The Santa Barbara Community Environmental Council closed a historic “Protect Our Climate Campaign” with $16.97 million raised, exceeding the $15 million goal.
The news came after CEC hosted more than 22,000 community members back to Alameda Park for the SB Earth Day Festival at the end of April—the first time since 2019 due to Covid.
A cornerstone of the campaign was the creation of the first-of-its kind Environmental Hub—centrally located on Santa Barbara's State Street. CEC’s new Environmental Hub is a 10,000 square-foot state-of-the-art facility designed to be an epicenter for community activism, education, entrepreneurship, media, and art.
A Grand Opening community celebration will take place on Thursday, July 6, at 5:30 p.m. as a part of downtown Santa Barbara's 1st Thursday Art Walk.
In addition, the campaign, which launched in 2021, kickstarted CEC’s five-year effort to accelerate regional climate solutions through climate justice, regional and state policy, climate resilience, climate smart agriculture, a new Climate Stewards certification program, and other programs.
“We are incredibly inspired by our community, which understands the pivotal moment we are in and sees CEC as a beacon of hope for protecting the Central Coast,” said CEO Sigrid Wright. “By investing the funds as we’ve raised them, we’ve been able to double down with some incredibly bold goals – meaning that we’ve doubled staff, doubled programming, and expanded our geographic reach.”
Over 300 donors pledged to reverse and repair from climate change in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Most of the money ($10 million) will go to the Hub and the rest will be fulfilled in coming decades through long-term legacy gifts, ensuring the future sustainability of the organization.