Select Stories of Our Work

Small Grants Make a Big Difference

Hardest hit by economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, small businesses and self-employed residents faced precipitous loss of income. Many are still reeling from those losses.

We were delighted to be tasked by the County of Santa Barbara to administer both the federally funded Emergency Business Assistance Program (EBAP) and a State of California Microbusiness Disaster Relief Grant Program for local small businesses and self-employed service providers countywide from Carpinteria to Cuyama to Santa Maria.

More than $1,000,000 in grants were provided to local business owners and service providers.

A member of our board of trustees shared the story of their local seamstress shedding tears of gratitude when she learned of her client’s connection to SBF. “The grant I got from the Santa Barbara Foundation saved my business!”

Micro-business disaster relief grants were distributed to hair stylists, housecleaners, gardeners, shop owners, artists, DJs, photographers, freelance editors, personal trainers, handymen, nail and lash technicians, tailors, mobile car washers, carpenters, and more. The program was extended into early 2023 to buffer the stubborn economic impacts on small business owners who provide so many important services to all of us in Santa Barbara County.