Santa Barbara County Food Action Network was awarded Catalyst Predevelopment Funding in support of its Building An Inclusive and Prosperous Central Coast Regional Food System project. The project advanced the work of the six county region Central Coast Resilient Food Systems Community of Practice (CoP).
Catalyst funding, distributed from the state’s CA Jobs First initiative, was committed to advancing economic resilience, environmental sustainability, and equitable growth across the Central Coast.
Amount Awarded: $190,000
Purpose: Cross-regional coordination, planning, capacity building, industry cluster broadening and deepening, and expanding partnerships
ACHIEVEMENTS:
- February 2025 – awarded funds
- Broadened and deepened engagement and collaboration across Blue Economy, Working Lands, Food Hubs, Commercial Kitchens Industry Clusters
- Produced the Economic Impact Assessment Report of the Food Industry on the Central Coast, in addition to county by county disaggregation of data
- Impact metrics are now available for county by county food system resilience measurement.
- Created shared mission and brand
- Launched the Central Coast Food Commons online hub (ccfood.org) to support continuous access to connections, information, and resources