The Fund for Santa Barbara holds Milestone Grant Award Celebration in Solvang
SOLVANG, Calif. - The Fund for Santa Barbara held a milestone grant awards ceremony in Solvang this evening.
A cocktail hour in the outdoor reception area of the Corque Hotel in Solvang Wednesday evening was followed by a presentation of various stories reflecting The Fund for Santa Barbara’s mission.
“The Fund for Santa Barbara is a community foundation providing Movement Building Grants to organizations within Santa Barbara County, those organizations working at the grassroots level, seeking to make social justice change within the county,” says Eder Gaona-Macedo, The Fund for Santa Barbara’s executive director.
Representatives of the Fund for Santa Barbara say that though this event happens every year, this one is a significant milestone because it's their largest grant cycle in their 45 years of operation.
“I think it's essential that we all act together as a community,” says Ian Paige, on behalf of Indivisible of Santa Barbara. “What's happened in the past historically, is one third of the population will be involved, one third of all the community will pull in the other direction. And that last third, the third that we're trying to reach out to kind of sit by the sidelines and we're trying to I think all of us are trying to get the people, not just the ones who are active, but the ones who are sitting on the sidelines.”
Some attribute the swell in grassroots support to the Trump administration’s federal funding cuts.
“This year has been really difficult for a lot of people given the immigration raids, federal cuts and just the ongoing change,” says Gaona-Macedo.
Recipients are awarded The Fund's ‘Movement Building Grants,' ‘Racial Equity Grants,’ and more.
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