Santa Barbara Library Services Manager Molly Wetta watches patrons walk up to the doors Sunday and Monday, unaware that the central and eastside branches are closed, and press their faces to the glass, disappointed.

Santa Barbara library staff were faced with a tough decision this spring as they budgeted for the 2022 fiscal year: Cut hours or cut programming?

Staff members wanted to provide literacy courses and tutoring, so they sacrificed operating hours.

The city of Santa Barbara, impacted by the pandemic’s constraints, couldn’t offer departments the funding they received in pre-pandemic years. City officials asked them to cut back proposed budgets to allot for the decreased revenue.

An award of $90,000 from the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara will go to SBCC’s Single Parent Achievement Program to provide child-care support for low-income single mothers, allowing them to attend college.

"Thanks to this generous grant from the Women's Fund, SBCC is able to expand the Single Parent Achievement Program, providing one full year of exceptional child care,” said Vanessa Bechtel, executive director of the SBCC Foundation.

It has come to our attention that there may be some confusion about qualifications for membership in the Women's Fund. So, let's set the record straight.

MYTH #1: You must be invited to join. False!

FACT #1: The Women’s Fund is open to every woman.

There are absolutely no restrictions.

MYTH #2: Membership in the Women’s Fund costs $2,500 annually. False!

On May 9, the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara awarded an impressive $925,000 to 10 local nonprofits. As always with these annual awards, the grants targeted critical needs of women, children, and families in south Santa Barbara County.

This year’s recipients were 2nd Story Associates, Alpha Resource Center, Alzheimer’s Association CA Central Coast Chapter, Family Service Agency, Food from the Heart, Hillside House, Independent Living Resource Center, Legal Aid Foundation of S.B. County, S.B. County Immigrant Legal Defense Center, and St. Vincent’s. Six grants are for programs, four are for capital grants, and awards range from $30,000 to $140,000.

Storyteller Children’s Center hosted its 9th annual Lunch with Love at the S.B. Woman’s Club for more than 200 supporters. There was a reception on the sunny patio and then lunch inside, where guests were welcomed by Board President Michael Wasserman. He recognized some of the many public officials present, including Mayor Randy Rowse, Police Chief Kelly Gordon, County Supervisor Laura Capps, and City Fire Chief Chris Mailes.

Fall is traditionally a season for gratitude. And, for many people in Santa Barbara, it doesn’t take long for gratitude to turn into generosity. In Hope Ranch, a growing number of women regard the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara as an important part of their giving portfolio.

Many of those women met recently for a reception in Hope Ranch at the home of Stina Hans, a long-time Women’s Fund member. “Women’s Fund matters to me because it gives women a way to become more informed philanthropists, by pooling their charitable dollars and deciding together where those dollars will have the most impact,” observes Hans.

For many girls, the prospect of attending college seems like an unattainable dream. But thanks to Girls Inc. and its innovative Eureka! program, cohorts of lucky young women are learning the steps necessary to make that dream a reality.

There is no compelling reason as to why girls do not enter the fields of science, technology, engineering or math at the same rate that boys do, except for a possible lack of support from family or community along the way. The Eureka! program is designed to provide girls with that added bit of encouragement, and a whole lot more, to nudge them toward higher education and exploration of STEM careers.

Laurie Tumbler and Shelley Hurst of the Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara paid the Sunset Rotary a visit this week to review how the Fund serves the communities from Goleta down to Carpinteria. The volunteer-driven collective donor group has funded more than $6 million to various organizations since 2004—close to $1 million of that right here in Carpinteria. The following local organizations have received grant funds: Carpinteria Children’s Project, Girls Inc.

If you build it, the saying goes, they will come. On Saturday, the Dos Pueblos Engineering Academy showed off its newest handbuilt creation, the Capital Campaign Donor Wall, and people came indeed—the people whose generosity gave the award-winning educational experience the ability to build the Elings Center for Engineering Education on the Dos Pueblos High campus. Sandy Seale, DPEA Foundation president, proudly noted that all the metal panels on the wall were handmade by students and staff in the DPEA’s own machine shop.

The Women’s Fund of Santa Barbara (WFSB) held its 21^st year anniversary event, “Celebration of Grants” at the Lobero Theatre on Tuesday, May 20. There were over 500 in attendance including members and their guests.

This year, the WFSB provided $1.25 million in grants to eleven local nonprofits, the funding provided by its 1,426 women members.

Pre-event with WFSB Kerry Parker and new Board Chair Carolyn Jabs in the Green Room (photo by Joanne A Calitri)