Chamber News

Contact:
Matt Klink
(310) 283-6267
mattk@calstrat.co

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 23, 2021 

VIRTUAL ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION ON THE CITY OF SANTA BARBARA’S PROPOSED NATURAL GAS BAN

WHO: United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 114

Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce
Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions
Santa Barbara Business Owners
Santa Barbara Residents

WHAT: Santa Barbara business owners, employees, union members, and residents will participate in a virtual round table discussion about the real world impacts and long-term implications of the Santa Barbara City Council’s consideration of a ban on new natural gas hook-ups. The moderated, round table discussion is co-hosted by the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, Californians for Balanced Energy Solutions and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 114.

WHEN: Thursday, February 25, 2021, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.

HOW: Email or call Matt Klink at mattk@calstrat.com or (310) 283-6267 for virtual round table log-in information.

Brett D. Tande
Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Cottage Health
Santa Barbara, CA

Brett Tande is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cottage Health. With hospitals in Santa Barbara, Goleta and a critical access hospital in the Santa Ynez Valley, Cottage Health offers a broad scope of clinical services, including those provided by Cottage Rehabilitation Hospital, Cottage Children’s Medical Center, Pacific Diagnostic Laboratories, and Cottage Urgent Care.

Brett and his wife, Alexis, both attended Washington University in St. Louis, and they lived in New York and in Chicago prior to relocating to Santa Barbara in 2016. Brett and Alexis have three children, aged 12, 10, and 6.

Brett also serves on the Board of the University of California Santa Barbara’s Economic Forecast Project, is a member of the Healthcare Financial Management Association, and is a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Brett earned his Masters in Business Administration at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 18, 2021

CONTACT:

Kristen Miller, President/CEO

Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce

Phone: 805.967.2500  Ext. 108

Email: Kristen@sbscchamber.com    

_______________________________________________________________________

The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber Presents the Carpinteria State of the City

The Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce, from Goleta to Carpinteria will host a virtual State of the City-Carpinteria for release on Friday, March 19^th at 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM. The State of the City will be filmed live from LinkedIn in Carpinteria.

Guest speakers include the City Mayor Wade Nomura and City Manager Dave Durflinger, Superintendent, Carpinteria Unified School District, Diana Rigby, and Peter Rupert, Professor of Economics at UC Santa Barbara and the Director of the Economic Forecast Project.

The new Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber is proud to be the leading business-support organization providing timely, relevant, and trustworthy information from our elected officials and City leadership teams.

Carpinteria will be the first of the 4-part State of the City series. We intend to feature Santa Barbara in April, Goleta in May, and the State of the County in June.

With the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the information to be presented is more crucial than ever to inform our business and community members on critical information about their community and government, and to provide a comprehensive update on the ever-changing business landscape.

Register in advance for the FREE webinar at (insert link) After registering, a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar will be sent.

Many thanks to our Sponsors: Title Sponsor – COX Communications.

President’s Circle Sponsors include: Agilent Technologies, Atlantic Aviation, Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, Chevron, Community West Bank, Deckers Brands, LinkedIn, Marriott, Montecito Bank & Trust, Noozhawk, Pacific Premier Bank, Santa Barbara Airport, Santa Barbara City College Foundation, Signature Flight Support, Santa Barbara Independent, The Towbes Group, UCLA Health, and Village Properties.

Congressman Salud Carbajal has proudly represented California’s 24th Congressional District in the U.S. House since he took office in 2017. His district encompasses San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and a portion of Ventura County.

A Marine Corps veteran and graduate of UCSB, Carbajal worked as Santa Barbara County’s First District Supervisor for 12 years prior to serving in Congress. He worked to protect and expand health and social service safety net programs for the most vulnerable Santa Barbarans, co-sponsoring an initiative to provide health insurance for all the county’s children, and spearheading the creation of a mentorship program for at-risk youth.

In Congress, Carbajal brings his experience as a veteran, immigrant, local official, father of two and a grandfather to the work that he does in our nation’s capital. He is an advocate for bold environmental protections, strong services for our nation’s veterans, robust infrastructure and education policies that help uplift all students.

Carbajal also strives to support and grow our local economy. He recognizes that small businesses are the backbone of our economy, employing nearly half of America’s workforce and accounting for 44% of our country’s economic activity in 2019, which is why he has stepped up to support small businesses facing the economic downfall associated with COVID-19. He has repeatedly advocated for federal relief to small businesses, so they can keep their doors open and their employees on payroll, and has cosponsored legislation that provides targeted support some of the hardest hit sectors of our economy, like restaurants and music venues.

Carbajal serves on the House Armed Services and House Agriculture Committees and is the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.

I am honored to have been elected to represent the people of the 37^th Assembly District, which includes the Southern half of Santa Barbara County, as well as the western third of Ventura County.

I look forward to bringing my experience serving on the Ventura County Board of Supervisors. For two decades, I led the efforts that ended the county’s structural budget deficit and grew reserves from 0% of the budget to 13% of the budget, and improved our bond rating to the highest possible. Prior to this, I was an Economics and American History high school teacher and administrator for over twenty years. It is through this experience and my educational background, a graduate from Brown University with an Honors Degree in Economics, that I hope to draw from as I work with our local partners to create or support meaningful policy for our small business community.

Some of my committee assignments include Budget, Education, Elections, Privacy, and Consumer Protections, and Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy, and Transportation.

Addressing climate change and the negative effects of growing income inequality are among my top legislative priorities. It is a critical time to tackle these issues as they are at the root of the challenges the central coast region faces, including those of our local businesses and economy. In the last couple of years, our small businesses have greatly suffered from wildfires, the devastating debris flow and now the pandemic. Strengthening emergency preparedness policies, which stem from the issue of climate change, will be one of my focuses as it is good for our environment and will sustain our economy. It is important that we ensure our businesses have a strong foundation as they encounter natural disasters and know how to identify the support they will need as they seek economic recovery. Additionally, confronting the gaps in our communities by improving access to affordable housing and educational opportunities, especially in the midst of the pandemic, is essential as we tackle the growing trend of income inequality.

We have seen the devastating effects the pandemic has had on our small businesses this past year. My office continues to assist constituents in connecting them with resources or provide the latest updates for businesses struggling due to COVID-19. We can also provide casework assistance in assisting constituents with issues they may encounter with a state agency, the Employment Development Department included. Please feel free to reach out at (805) 564-1649 or write to me at Assemblymember.Bennett@assembly.ca.gov.

The Chamber has made an effort to stay engaged in the conversations around the homelessness crisis that our communities are facing. At this time, SB Act, who is contracted with the City of Santa Barbara, is hosting a variety of RAP (Regional Action Plan) groups specific to the following neighborhoods: Waterfront, State Street and Eastside. These RAP groups are hosted weekly and open for business community members to attend and share specific incidents taking place around homelessness. By sharing experiences in these meetings, it assists in addressing specific individuals in the community with the hopes to get them off the street. At these meetings, community members have the opportunity to share their experiences and stories in an open format with a variety of industry representatives who are working to tackle the homelessness crisis in our community.

The Chamber plans to be consistently present for all meetings moving forward and continues to remain engaged in the conversation around homelessness, with the hopes of finding some resolution for our community. We would really like to encourage you, as representatives of the business community, to attend these meetings if you are able to. It is important that our local business community show up and share their stories, old or new. We want to find a resolution to the ongoing crisis of homelessness in our community, and it’s going to take a regional effort to do so. The RAP meetings take place weekly. Please reach out to me if you have any interest in attending one of these meetings. If you are unable to attend the weekly meeting but have information to contribute, please feel free to contact Cheyanne Brooks at Cheyanne@sbscchamber.com

Click here for the full KEYT Story 

California is allowing small businesses to signup for a second round of small business grant relief. The grants are to help businesses with losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The second round of California Small Businesses COVID-19 Relief Grants opened Tuesday, February 2. The application window closes at 6 p.m. PST Monday, February 8. Businesses will be notified if they are approved or denied between February 11 and 18.

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit California’s Central and South Coasts hard.

Continue reading →

Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce Launches Roadmap to Recovery Plan
that Supports Safe and Continuous Business Operations
Actionable Plan Includes Industry Recommendation, Timelines, and Metrics

Amid the biggest public health crisis and resulting economic devastation to our local economy the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce (SBSCC) has worked closely with government leaders, public health officials, residents, parents, and the business community to respond to, and understand, COVID-19 guidelines. In the course of almost a year, the request from the business community has been to have a clear and actionable plan that supports continuous and safe business operations. The Roadmap to Recovery is the culmination of months of industry specific focus groups and results in a plan of action for our members and the business community that allows businesses to operate with the utmost safety.

Continue reading →

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 3, 2021

CONTACT:
Kristen Miller, President/CEO
Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce
Phone: 805.967.2500       Ext. 108
Email: Kristen@sbscchamber.com         

 _____________________________________________________________________

Tri-County Chamber Alliance

The Chambers of Commerce Alliance of Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties recently voted to create a new Tri-County Chamber Alliance. The newly formed Alliance will initially include thirteen Chambers of Commerce throughout Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo counties.   Glenn Morris, current Alliance Chair and President/CEO of the Santa Maria Valley Chamber said, “We’re thrilled to expand the Alliance to include the three Central Coast counties.   We share markets, labor sheds, and culture, so it was a natural extension to share advocacy efforts as well.”

Continue reading →

Raised in Orcutt and a graduate of Righetti High School, Supervisor Bob Nelson and his wife, Jamie, continue to live in the community with their three children. After leaving the Central Coast for a short period of time to earn his degree in Business Administration, Nelson returned as a teacher and water polo coach— earning recognition as Teacher of the Year by the Santa Maria Sun in 2003.

Continue reading →