Ten Years of Blue Skies over Cuyama
We are requesting your help to cover 3 months of operational costs, the funds needed to run Blue Sky that grants don’t fully cover: wages & benefits for our staff, lawyer fees, utilities, fire protection, insurance, and other essential expenses.
It’s a crucial time for Blue Sky Center and the Cuyama Valley.
In July, we’ll celebrate our 10-Year Anniversary as a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. We are in need of unrestricted cash gifts so that we can cover legal and business expenses, pay utilities that have dramatically increased, and — most importantly — provide living wages with benefits for our growing staff.
By July 10th, we are setting our goal to raise $46,000, which is three months’ worth of operational expenses not covered by grants.
Already, we’ve had five wildfires in Cuyama, burning a combined 1,622 acres. “It’s too early for this,” we hear around town. We’ve spent $4,242 so far this year on clearing vegetation to protect our property and neighbors. Separately, the groundwater legal adjudication is into its second year. The local-led Carrot Boycott is seeking to bring attention to the unfair and inequitable water grab by locally-operating big ag farms. And as is historically the case, rural community development continues to be historically under-invested. All to say, it can feel very precarious in Cuyama with these existential threats to all of our Cuyama neighbors. We continue our diligent work, ever forward.
Already in 2024 we have:
- celebrated Cuyama Song Camp and Cuyama Drama, after-school arts programs;
- held the ribbon cutting for the Highway 166 CalTrans Roadside Beautification Project
- hosted artist-in-residence Nhatt Nichols to create a zine about the local food system;
- been awarded a Transformative Climate Communities grant to install 40 new Jardines Victoria (Victory food Gardens) in backyards of Cuyama;
- opened Paso a Paso (“step by step”); a community-created pop-up space in New Cuyama
- hosted our inaugural L88 Fly-In, with over 40 planes and a weekend of adventure;
- and awarded two new “Made in Cuyama” scholarships to local Cuyama High School graduates with $2,000 for their next steps beyond high school.
Make a tax-deductible donation today to support resilient, thriving, and inclusive rural economies in the Cuyama Valley.
Thanks to videographers Zoe Hertz and Ellie Hall for their video, part of their Outpost Residency at Blue Sky. More at blueskycenter.org/outpost