ABOUT US

SB CAN ACTion Fund and its sister organization, SB CAN, are working day by day throughout Santa Barbara county for sustainable planning and democratic governance.  

Our vision is embodied in our “HOT principles”.  

The planning we seek simultaneously protects Santa Barbara’s environmental and agricultural resources, fosters affordable housing so that people of all classes can live and work here, and encourages alternative transportation systems to reduce dependence on private cars.  

SB CAN ACTion Fund organizes support for policies that advance these goals, and for candidates who share them. Underlying our efforts is a commitment to democratic politics: an informed public, whose voices can be heard by decision makers and in the media, where liberty and justice for all is a living reality.

We’ve helped:

• Elect new progressive candidates at every level of local government, a Board of Supervisors’ majority committed to rational planning and environmental values;  new voices for sustainability and justice have been elected to city councils in Santa Maria, Lompoc and Goleta. Now these new electeds need grassroots activism to enable them to fulfill their promises. The Action Fund sponsors forums and public education so that the issues and choices facing our communities can be understood.

• Win support for important ballot measures that help support affordable housing and provide new funding for alternative transportation in all parts of the county.

• Create community coalitions to monitor development so that community needs are served. We initiated formation of Sustainable University Now (SUN), to enable community voice in UCSB’s development, supported a growth limit for Buellton, helped articulate our HOT vision in the city of Santa Barbara general planning process, challenged environmentally dubious land development in north county.