In Wealthy Santa Barbara, Poverty Rate Among Highest in State
Coalition Aims for ‘Upward Mobility’ for Nearly 70,000 Living at or Below Poverty Line
Santa Barbara County has a worldwide reputation as a lap of luxury — home to movie stars, wineries, and million-dollar homes — but at the same time, the county carries the less-appealing distinction of holding the second-highest poverty rate out of all 58 counties in the entire state, according to a report released by the Public Policy Institute.
Nearly 70,000 people in the county are living in poverty (using the California Poverty Measure, which takes into account cost of living and social safety net programs), meaning one out of every six adults, and one out of every five children, are living at or below the poverty line. In Santa Barbara County, this threshold equates to $41,750 a year for a household of four.
On Friday, January 24, a coalition of more than a dozen nonprofit groups, government officials, and community support service providers will convene for the all-day Upward Mobility Summit at two separate locations, as part of a new initiative aimed at addressing this countywide poverty rate.
Julie Weiner — chief development officer at CommUnify, one of the nonprofit members of the Coalition for Upward Mobility, said that she was shocked when she began to understand the actual scope of poverty in Santa Barbara.
The largest venue in the county, the Santa Barbara Bowl, holds fewer than 5,000 people. “That’s like filling the Bowl 12 times,” Wiener said. “That’s what really made it come alive and come home to me.”
She says there are many misconceptions about poverty in Santa Barbara County, such as many assuming poverty is centered in the homeless community or with North County residents. But poverty is just as likely to affect communities in the South County cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta, and Carpinteria, she says, as it is in the cities of Santa Maria or Lompoc.
“We need to be talking about this,” she said. “This is invisible poverty; it’s all around us. It really is a huge problem that people aren’t aware of, and it’s at odds with the idea people have of Santa Barbara County.”
The Upward Mobility Summit will bring together 15 organizations — including CenCal Health, Dignity Moves, Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, People Helping People, Housing Authority of Santa Barbara County, New Beginnings, and United Way — to work toward a countywide initiative modeled after the Urban Institute’s Upward Mobility framework.
“Upward Mobility,” Weiner said, can be described as a reframing of poverty and putting the agency back in the hand of those who are struggling by offering pathways to success. The main paths out of poverty include rewarding work, access to education, inclusive housing, a healthy environment, and responsible government.
The conference will also focus on changing the narrative surrounding poverty and taking a realistic look at the systemic issues that lead to financial strain.
“There’s this myth of the American Dream,” Wiener said. “That if they just bootstrap hard enough, they can get out. But if you don’t have boots, and you don’t have straps, it’s kind of hard to pick yourself up.”
The conference will be held from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at two locations simultaneously on January 24. In North County, the event will take place at Allan Hancock College’s Boyd Hall, and in South County, the meeting will be held at the Fé Bland Forum at Santa Barbara City College.
Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Evicted and Poverty, by America, will be appearing virtually as the keynote speaker. Several other speakers will be on hand to discuss homelessness, vocational training, health care, education, housing, and legislative action.
The intention of the summit is to bring likeminded folks together to work toward tackling poverty in the county. But in the long-term, the summit will be the first step on a road to creating a more healthy community, where every person has equal ability to achieve success.
“People are more civically engaged when they are out of poverty,” Weiner said.
