Fire Safe Council Staff and Capacity

The Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council has been an entirely volunteer-run organization without paid staff up until now, but the SBC FSC is now the recipient of significant grant funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation via a new project called the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program (RWMP). The RWMP funding is enabling the FSC to add capacity to expand its neighborhood organizing and educational programming to complement the “Ready, Set, Go” efforts of the Fire Department. With additional capacity, FSC can serve as a potential "hub" for neighborhood organizing. Added capacity at the FSC may over time include hiring an executive director and administrative support. While representatives of several existing neighborhood associations attend FSC monthly meetings and some serve as FSC board members, there is a need to expand the FSC board diversity and engage more neighborhoods from throughout the county. Additional educational programming would help meet the need for ongoing outreach and culturally-competent and language specific kits for underserved and vulnerable populations throughout Santa Barbara County, ideally in partnership with community-based organizations that serve specific communities directly to ensure sensitivity to cultural needs and language barriers.

Status: Completed (A staff person was hired and a proposal was funded by the California Coastal Conservancy for this staffing support and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.)

Cost: Low

Partners:

Permitting: None

Funding Sources: California Coastal Conservancy, Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation