The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara and 2nd Story Associates Provide School Supplies to 400+ Low-income Students

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Photos courtesy of The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA, August 13, 2024 – The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara (HACSB) in partnership with its nonprofit affiliate, 2nd Story Associates, hosted its annual Tools for School event on Saturday, August 10, 2024 from 9 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Presidio Springs Community Room (721 Laguna Street, Santa Barbara).

Tools for School is a free event for Housing Authority youth and families aimed at providing academic and other school-related resources to families in advance of the new school year.  Over 20 local youth-serving agencies attend the event, providing important resource information to families. Free backpacks filled with school supplies are provided to Housing Authority youth through a generous grant and strong partnership with U.S. Bank. 

“Tools for School helps our tenant families send their kids off to school with the materials they need to help them succeed,” said Rob Fredericks, CEO of the City of Santa Barbara Housing Authority.  “We also leverage this opportunity by including community partners–particularly in education and health–who can share their valuable information and resources with our families,” said Fredericks.

“This is going the extra mile… to really come together as a community to bring the resources, backpacks, and school supplies to provide for the children of the families that live here so that they can go to school with their chin up… to do the best that they can and succeed,” said Congressman Salud Carbajal. 

This year, participating agencies included: 

• Partners in Education
• Cal-SOAP
• Santa Barbara Public Library
• SBCC Promise and School of Extended Learning
• Santa Barbara Neighborhood Clinics
• The Club (formerly Downtown Boys & Girls Club)
• Westside United Boys & Girls Club 
• CommUnify
• LEAP
• AHA!
• Assistance League of SB
• See International
• Family Service Agency
• Santa Barbara Unified School Distric

About Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara

The Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara is a local public agency created for the purpose of providing safe, decent, and quality affordable housing and supportive services to eligible persons with limited incomes, through a variety of federal, state, local and private resources. Since 1969, the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Barbara has developed and/or secured over 4,000 units of affordable rental housing for Santa Barbara through a variety of federal, state, local and private funding sources. 

About 2nd Story Associates

2nd Story Associates is a nonprofit corporation created to support the development of affordable housing and promote social services for the benefit of low-income members of the Santa Barbara community. The organization’s programs and services seek to enhance the quality of life of low-income families, seniors and disabled individuals with an emphasis on promoting stability and self-sufficiency. For more information, please visit 2nd-story.org/.