Communify / Community Action Commission of Santa Barbara County Inc

Children's services provide head start and early head start programs that offer comprehensive early childhood education, health, nutrition and parent involvement services to low-income children and families. Full and part-day early care and education are provided for children up to age five in 24 sites throughout Santa Barbara County with a goal of preparing our most vulnerable young children to succeed in school and in life beyond school. In addition, both programs are designed to assist families in meeting their own personal goals and achieving self-sufficiency across a wide variety of domains, such as housing, continued education, and financial security. The head start program delivers services to children and families by focusing on the areas of early learning, health, and family well-being while engaging parents as partners every step of the way. California state preschool and child development programs are also offered and blended with head start services. The early head start program promotes the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of infants and toddlers through safe and developmentally enriching caregiving. The program is designed to support parents, both mothers and fathers, in their role as primary caregivers and teachers of their children. In 2023, 884 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers were provided with high quality early care and education ("ece") and health services.

Community services is comprised of a variety of services designed to help disadvantaged families address the financial challenges by reducing their home energy burden, promoting financial literacy, removing barriers to achieving self- sufficiency, and linking residents to available services and resources throughout Santa Barbara County. Services include energy assistance, weatherization services, senior home repair program, family self-sufficiency program, economic empowerment program and earned income tax credit outreach program. Communify's energy services weatherized 135 homes and assisted a total of 1,718 families with their energy bills, while an additional 79 seniors' homes were repaired, enabling them to age safely in place. Also included in the portfolio of Community services is 2-1-1 Santa Barbara County, a comprehensive information and referral system. Dialing 2-1-1 connects people to over 2,000 health and human services, disaster relief, and public information resources. 2-1-1 is a free service, available 24 hours a day/7 days a week in multiple languages. In 2023, 2-1-1 handled 7,394 calls and text messages and assisted 12,084 users through the 2-1-1 website.

Family and youth services ("fys") enhances the social, emotional and physical well-being of youth and families in Santa Barbara County to help them achieve a positive and productive future. Services focus on culturally responsive mentoring, tutoring, health education and skill development, as well as helping families cope with mental health issues. In 2023, 1,802 youth ages 6-17 participated in Communify's youth programs. In addition, Communify served 50 young adults in the transition age youth ("tay") program.