The Basics

Megan Raff

Board Chair of Santa Barbara County Food Action Network

1. Can you please share more about yourself and the mission of Santa Barbara County Food Action Network (SBCFAN)? 

I am a small farm owner based in Lompoc, California. My husband, Jeremy, and I started our farm to care for his grandfather in 2008. It began as a free-range chicken farm, and it grew into a multifaceted small business forging a path in best practices for humane and regenerative farming, feeding our local community, educating and equipping families and individuals to take a larger role in growing their food and encouraging the community to make stronger connections with their local farmers. Our work at Dare 2 Dream Farms has been largely values-based, as our education never touched on agriculture or food systems. Simply by growing in our community, we were able to identify major areas of need. I served Lompoc's Economic Development Committee, the Healthy Lompoc Coalition Advisory Committee, and most recently the Lompoc Valley Chamber of Commerce and Route One Farmer's Market. In this work, I was introduced to the SBC Food Action Network. It became evident how closely aligned our work, values, and community needs were with the Santa Barbara County Food Action Plan (FAP) that drove the Network.  The FAP identified the need for a closed-loop local food system: prioritizing our foodshed, keeping local dollars local to drive local economies, ensuring food grown in the community is accessible to its members, and increasing health and wellness. The Network's mission is to identify the changemakers in each area, such as farms, restaurants, markets, coalitions, distributors, and eaters, that can elevate the work of others and put the Plan into action.

2. Who has made a strong impact on your life and that has helped you to get you where you are today? 

My father invested in my education, and despite walking away from strong career opportunities, my parents always supported me in farming, which I imagine was difficult given the stigma of burnout and financial stress in agriculture. My husband was brought up by his grandparents, who were products of the dust bowl in Oklahoma and had a strong understanding of living off the land. Grandpa Mike did his best to pass that knowledge down to Jeremy as a child and Jeremy has passed it to me. Jeremy Ball, currently serving on Lompoc City Council, was the first to urge me to step into a role that could elevate the voice of farmers and agriculture concerns to the community via the Economic Development Committee of Lompoc, and then the Chamber of Commerce. I owe it to his support and encouragement to serve in the capacity of the organizations that matter to me and our community.

3. What are some recent highlights at SBCFAN? And what events, milestones and steps are in SBCFAN’s near future? 

This year we underwent a considerable board transformation, moving from a group of very experienced non-profit leaders to a group of very talented individuals with lived experience in the food system. Under this new leadership, the SBCFAN will complete its 3-Year Strategic Plan by engaging stakeholders and community partners in a listening campaign. We secured our first corporate partner in Clevr Blends, a Santa Barbara-based health and wellness beverage business, to provide emergency relief to those most impacted by climatic, economic, social, and health shocks to the regional food system. The Lompoc Penitentiary proposed a nonprofit/federal government partnership with SBCFAN to provide meat processing to the general public. We co-convened the Central Coast Resilient Food Systems (formerly known as the Central Coast Food Policy Community of Practice), elevating a project by Saticoy Food Hub for collective capacity-building support and engaging state partners and the EDC to ensure food systems projects on the Central Coast will be a priority for Community Economic Resilience Funding (CERF Funding). The Santa Barbara County Public Health Department approached FAN to partner in launching the SBC Nutrition Collaborative to address Health & Wellness Food Action Plan goals 6-9 inclusively and equitably. We partnered with the Santa Barbara Foundation to feed 150 farmworkers and their families through the winter after the rains devastated the small community of Guadalupe, California, causing most to lose their homes, possessions, and jobs. 

4. What about SBCFAN is special to you, what would you like our readers to know? 

The Food Action Network has established a reputation of trust building, consistency, follow-through, and the ability to equitably create space for all voices. In doing so, we've forged strong alliances and partnerships with corporate, public, and non-profit partners, despite being a very young organization. Our executive director, Shakira Miracle, is an outstanding community organizer and a true believer in our county's capacity to build equitable, resilient food systems. She's one of the strongest leaders I've had the pleasure of working with, and her reputation for her invaluable work in the community precedes her. Our work as a Network will set the stage nationally for food systems change under her leadership. 

5. Why did you think it was important to become an organizational member of the CNL? What do you value most about your membership?

My deep life experience in the food system and my connections in the community can only take me so far as a Board Chair for the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network. When the opportunity came up to identify my gaps in non-profit board leadership, cultivate relationships within the Central Coast non-profit sector, and learn from those most experienced in doing amazing work, the choice was clear. If I believe in the mission of this organization, I cannot simply come to work knowing what needs to be done. I have to know how to do that work, and CNL has an incredible track record of cultivating effective leadership skills that facilitate the most effective work from a non-profit group. 

6. How can the community support you? Where can they find you on social media?

Be part of building the foundation of Santa Barbara County Food Action Network’s sustainability for years to come. Sign up for our mailing list at sbcfoodaction.org, share our mission and successes, and donate at https://www.sbcfoodaction.org/donate/. You can also follow us on Instagram @sbcfoodaction for updates on all the changes we are investing in.