do so. He also challenged the supervisors to call out by name “the racists of Santa Barbara County” that these groups were opposing.
Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, a North County conservative with a longstanding bur in his saddle where Caldwell is concerned, took Caldwell to task for getting his facts wrong. Caldwell made a stink that the organization Healing Justice was receiving $71,000 when, in fact, the grant award was only $10,000.
“I don’t look at it a charitable contribution,” Lavagnino said. “I look at it as an investment in the community.” He said the beneficiaries were doing outstanding work, calling out Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt of the NAACP in particular. “No one has dome more than Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt,” he said. “I’ll stand next to her.”
