Our Staff

Dear Friends:

Welcome/Bienvenidos! Thank you for showing an interest in one of Santa Barbara’s best-kept secrets; Zona Seca, Inc. In November 2020, Zona Seca will have served the community of Santa Barbara for 50 years. During this time, our agency has assisted over 75,000 clients with substance abuse problems living in Santa Barbara County. As a selected provider of the Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness, a substancial majority of the clients who have participated in our programs have been referred to our agency by the Santa Barbara Probation Department and Santa Barbara Superior Court. Zona Seca serves as their collaborative partner in making our community a safer place for everyone.

We have been able to accomplish this because of the dedicated volunteer board members and certified professional staff members employed by Zona Seca. The commitment to the agency’s mission is the key to our ability to serve our clients. Our unity in working as a team is helping our clients regain strength and endurance in managing the ongoing challenges in their lives. The positive results because of efforts by both Zona Seca and our clients, contributes largely to the enrichment of everyone in the community.

Throughout the years, Zona Seca’s objective has been to strengthen our fiscal position as a social enterprise. We have been able to advance this effort by adopting entrepreneurial earned income strategies. A central component of a social enterprise is to raise funds through earned income, and at Zona Seca we accomplish this task by giving clients the opportunity to pay for services provided. The earned income strategies help produce a long-term sustainable revenue stream for Zona Seca, but also place a monetary value on the service the clients receive from us.

As the 21st century continues to unfold, the demand for increased services by our clients requires that Zona Seca have the flexibility in its program management skills and ample revenue to help resolve new challenges and produce positive outcomes for our clients and our agency. If our community is to continue to preserve its quality of life, then it is incumbent upon public and private sector leaders to accept the challenge and adopt initiatives to support programs such as the ones Zona Seca offers, as well as similar programs offered by other nonprofit organizations.

The implementation by Zona Seca of earned income strategies has positioned our agency to minimize the need for us to seek out philanthropic support for our programs. However, just as any other nonprofit agency in Santa Barbara faces unforeseen circumstances from time to time, and if you are someone looking for a good investment (donation) to a cause that is truly making a difference in our community, then please consider Zona Seca. We can promise you that your investment (donation) will result in clients changing negative behavior into positive behavior and become future contributors in making our community a better place to live for everyone.

Sincerely/Sinceramente,

CEO