By Dennis Tivey, Communication & Outreach Coordinator
Did you know that a single phone call to 2-1-1 (or a visit to 211santabarbaracounty.org) can get you information about no-cost and low-cost resources in our community? It’s a great way to find the health and human services that you or your client may need.
This year, 2-1-1 decided to help build community in person, with the first-ever 2-1-1 Community Day Celebration, and the Santa Barbara County Department of Social Services (DSS) was there! Read on to learn more!
This free resource fair occurred Saturday, February 11, 2023, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Dick DeWees Community Center, 1120 W. Ocean Ave., Lompoc.
This free event featured 50+ organizations, a live radio broadcast with 95.7 The Beat, food trucks, kid’s activities, live music from Gates & Goodell and Whose House Is This?, door prizes, and more. DSS was one of dozens of organizations available to the community at this event!
The DSS booth included a rotating cast of characters, including Brenda Finnerty, Monica Paloma Villanueva, Maricela “Marcy” Hernandez, and Estefania Escalera, answering questions about CalFresh and other DSS programs and services, and offering free fresh fruit for people to take.
With extra pandemic benefits expiring this season, some people could think it’s not worth applying for CalFresh if they’ll only get the $23 minimum benefit. So we provided flyers showing why it’s worthwhile, along with recipe cards for thrifty meals, and raffled off a beautiful gift basket stuffed with $23 worth of food!
The Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP) can help DSS client households get fast home internet service for little or no monthly cost. At the event, we partnered with the American G.I. Forum to tell people about ACP and help them sign up. An onsite internet connection enabled us to obtain and upload proof that clients were enrolled in DSS programs, so they could get approved for ACP on the spot! Thanks to a donation facilitated by the state, we had Chromebook laptop computers to give away as an incentive. Anyone approved for ACP was entered in a raffle to win one, and we gave away one every hour during the event!
We also helped staff a kids’ play area, where children helped us spread the word about OCTOPUS to their parents by making fun octopus-shaped crafts (with an informational label on the back of the head)!
Overall, it was a successful day and a great way to exercise our outreach muscles again, as the pandemic emergency period ends this season.