Community Non-Profit Starts Capital Campaign With A Call For Action

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Solutions For People, an incorporated non-profit based in Lompoc, California since 1989, has begun a capital campaign to build a family support center located in the heart of downtown.

A recent report indicates poverty rates continue to rise in Santa Barbara County, specifically in the northern regions. One longstanding community non-profit dedicated to helping at risk youth and teens turn their lives around are responding with an immediate call to action. Solutions For People Incorporated has begun a capital campaign on the popular crowd funding site, GoFundMe. Looking to be located in downtown Lompoc, they envision not only continuing their education and support services for families, but also helping to revive the city center.

“Education changes lives, and we need to give our children the tools so we can watch them succeed,” said B. Williams, who founded Solutions For People in 1989. Sidestepping the bureaucratic steps that typically accompany earmarking charitable donations to a specific cause, Williams designed his GoFundMe fundraising drive so people could make a donation with one click and know the money was going directly to this project. Construction of this new facility, to be called the Cultural Youth Academy & Family Support Center, will help achieve these goals in three phases:

• Phase one is an immediate need for $100,000, their initial target goal on the GoFundMe Capital Campaign, in order to protect current services from budget cuts and funding reductions.

• Phase two will raise an additional $400,000 that will be earmarked specifically for purchasing land and a building for the Academy.

• Phase three will be designed to showcase the successes of the Academy and Support Center to other communities facing similar needs.

Williams pointed out that parents are an important aspect of the equation. “When we get the kids attention, the parents come running,” Williams said. “They see their child, previously uninterested in school, suddenly listening to someone, and they want to be part of that. This creates changes in the mindset which improves the family dynamic.”

According to City-Data.com, more than a third of all children in Lompoc live below the federal poverty level, and more than ten percent of all teenagers aged 15 to 17 lived at or below half of the national poverty level. Furthermore, even though the poverty rate for all families was 15 percent, that figure rose more than ten points for African-American families, even though they only represent less than six percent of the population.

Kathy Gallagher, director of social services for the county, pointed out at a recent county commission meeting that the poverty rate in the county has increased 52 percent since 2007. She cited a report titled A Snapshot of Poverty in Santa Barbara County. It pointed out that the median household income in the highest income census tract ($128,775) is more than four times that of the median household income in the lowest income tract ($28,631), representing a $100,000 disparity.

Williams has called Lompoc, California home since 1986 when he fell in love with its beauty. He wants to build the new facility in downtown Lompoc so that it will be convenient for those who need it most and serve as an anchor for further development downtown. Thankful for the opportunity others gave him, he wants to open up all the potential the world has to those around him, even if he recognizes the struggle. “You can’t see the beauty,” he said, “when your head is in the dirt.”

For more information on Solutions For People, The Cultural Youth Academy & Family Support Center and how you can help, please visit the funding site: http://www.gofundme.com/solutionsforpeople



**Jack Terry is a freelance writer who specializes in community activism and educational news for at-risk youth.

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Name: Jack Terry
Email: Send Email
Organization: Team Wildflower
Website: http://www.gofundme.com/solutionsforpeople

Release ID: 83782

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Name: Jack Terry
Email: Send Email
Organization: Team Wildflower
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