Santa Barbara County Nonprofit to Advance Rural Broadband Internet for the Cuyama Valley
September 16, 2025, NEW CUYAMA, CA — Blue Sky Center is proud to announce that it has been awarded a $10,000 Emerging Needs Grant from The Fund for Santa Barbara (The FUND) to advance urgent advocacy for broadband Internet access and economic opportunity in the rural, agricultural Cuyama Valley, CA (population 1,100). This grant offers much needed support for two American Connection Corps Members, full-time positions hosted by Blue Sky Center. These local advocates will work over the next eleven months to support the Cuyama Broadband Working Group. The American Connection Corps is a national service AmeriCorps program of Lead for America, a national coordinating organization dedicated to bridging the digital divide in communities across the country.
“The FUND’s Emerging Needs Grant provides us with essential and urgent support to continue Blue Sky Center’s work in addressing longstanding issues of Internet access in the Cuyama Valley,” said Jack Forinash, Executive Director at Blue Sky Center. “We sought these funds because recent federal actions broadly cut the AmeriCorps program and specifically cancelled a grant to Lead for America.”
In Cuyama, one-in-four residents have no Internet access at home, and nearly half of residents who do have Internet use their cell phone data plan for at-home Internet service, as identified from Blue Sky’s 2020 Cuyama Valley Community Action Plan and survey. Internet access in Cuyama’s schools and in local students’ homes is unreliable, a barrier to education. The 2024 Cuyama Futures Report, a resilient economic research report from the voices of Cuyama residents, highlighted the area’s infrastructure challenges: both physical (roads, utilities) and digital (Internet access) as critical barriers to economic growth and community connectivity. Also in 2024, Blue Sky Center’s Cuyama Action Fellow and artist Renée Reizman created The Unofficial Cuyama Valley Guide to Broadband Internet to inform residents about their Internet options, accompanied by drawings and interviews with locals in both English and Spanish.
Bolstered by The FUND’s Emerging Needs grant, the two American Connection Corps Members will work closely with Cuyama’s school system, residents, farmers, and other partners to engage local youth, adults, and elders in research, reporting, and self-advocacy on Internet access. Community members will continue meeting monthly in the ongoing Cuyama Broadband Working Group, supported by these two positions. In addition, these positions will support Blue Sky Center’s technical assistance to entrepreneurs, local housing improvements, and career training programs.
Blue Sky Center is located in the townsite of New Cuyama, in Santa Barbara county’s remote northeast corner. The nonprofit is dedicated to strengthening this rural community by supporting entrepreneurs and building up regional creative and economic resources. The area’s economic history has centered on extracting resources away from Cuyama, a trend that Blue Sky Center is actively working to shift. The entire townsite of New Cuyama, including what is now Blue Sky Center, was built by the Richfield Oil Company in 1950. Richfield (later ARCO) exhausted much of the oil from the area and then divested in the 1970s.
Established in 2012 following a private family foundation’s legacy impact investment, Blue Sky Center began with a broad commitment to building rural resilience through equitable partnerships and scalable models. This founding principle has evolved into the mission of strengthening Cuyama’s rural communities. Blue Sky has activated its property to host creative local ventures as well as artists, designers, and rural practitioners who create expansive opportunities for our community to discuss and address the Cuyama Valley’s most vexing challenges.
About Blue Sky Center
Blue Sky Center is a Santa Barbara County 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to strengthening the rural communities of Cuyama Valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building regional creative and economic resources. The organization is focused on building models for resilient, thriving, and inclusive rural economies in the Cuyama Valley. As a place-based organization, its team prioritizes projects and collaborations that celebrate the abundance of Cuyama. www.blueskycenter.org
About The Fund for Santa Barbara
The Fund for Santa Barbara (est. 1980) is a non-traditional community foundation that supports organizations and groups working for progressive social change in Santa Barbara County. The FUND is dedicated to helping find solutions to current and emerging social problems and issues that challenge our society as a whole. www.fundforsantabarbara.org
About The American Connection Corps
The American Connection Corps empowers its Members and the communities they serve to address digital disparities and create lasting change. To learn more, visit americanconnectioncorps.org.
For more Information Contact Jack Forinash Blue Sky Center Executive Director jack@blueskycenter.org | 661-413-3005
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