Board of Supervisors — 2022-02-01

I will call the February

and

please

And the next item is approval of minutes of January 25th, 2022. May I have a motion?

So moved.

A second?

Second.

Any further discussion? All in favor of adopting the minutes please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Minutes pass unanimously. CEO Miyasato do we have a report from you today?

No report this morning

and Madam Clerk

announcements Chair Hartman and members of the board, yes thank you. I have a couple quick announcements this morning. I would like to announce that we did post an addendum to our agenda on Friday adding administrative item number 25 to the agenda. Administrative item number 25 is sponsored by the Community Services Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding conditional reservation of funding to the housing authority of the County of Santa Barbara Housing Authority For the home key program application in Santa Maria and this is in the 5th district.

Additionally, I have a couple announcements regarding our administrative agenda on an administrative item number 15 this is sponsored by supervisor Hartman it is to approve the reappointment of Michael Cooney the law library Board of trustees and the term ending date should actually read January 1st 2023 attorney at large trustee So there is a correction to that item. The term ending date is January 1st, 2023.

Additionally administrative item number 18 is sponsored by Supervisor Nelson. This is to approve the reappointment of Sharon Byrne and this should read to the Behavioral Wellness Commission term ending January 1st 2024 and this is in the fourth district again there was a correction it should read Sharon Byrne to the Behavioral Wellness Department or commission excuse me term ending I would also like to remind the public that the Board of Supervisors meetings are being interpreted and broadcast live in Spanish.

We are broadcasting our meetings in Spanish both for Cox Cable subscribers in South County as well as Comcast Cable subscribers in North County. Members of the public can now view our meeting in Spanish by turning on the secondary audio programming, also known as SAP or S-A-P under their language settings. Lastly, I would like to remind the public who are participating in our meeting today of the Board's updated methods of public participation.

For the Board's methods of public participation and to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the Board's agenda please see page 2 of the agenda. Members of the public can attend meetings in person in both the Santa Barbara Board Hearing Room Chambers as well as the Santa Maria Board Hearing Room Chambers. Please note we are following all local and state guidelines and are requiring indoor mask usage for everyone over two years of age regardless of vaccination status.

If you attend the board meeting in person, you will be required to wear a face covering, a mask or face shield with drape at all times regardless of vaccination status. Information regarding how to properly wear a mask has been posted throughout both locations. If you do not have a mask that fits properly we can provide you with one. Additionally, for those unable to wear a mask for any reason we can provide you with a face shield with drape.

Lastly public health is encouraging social distancing due to the highly infectious Omicron variant and this pertains in both hearing room chambers I would also like to remind the public that if you require any special accommodations please contact the clerk of the board to make that request preferably on the Friday prior to the board meeting Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment virtually may do so via Zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page two.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing important information about joining the virtual meeting. Once the chair has announced the item you want to comment on, please join the meeting with the information provided in the registration confirmation email. You will be placed on mute until it is your turn to speak. The clerk will call you by name.

When removed from mute, you will hear a notification that your line has been unmuted. If you're using a touch-tone phone, you may need to press star six to unmute yourself. This meeting is being recorded and will be available to the public at any time. Again if you're using a touch some phone, you may need to press star 6 to a mute yourself. Each person may address the board for up to 3 minutes and this is Again, that's 805-568-2240. And that concludes my announcements this morning.

Thank you.

Turning to the administrative agenda, would any board members like to pull any items on the administrative agenda? I have A1 and A25. Are there any others? Members of the public, I have A21 and A23. Any others, Madam Clerk? Chair Hartman and members of the Board, that is it.

Chair Hartman, and item A1 was one that was pulling in just for a roll call vote.

A roll call vote? Okay. So there are no other A1, 21, 23, 25 so we'll start with A1 and Madam Clerk would you read that into the record please?

Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number one is brought to you by the Agricultural Commissioner and Weights & Measures Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding a Santa Barbara County hemp ordinance, and this is the second reading.

Thank you. And Supervisor Nelson?

Yes, just looking for a roll call vote on this.

Okay. Did you want to explain your reasoning?

I opposed it in the original hearing, and I just wanted to be consistent with my votes. So

that's all. So Madam Clerk, would you call the roll for A-1? I need a motion first. Sorry. Supervisor

Williams.

Second.

Motion passes 4 to 1.

And would you read A21 into the record Madam Clerk

Chair Hartman and members of the Board, Administrative Item Number 21 is a resolution to be presented sponsored by Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Williams. It is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of February 2022 as Black History Month in Santa Barbara County, and we have four requests to speak on this item.

And let's hold this just for one moment I jumped ahead a little bit to the let's then take the administrative agenda as a whole, including the honorary resolutions and may I have a motion to approve.

Second. Yes, sorry discussion if you will so 825 we'd still like to discuss prior to approving the entire administrative agenda.

Oh all right that's

the home key application

okay

okay.

So

the

motion would be to approve all of the items on the administrative agenda except for a 25

yeah that's thank you And so that's the second. I agree to that. All in favor

please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Chair Hartman and members of the board, my apologies. I missed the motion and second on that if that can just be restated on the balance of the agenda

Yes. The motion was to approve all the items on

the

administrative agenda without accepting

yes thank you sorry I missed the supervisor who made the motion on that

Supervisor Hart made the motion and Supervisor Williams made the second and it was approved unanimously great thank you very much and that brings us to a 25

Chair Hartman and members of the board, administrative item number 25 as previously stated was an addendum that was added to our agenda on Friday. This is brought to us by the community services department. It is to consider recommendations regarding conditional reservation of funding to the housing authority of the County of Santa Barbara Housing Authority for the home key program application in Santa Maria. And this is in the fifth district. And we have three requests to speak from the public on this item.

And we'll go to public comment first. And we will be going to Zoom for Mayor Alice Patino, to be followed by Etta Waterfield, Santa Maria City Council Member. Mayor Alice Patino?

Okay can you hear me? We can thank you.

Chair Hartman, Supervisors. January 6th 2022 we were asked to attend a meeting regarding the purchase of motel six to house homeless in Santa Maria. I attended along with Council Member Waterfield, Lieutenant Lara and Assistant City Manager Hackleman. We voiced opposition based on the Depot Street apartments run by the Housing Authority of which I was very supportive. The Depot Street apartments had been plagued with criminal activity from the beginning Last April, I called Mr Polanski of the Housing Authority to address all the criminal activity and we met in April of 2021. Myself Councilmember Waterfield and one of our commanders are two police officers. And our police officers agreed to help the management to get this residents relocate cameras and do other issues that would help in that area.

That was last April 10 months ago, things only got worse shootings in front of the apartment students in the next block shootings into cars stolen vehicles. It was parked in the street being broken into gang activity drugs arrested a visited visitor they're hiding out and it's one for attempted murder Calls have gone up from 12 in that area to over 1000 since the Depot Street Apartments.

A veteran there at that meeting said, I don't feel safe living here. That should give all of us pause. Given the history, I'm sure you can understand my concern. I have a responsibility along with our council to keep our residents safe. I cannot wait for a child to get shot or someone sleeping in their bed in a nearby house and then what do I say? In the January 6 meeting I told them that they need to clean up the depot Street apartments before we could consider another location and I had assurances when the steeple Street apartments were built how this was going to be a positive impact on the neighborhood and it was going to be safe. I felt I had been lied to in turn I have lied to the residents in the neighborhood now yesterday yesterday, I found out that the Santa Barbara County housing authority had purchased the motel on November 23rd The county met with us on January 6th to discuss the purchase of this property.

But it had already been purchased six weeks before, to the tune of 21.4 million 71 rooms 300,000 per room. Santa Maria is committed to the housing needs of our residents make no mistake about we have worked diligently incrementally over the years to get low income housing. And at the January 6 meeting, one of the staff members from the county had said how the purchase of the Super 8 Motel in Goleta was kept quiet under the radar. So there wouldn't be any local opposition just as they are doing here in Santa Maria.

I feel the residents of Santa Maria have been disrespected. Why wasn't Santa Maria included in the decision? Why the lack of transparency? What is the plan? Very disappointed to see government work like this. So much more to be said, but I don't have the time right now. Thank you very much.

Thank you Mayor Patino.

We will now go to Santa Maria City Council Member Etta Waterfield to be followed by Roy Reed who is our final speaker. Etta?

Can you hear me? We can. Okay great thank you. Madam Chair and Board of Supervisors, thank you for allowing me to speak on this item. 25 the proposed conversion of Motel 6 on Main Street in Santa Maria to homeless housing. Santa Maria builds more housing than any other community in the county has the fewest number of housing per capita of any city in the county per the last point in time count. The county has state money to allocate housing the homeless and they didn't even talk to the city leaders Residents of Santa Maria or our homeless service providers until months after the property was purchased.

Santa Maria has a good track record of addressing homelessness, no city in California has a great track record but we do the best we can. We know what works which homeless service providers need help and where more support is needed. We have families veterans elderly and young adults struggling and not enough to help keep them from falling further into homelessness and the struggles that come with it. Why wouldn't you consult the Santa Marans about how to best address the housing needs we know we have? There are a lot of questions our residents, decision makers and community has about Motel 6. We are getting inundated with that. That is because the secrecy surrounding the project. That leaves me and others unsettled about true motives. Will the County and Housing Authority come to the city explain the project in public and receive approval for the project.

We hope the county would partner with us to address our mutual challenges of homelessness, that supervisors elected by Santa Marians serve Santa Maria rather than presume they know what is best and take cheap shots at us from the dais when a member of the public suggests you partner with us. We hope you've learned that the Housing Authority didn't have sufficient resources or a decent plan to manage the clientele at Depot Street The 1000% increase in police calls for service and residents expressing they feel unsafe is something to be ashamed of, not to be duplicated with another project. There is a right way to do this. Make sure it involves coordinated entry, assist our people in need, support the hardworking homeless service providers in Santa Maria, receive land use approval for the project and be transparent to the residents and neighbors of Santa Maria.

Thank you.

Thank you, Council Member Waterfield.

We will now go to Roy Reed, who is our final speaker on this item.

Right? Yes, thank you. My name is Roy Reed and a lifetime, except during my working career resident of Santa Maria spent over about 55 years living in areas in close proximity To the proposed Motel 6 project. I'm also president of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association, I submitted a letter of public comment giving my personal opinion on the merits or potentially negative effects of this project which I submitted for your January 6 meeting At this time though on behalf of taxpayers Association. I would like to address what appears the process that's been involved thus far which began as far back and as the November 23rd.

One of our objectives one of our goals is to work with government to enhance transparency and public participation to ensure Judicious and prudent use of taxpayer provided resources. Looking at the chain of events thus far this process certainly fails to rise to that standard with many of the actions being taken outside of the purview of the public and particularly those members of the public You know potentially could be adversely affected by it. So I was again I realize in these processes perhaps public approval is not entirely necessary but I think anyone who's had teenage children would agree with the fact when you're explaining things to them.

The fact that you are able To perform a task or an activity certainly does not mean it's always best to go through with that. So at this time given the status and progress of this project we would have to register our dissatisfaction and opposition to it if later in some time. This process is modified to afford the transparency and available potential for comment On behalf of residents of the area of Santa Maria city government and of County government in a full and open format. We will reserve or or disapproval but given those modifications could be achieved we could potentially support it, but at this time we will look to our government or county government to rise to the level Of operations that we think are due.

The county taxpayers and residents

so as to read very much that was your time. Supervisor Levin you know

thank you madam chair, so this is very surprising to hear from me. As far as I know we have a letter of support from the city center is really like this is this is 180 degrees where I thought we were right now so I was prepared before those remarks talk about How much progress that we've made on this project with the city so. If Mister chaptains on the line I would love to hear this is not the story, I'm getting from staff

actually we have miss Lockhart and Mister chaptain miss is Mister champion would you like to speak to this or miss yeah,

I would share our We didn't meet with the city. Recently, and with the city manager and the assistant city manager. Talked about the type of client that would go into this facility. It would be transition age youth as well as seniors, homeless seniors and they would come from the coordinated entry system. They said they were supportive. They did send us a letter. The application was submitted because they did support and sent a letter.

This January 6th meeting wasn't the first meeting that the county and housing authority has with City of Santa Maria. I think it started back in November When the housing authority met with city staff. And they didn't purchase the property it was just a secured property for the sake of the application because it has to be secured so there I think they did put down payment to secure the property but wasn't purchased so this to me also is 180 degree difference where I thought we were well, I thought we had an agreement that the city was supportive city manager did say he was supportive There was some environmental issues or permitting issues that we would have to deal with but.

This is kind of a surprise to me as well, I knew everybody in that meeting. But we had agreement and we're moving forward with it so that's why we rush this project back on to the board agenda so we can make the January 31st deadline application deadline to get into that first tranche of money available for the Central Coast and not have to compete statewide.

So again I'm surprised that at the opposition at this point I thought they'd already talked their mayor and city council about this project

Miss Lockhart, did you have more to add?

Thank You Chair Hartman. I just wanted to add on to George's comments that what we have from the city is a letter which discusses the city's land use approval process that would follow the project Once the project was selected for conditional funding. So we we do have that as George mentioned we did meet with the city on January 26 and discussing the population mix at the motel 6 project. We did receive Some support from the city manager and staff. So I think that made a big difference. We also know that we do have support from local providers, including dignity health good Samaritan fighting back Santa Maria so there has been consultation with local social service providers and they will continue to be involved in the project The need for the application to be submitted by January 31st was to actually keep this idea viable because of the highly competitive nature of this home key funding had we missed the January 31st application deadline there would have been absolutely no chance or a very very rare chance that this project would have been competitive at the state level.

So that is why we were simply submitting the application If if for whatever reason the land use approvals were not approved by the city of Santa Maria. The application would not go forward the application would be submitted withdrawn rather so that was simply to keep our options open on this site.

And also chair and if I can clarify please is in the hotel. This is permanent housing for folks like us single single units for each person so this is permanent housing for kids transition transitioning out of foster care who would otherwise go on the streets and for seniors who are currently homeless Again, this is permanent housing, supportive housing, supportive services housing.

And so just so that I understand the population changed from prior to today and you're very clear on it would be former foster youth and seniors? Yes. Okay thank you. Supervisor Lavinino?

Thank you, Madam Chair. So just to talk about the process involved, I mean days after I found out about this project, I contacted the city and had the meeting and that's when I also discussed it with the mayor and Miss Waterfield and city staff. And at that point if the blowback was so intense that I was like OK we're out if you guys don't want it. You had concerns, I understand about the Depot Street project.

They felt that the housing authority had let them down and they didn't want another project. Fine, okay, let's pull the project. Then as we got closer it seemed like what happened was other agencies had reached out, Dignity Health that had said wait a minute you know we have this huge concern with seniors that are also homeless And is there a way that we can make something happen? There was a subsequent meeting that Mr. Chaplain attended the feedback I got from that meeting was, I mean, I had bullet points of, you know, there's going to be the city had dictated that there would be two members on site from Good Samaritan Shelter. There would be two members on site from fighting back Santa Maria Valley housing authority would have an onsite manager.

It would be a security contract in place There would be 27 spots open for seniors that are facing homelessness, there'd be 24 spots open for transition age youth. I mean it's very detailed out also the housing authority committed that they would go back to Depot Street and there was also a laundry list of things that they would address. The balconies needed some covers on them so that not everything, it wouldn't be open to the public. There'd be more security, there'll be some evictions put into place of people that were causing problems So this is what I came to this meeting with that. I thought we were moving in the right direction.

I thought you know, we have the same goals. I wanted to make sure we all have the same expectations and so had conversations with Supervisor Nelson as well that we said, you know what? The most important thing was to get this application in once that's determined. We still have off ramps. We don't have to move forward with this project if and I'm hoping It sounds like that we could get this agendized for the City Council to talk about it, let the public comment on it. It's not like this is going to happen tomorrow.

All we were talking about is getting ourselves in line for an application so that if we want to do this, we can move forward. Having said that with all the comments back from the city about the secrecy and the project and that we somehow bought this hotel ahead of time which we haven't I'm not sure where I'm at on this, at this point. I mean, I see this huge need out there and I know the city's got plans with a lot of the encampments that they see but you know, the City of San Luis Obispo is being sued right now because of the way they dealt with their encampments. You have to have capacity and for as much affordable housing as we have in Santa Maria, there's still an additional need for more housing so you have to have A place for people to go.

An encampment policy, breakup policy is only as good as the last item on that list which is where does that individual go when you leave the encampment? I know whoever drives through Santa Maria all along the 101 there's encampments a huge encampment inside the riverbed which was again the subject of a news article last night. A new story last night at KSPY it was the lead story What are we going to do with all these people? The neighborhoods in northwest Santa Maria are scared to walk along the levee because they're afraid of what's going on in the riverbed. So, you know I know the city's response was well it's just outside of our jurisdiction so it's the county of San Luis Obispo but we're all gonna have to deal with this is a regional problem one of the things I was trying to think of how to when I think about this is that Would Motel 6 be my ideal location?

Would it be, is that what I wanna see? It's not the ideal location but the way I'm looking at this and the way I'm talking to people about it now is that it's like chemotherapy. You would never give it to a well patient. It just, it's not your first priority but you have to realize you're dealing with something that's so destructive right now with homeless encampments and the way people are just living on the street.

It's gonna take tough medicine something Something that's not the most ideal. It's going to have to be a step to get to that ideal situation and so you know the way I see this right now where we're at is. We've got the application in if we are so lucky to be able to be granted this money then through this process, if the city still has issues at that point says you know we'd still don't want it. I can't move forward because I have to have a collaborative partner in this process And I personally feel like I've done what needed to be done. I outreached when I knew about it, they knew about it. And so if they felt they were kept in the dark or some sort of secretive plan, I'm doing a real bad job at keeping it secret because it's on the front page of every paper and it's leading TV news.

So this is not a done deal. It's in the process we're moving forward and The feedback I got from staff was that the city was okay with where we were with the last time we sat down with them. And if things have changed since then, it's news to me so.

Supervisor Nelson?

Yes thank you Chair Hartman. I just appreciate Supervisor Lavinino's comments. I think he really outlined where I'm at as well. His office has taken the lead but my office has been trying to stay on top of it as we both represent the City of Santa Maria. And I also had my outreach to some of the city leaders just trying to make sure I understood, are you guys out? Are you guys in? And I think it's still confusing.

And so today coming to this meeting, you know, I was ready to approve this with two conditions that I want to make sure either staff can assure us will happen or maybe we make that as part of the motion and one would be that we get city of Santa Maria concurrence. Okay. I think that's something that we should have out there that would put to bed some of these Challenges to us that we're just pushing this through without cooperation. So let's make sure it goes to the City Council before it comes back for final approval and then it comes back to the board at some point right now, it's a concept and I think it should have a plan fully, you know decide that things have been changing over the last week. You know things do change. I'm not prepared to say hey go work it out based on where we're at right now if they can come back to us when and if we get the grant for final execution that would be something I would need as well for approval.

I am not ready to sign off on it but I am ready to continue to move forward. The areas that we're targeting the seniors and transitional age youth. If we are able to pull those into that facility, that adds capacity to our existing homeless shelters so they can be more. They can have the capacity to address the chronically homeless some of those with You all and we are in a tough place today right.

Take as the end of the statement. The letter from city manager who usually has the votes or the public testimony of the mayor who usually has the votes and that's a real difficult position for us because we want to be a good partner I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and then we'll move forward. Supervisor Labadie Nino has as gone through a torturous route in the last couple weeks trying to be true to you when when we're getting 2 messages.

And then we have this question essentially if I think it's important to note that we would have some other opportunities. To off ramp in the if we were successful in getting the grant. So my sense is I you know. We're with you what we want to back you. Well, I think we put forward There are great controls that housing authorities can exercise over facilities like Depot Street if they use all their powers, so I eminently believe that it's possible to address the issues.

I've seen it done in the City of Santa Barbara and those have similar controls on their developments.

Supervisor Hart?

Yeah, I want to thank Supervisor Lavinino and Supervisor Nelson for their leadership and I really appreciate Mayor Patino and Councilmember Waterfield being such strong advocates for their constituents in their neighborhoods. Their concerns are real and legitimate and it is important That they have an opportunity to express them, that their dissatisfaction with the operations of the Depot Street project and its potential impact on the neighborhood. That story itself is very complicated and packed. There are neighborhood issues there beyond the operation of that specific facility. And solutions to those are going to require as much collaboration to resolve adequately to the satisfaction of the neighbors in the council As you know this potential future project has but the good thing from all of this is, this is completely transparent.

We're doing this in real time live here on the board's agenda we're hearing directly from Mayor Patino and Councilmember Waterfield that they continue to have concerns The supervisors that represent Santa Maria are echoing those concerns and at the same time saying we have a unique, and this is when the word really unique actually does apply because if we don't put in this application to get this $16 million there is no chance to do this. But by putting in the application we are not assuring that this is going to happen as Supervisor Lavinino said There are many off ramps, there remains to be a lot of work to pull people together to get agreement. I think it's a substantial concession for the Housing Authority to be talking about unhoused seniors and foster youth.

I think as that percolates in more and folks begin to understand what is being proposed at the Motel 6 It is different than what was originally proposed and I think that goes a long way toward meeting some of the concerns expressed by Mayor Patino and Councilmember Waterfield. So, I'm going to trust and believe that we're doing this in the full light of day.

The representative from Taxpayers Association who said you know demand transparent public process. That's what you have here. This is happening right here on the dais in real time There will be many, many meetings between our staff and the City of Santa Maria staff. There will be many conversations amongst elected officials. The community will have opportunities at Santa Maria City Council. They have opportunities here at the board hearings. Many, many chances to continue to weigh in, to refine this proposal. And the good news is if there were issues that remain outstanding at Depot Street, this is putting a giant spotlight on that project and is going to require the Housing Authority to do whatever's necessary to get those issues to a place where the neighbors can accept that project and feel it's a welcome addition to their neighborhood.

And ultimately, that's our standard for success for any of these operations wherever they are in the County of Santa Barbara is we want them to be positive opportunities for people to get the services that they need to get off the street, to get indoors, to ge the training for jobs And to get their drug and alcohol counseling and mental health services they need to get their lives back on track because no one finds it acceptable to have people living outdoors without treatment services, without basic common civil services in a life that us as our neighbors we can be proud to say we're doing what we can to help our neighbors.

Supervisor Lavanina?

Thank you madam chair and appreciate all the board input. I think what we need to do at this point is to work with city to get it agendized on their calendar. I would not feel comfortable without really moving forward, I just don't think this project will work without the city's acceptance and so you know, I know we've heard from 2 members of their Council I think we need, you know this is an item that they need to vote on at some point and say it's a thumbs up or it's a thumbs down. And if it's the thumbs down, I want an off ramp after we receive this money that I won't be voting to move forward. So to me this is their partnership.

You know we'll provide, I'm sure Mr. Chapgian and Dinah would be happy to go to their city council make a presentation all join in. You know, if it's something that they feel they can't support at that point I would walk away from it. So at this point I would like to make a motion that we well I got to look at what 25 actually I don't have the addendum so but that we would move forward with the recommended actions with the caveat that that we do have potential off ramps in the future That this doesn't mean that the project's being approved. It's just that we have, we will reserve the ARPA funding and execute the letter of support for the Home Key Project along with the CEQA determination.

Supervisor Nelson would you like to second that?

I'd be happy to so I second

it. And would you call

Motion passes unanimously

Thank you So now we're turning to resolutions to be presented and We'll start with administrative item number 21 Madam Clerk, would you read that into the record?

Chair Hartman and members of the board. Administrative item number 21 is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman and Supervisor Williams, it is to adopt a resolution proclaiming the month of February 2022 as Black History Month in Santa Barbara County. And joining us today via Zoom we have Lawanda Lyons-Pruitt of the Santa Maria Lompoc NAACP, Wendy Sims Moten Executive Director of First 5 Santa Barbara County and the Santa Barbara Unified School District Trustee And Jordan Killebrew, community organizer and co-founder of Juneteenth Santa Barbara.

And I will go ahead and read the resolution into the record. Whereas the 2022 Santa Barbara County theme for Black History Month is black joy and legacy through family health and safety. And whereas when Dr. Carter G Woodson established Negro history week in 1926, he lobbied extensively to establish black history as a nationwide institution and to encourage the study of African American history due to his efforts in 1976 Negro history week expanded to black history month The goal of bringing to the public's attention front and center, the noteworthy and important contributions made by African Americans and the black community members that merit emphasis.

And whereas the 2022 theme reflect changes in how people are part of the African diaspora in the United States in Santa Barbara County, in particular have viewed themselves the influence of social movements on racial ideologies and aspirations of the black community. And whereas the black family offers a rich tapestry of images for exploring the African American past and present.

The Black family knows no single location since family reunions and genetic ancestry searches attest to the spread of family members across states, nations and continents. As family historians dive into archives, online newspapers and census reports to stretch the traditional boundaries of history they discover amazing life stories of their ancestors, ordinary people who did extraordinary things. These stories inspire new generations and destroy old stereotypes And whereas Black joy and legacy through family health and safety has been at the cornerstone of survival for the black community. It is with the black family that has prioritized the health and safety of our black community, without such health and safety contributions through the legacy of storytelling history literature, the visual arts film studies sociology sciences anthropology and social policy cannot be known or educated upon.

And whereas black history is not just about the struggles black families have been through, but rather it is a time of rejoicing and celebrating the accomplishments integrity leadership and determination and showing true character. We honor the history and celebrate the progress that we have made. We are resilient and resolute in creating new opportunities for future generations.