Program areas at Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Explore Cuyama As the pandemic moves into our rearview mirror we find ourselves with the opportunity to relax to breathe to simply BE. For many of us it's a relearning of what we had lost to the years of stress. As one visitor to Blue Sky recounted the camp is a place where we can relearn how to live simple. Most of our visitors come from Los Angeles and other populated coastal cities where nature deficit disorder can reach epidemic proportions. Much of the anxiety is relieved with stargazing the quiet buzz of a hummingbird's wings or the smell of wet dirt after a desert rain. These charms are free! And yet they are becoming unattainable for many. Our lodging here is not just for selfies though we do encourage that it's also about reconnection with the good earth around us. Over the course of 2022 we hosted 816 overnight visitors on our property: 375 campers in our six huts 68 guests in our Flagship Suites and 373 in our three dispersed camping tent platforms soon to be eight in 2023!.
CREATIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Superbloom! Late in 2021 we responded to a request for proposals from the CDC Foundation an independent 501c3 charity which seeks collaboration between the CDC and organizations to improve health outcomes across the world. Public health agencies partnered with local arts organizations and artists to develop both timely messaging regarding COVID and vaccination and also to develop the capacity of local organizations as trusted sources for critical information. As one of just 30 organizations in the U.S. awarded a grant Cuyama's Vecino-a-Vecino Neighbor-to-Neighbor over the course of six months included 39 artist-led engagement opportunities: interviews story circles workshops in the schools and church as well as at Blue Sky recording sessions rehearsals and the final performance. Through these all-ages activities a total of 377 Cuyamans attended and participated representing 34% of the total Cuyama population! The final headline event was held In May 2022 where the Cuyama Valley was the stage for a community play about Cuyama by Cuyamans for Cuyamans called Superbloom: A Story from a Time Without Flowers. Set in a slightly altered Cuyama reality this community play explores our connection to our neighbors in divisive times and how we find hope in times of tension. Superbloom follows Mariflor a Cuyama resident as she and her community navigate the realities of a flowerless Cuyama Valley. One day before school Mariflor can't believe her eyes when she sees the first flower after a years-long shortage that's caused Cuyama residents to stop seeing color. When she tries to tell her classmates and teacher no one believes her. Seeking connection community and color Mariflor must reignite hope in her community and family. This production is credited to the 35 Cuyamans who served as Superbloom's cast and crew. CREATIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Dia de los Muertos Blue Sky Center established the Cuyama Valley's annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in 2016 in honor of its cultural significance to many residents of our community. Each year we work closely with the teachers and students of our local youth groups to pre-determine activities and other elements of the celebration. This year we received a $4,950 Quick Grant from California Humanities a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment of the Humanities for our Dia de los Muertos community event. We worked with our regional neighbors Corazon del Pueblo an arts and culture non-profit and writer Samuel Duarte to work with the youth groups. Leading up to the Dia de los Muertos community event Duarte led a series of workshops with students to learn about Dia de los Muertos create a communal altar and create a collective poem remembering lost loved ones. During the Dia de los Muertos event several students from the youth groups read aloud the collective poem to event attendees. The communal altar the students made was also showcased. Other event activities for attendees included opportunities to create paper flower crowns face painting and interactive altars where 94 attendees were invited to contribute offerings.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Made in Cuyama Prior to the pandemic Blue Sky Center implemented the Start Grow Revive Your Business curriculum as part of Rural Community Assistance Corporation's Building Rural Economies initiative. Nine Cuyama Valley businesses graduated in 2020 from the program which taught essential skills to increase wealth for our local entrepreneurs and stimulated a healthy business network in our community. In 2021 members of the Cuyama Valley Victory Garden Network supported Ali our Community Coordinator and Sandra our Land Steward in redesigning the curriculum for cottage food industries while fully translating the curriculum into Spanish to serve our larger community! This work could not have happened without the support of our LĂderes Jardines our Garden Leaders who contributed to the redesign of the curriculum. One of our core values is to build wealth in every aspect of our work so we ensure that workshop leaders as well as peer mentors are paid for their time. In the summer of 2022 another seven entrepreneurs completed our new and improved Talleres de Negocios which we called Cocinando un Negocio or Cooking Up a Business as the local entrepreneurs were focused on learning the marketing skills licensing and legal requirements and competitive advantages for developing home-based food businesses into family wealth-generating enterprises. At the Blue Sky Center property we continue to host local craftspeople in the Blue Sky Shops. We provide space to work and one-on-one technical assistance for sustaining and growing their unique businesses.
Who funds Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center
Grants from foundations and other nonprofits
Personnel at Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center
Name | Title | Compensation | Date of data |
---|
Emily Johnson | Executive Director | $47,014 | 2022-12-31 |
Jack Forinash | Operations Officer From 2016 - 2018 and Executive Director | | 2022-11-22 |
Grace Lee Boggs | Director of Strategy | | 2022-11-22 |
Mayela Rodriguez | Arts Program Manager | | 2022-11-22 |
Asia van Aken | Ventures Manager | | 2022-11-22 |
...and 8 more key personnel |
Financials for Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center
Revenues | FYE 12/2022 | FYE 12/2021 | % Change |
---|
Total grants, contributions, etc. | $711,509 | $236,425 | 200.9% |
Program services | $141,099 | $82,462 | 71.1% |
Investment income and dividends | $292 | $141 | 107.1% |
Tax-exempt bond proceeds | $0 | $0 | - |
Royalty revenue | $0 | $0 | - |
Net rental income | $0 | $0 | - |
Net gain from sale of non-inventory assets | $0 | $0 | - |
Net income from fundraising events | $0 | $0 | - |
Net income from gaming activities | $0 | $0 | - |
Net income from sales of inventory | $11,218 | $-2,500 | 548.7% |
Miscellaneous revenues | $2,595 | $3,746 | -30.7% |
Total revenues | $866,713 | $320,274 | 170.6% |
Organizations like Blue Sky Sustainable Living Center
Organization | Type | Location | Revenue |
---|
TigerMountain Foundation | 501(c)(3) | Tempe, AZ | $1,434,842 |
Local Environmental Agriculture Project (LEAP) | 501(c)(3) | Roanoke, VA | $2,044,271 |
SunWork Renewable Energy Projects | 501(c)(3) | Milpitas, CA | $1,759,347 |
Revision | 501(c)(3) | Denver, CO | $2,924,032 |
Depot Outlet | 501(c)(3) | Decorah, IA | $2,098,581 |
Fabscrap | 501(c)(3) | Brooklyn, NY | $1,510,101 |
ANEW Foundation | 501(c)(3) | Clearwater, FL | $596,365 |
Spring Back Colorado | 501(c)(3) | Commerce City, CO | $1,658,802 |
New Vision Renewable Energy | 501(c)(3) | Philippi, WV | $325,948 |
Live-Thrive | 501(c)(3) | Atlanta, GA | $1,779,462 |
Data update history
December 27, 2023
Received grants
Identified 1 new grant, including a grant for $10,000 from Fund for Santa Barbara October 4, 2023
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2022
July 25, 2023
Posted financials
Added Form 990 for fiscal year 2021
July 23, 2023
Received grants
Identified 7 new grant, including a grant for $350,000 from The San Simeon Fund July 6, 2023
Updated personnel
Identified 2 new personnel
Nonprofit Types
Environmental organizationsFamily service centersCharities
Issues
Environment
Characteristics
Receives government fundingCommunity engagement / volunteeringTax deductible donations
General information
- Address
- PO Box 271
- New Cuyama, CA 93254
- Metro area
- Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA
- County
- Santa Barbara County, CA
- Website URL
- blueskycenter.org/Â
- Phone
- (661) 413-3005
IRS details
- EIN
- 46-1239650
- Fiscal year end
- December
- Taxreturn type
- Form 990
- Year formed
- 2012
- Eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions (Pub 78)
- Yes
Categorization
- NTEE code, primary
- C00: Environment: General
- NAICS code, primary
- 624190: Individual and Family Services
- Parent/child status
- Independent
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