On Tuesday, June 16, the Board of Supervisors approved setting aside $250,000 in cannabis tax revenue for a dedicated Youth Fund to support youth leadership development — a first step toward a youth-led, youth-for-youth grantmaking program that young people across the county have spent months organizing for.
Change starts young, and this win belongs to them.
The Problem: Enforcement over Investment
Since 2018, Santa Barbara County has collected nearly $55 million in cannabis tax revenue. The majority of that money has gone to the Sheriff’s Office for enforcement — not to the communities most harmed by the War on Drugs. Youth leaders have said plainly, in public comment and at a press conference held the day before the hearing, that the county’s spending priorities have it backward. Their message to the Board: “Investment, not enforcement.”
The Ask: A Fund Led by Youth, for Youth
Youth Impact SBC Coalition and Future Leaders of America are calling for a youth-led grantmaking model — a fund where young people themselves direct dollars toward youth leadership development, the most effective long-term strategy for preventing youth involvement in drugs and the justice system. Not a program designed for youth from the outside, but one built and governed by the young people it serves.
At the June 16 budget hearing, the board voted to approve $250,000 toward the Youth Fund. The board did not yet decide on governance and structure — that conversation, the “how,” is set for a future hearing. But three supervisors spoke clearly in support of a youth-led grantmaking model during the discussion: Joan Hartmann, Steve Lavagnino, and Laura Capps. We thank them for trusting young people to lead.
Leadership Development Is Prevention
One point of disagreement remains: at least one supervisor has pushed for these dollars to go strictly toward cannabis-education programming. Young people see that approach for what it is — a Band-Aid. Education campaigns alone don’t change outcomes. Leadership development does. Giving young people real opportunities to lead is what keeps them away from the justice system and away from substance use in the first place — and the research backs that up.
Over 15 organizations across Santa Barbara County have joined in support of the Youth Fund, including Fighting Back Santa Maria, the Lompoc Teen Center, the Carpinteria Children’s Project, and the Fund for Santa Barbara.
Over 400 community members have signed a petition supporting the Youth Fund. Youth in Santa Barbara County experience felony arrests at a rate roughly 50 percent higher than the statewide average. Research on youth development programs, including the Public/Private Ventures Big Brothers Big Sisters Impact Study, consistently shows that young people in mentorship and leadership programs are significantly less likely to enter the justice system and less likely to begin using drugs — outcomes that also reduce long-term public costs and build safer communities.
This is also a Proposition 64 promise come due. Prop 64 was written to reinvest cannabis tax revenue into communities disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs and to expand opportunity for young people. San Diego, Sacramento, Santa Cruz, and Vista have already moved cannabis revenue toward youth development with strong results. Santa Barbara County is now taking its own first step.
