Tag archives: low income

Strong Foundations
By Richard Mineards   |   March 12, 2024

Santa Barbara’s Turner Foundation, which since its founding 65 years ago has provided 3.3 million nights of accommodation for low-income individuals and families, has opened its latest outpost, Dunamis House – Greek for strength – at De La Guerra Street and Marilla Avenue. It’s the fifth property the organization has purchased with the first in […]

Unity Shoppe
By Steven Libowitz   |   August 8, 2023

You may not have noticed, but Unity Shoppe, one of Santa Barbara’s oldest nonprofits, had a significant change in its leadership just last summer. That’s when Executive Director Tom Reed, who had led the organization best known for its storefront shop providing locals in need with groceries, clothing, and other essentials, as well as toys […]

Organic Soup Kitchen
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 25, 2023

Organic Soup Kitchen (OSK) provides nutrition and food security to cancer patients, chronically ill, and low-income individuals throughout Santa Barbara County. The nonprofit organization has served more than a million bowls of nutrient-dense SoupMeals since its founding in 2009.  It all sounds pretty straightforward and simple. After all, like Campbell’s claimed in a long-running ad […]

Legal Aid Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 4, 2023

You might wonder how a chowder festival has anything to do with providing free, high-quality legal services to low-income and other vulnerable residents in order to ensure equal access to justice. The answer is, not much, except that prior to the pandemic, the decade-old Santa Barbara Chowder Fest had become the single largest fundraiser for […]

Rona Barrett Foundation
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 30, 2023

Rona Barrett is most famous for her long career as a pioneering journalist, columnist, broadcaster, and producer who covered the entertainment industry for decades. The trailblazer interviewed a huge swath of superstars, including Raquel Welch and Tom Cruise, broke countless stories from the world of Hollywood, and became the public’s trusted insider – documenting the […]

Soup-ing up the Holidays
By Steven Libowitz   |   December 6, 2022

For a decade, the Organic Soup Kitchen (OSK) hosted community meals on Christmas Day at the Veterans Memorial Building on the Santa Barbara waterfront, serving hundreds of warm nutritious meals to the homeless and others. The event eventually grew to include an appearance by Santa to hand out gifts to people of all ages and […]

Guiding Low-Income Students to College
By Scott Craig   |   November 29, 2022

Westmont hosted a community event with education and financial representatives exploring the best ways low-income students can fund a college education on November 15. About 100 underprivileged high school students and their families attended “Affording Your Dream College,” which was held in partnership with several county education initiatives.  “Education is the most powerful and transformative […]

Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 12, 2022

Anyone who has ever watched a police drama on television in the last 50 years is familiar with the fact that everyone who has been accused of a crime has a right to free legal counsel if they can’t afford their own attorney. But that bright line ends when it turns to civil matters, even […]

CommUnify and Head Start at 55
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 10, 2022

Head Start, the federal early childhood education program, was established in 1965 as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty with a goal of promoting school readiness to young children from low-income families through providing health, educational, nutritional, and social services. Two years later, Community Action Commission, or CAC, incorporated as a nonprofit to […]

CommUnify
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 24, 2022

If the name CommUnify doesn’t ring a bell, Patricia Keelean, the nonprofit’s chief executive officer, thinks she knows why.  “We are our own best-kept secret,” Keelean said. There’s a good reason for that – CommUnify is actually the new DBA for what used to be called the Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County – […]

United Way of Santa Barbara
By Zach Rosen   |   August 13, 2020

With so many schools having to turn to online classes, students in need are having an even tougher time getting the educational resources they need. One organization, United Way of Santa Barbara, has been helping at-risk and low-income students and members of the community since 1923. Of their many community programs, two of their educational […]