Something very cool is making its way to the 900 block of State Street. On the heels of the new SBIFF McHurley Film Center and the exciting opportunities for the Music Academy of the West’s The MUSE building across the street, plans are well underway for State of Mind Café in the space next to the theater (918 State Street, former home to Cookie Plug and the Good Cup). Founder Rebecca Benozare paid me a visit this week to tell me a bit about the café, which will be the first and only coffee shop in Santa Barbara designed specifically for the disability community.
A nonprofit business designed to donate all proceeds from the café to organizations that champion providing equitable access to resources, essential services, and support for our community, State of Mind Café will also be an arts and culture hub where local artists of all abilities can showcase their art, perform, and host events free of charge.
Along with a wide variety of creative coffee and tea drinks, they also plan to serve soft serve ice cream, incorporated into coffee drinks as well as on its own, and in addition, Benozare said the café will be open well into the evenings, when most of other local coffee houses are closed. Coffee beans will be sourced from Santa Barbara’s Welcome Coffee, a woman- and LGBTQ-owned roasting company founded by June Habib.
State of Mind Café plans to employ individuals with disabilities and provide meaningful job opportunities that empower them with income, independence, and a sense of belonging in the broader community, explained Benozare, who has worked in Santa Barbara’s nonprofit community for more than a decade, and works closely with Sage Publishing owner Sara Miller McCune on her philanthropic projects. In addition to being a brick-and-mortar coffee shop, State of Mind Café is also the fiscal sponsor for two other funds in Santa Barbara: The Léni Fé Bland Performing Arts Partnership Fund and the Sara Fund.
They are currently fundraising to complete the project, with support from Miller McCune, as well as Laura and Geof Wyatt, Mosher Foundation, Anne Towbes, Paul Finkle and Barbara Strauss, and Adam Graham and Katie Szopa.
Credit: Courtesy
State of Mind Café is designed to pay for itself and give profits back to nonprofit organizations that support diversity, equity, and inclusion within the community once it is up and running. That will most likely be in December 2026, said Benozare, who expects to be able to donate upwards of $15,000 each month to partner organizations like Grace Fisher Foundation, Down Syndrome Association of Santa Barbara, Autism Embrace, and more.
Katelyn Tymon, a Santa Barbara native who has spent almost a decade managing coffee shops, recently stepped into the world of nonprofit work to serve as project manager and general manager for State of Mind Café. In addition to being an equitable and accessible space, the plan is for evenings to be available for aligned nonprofit use free of charge, and for educational and engaging events inspired by Miller McCune’s “Four Justices: Economic, Educational, Environmental, and Social Justice.”
The State of Mind Café project is on the Santa Barbara City Council meeting agenda for both June and July meetings. For more information, see stateofmindcafe.com.
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