2023-08-16T03:20:20-04:00 2022-12-31 990 2022-01-01 461239650 BLUE SKY SUSTAINABLE LIVING CENTER % Kelly Schmandt Ferguson BLUE 6614133005 PO BOX 271 NEW CUYAMA CA 932540271 Kelly Schmandt Ferguson Board President 2023-08-16 2022 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Kelly Schmandt Ferguson PO BOX 271 NEW CUYAMA CA 932540271 875021 false X www.blueskycenter.org X 2012 CA Blue Sky Center is a rural place-based nonprofit organization with the mission to strengthen our rural communities within the Cuyama Valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building our regional creative & economic resources. 6 6 8 50 0 0 236425 711509 82462 141099 141 292 1246 13813 320274 866713 0 0 0 0 194684 190476 0 0 15827 214919 641826 409603 832302 -89329 34411 1161413 1171009 39011 18710 1122402 1152299 Blue Sky Center is a rural place-based nonprofit organization with the mission to strengthen our rural communities within the Cuyama Valley by supporting entrepreneurs and building our regional creative & economic resources. false false 50208 0 83265 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Explore Cuyama As the pandemic moves into our rearview mirror we find ourselves with the opportunity to relax to breathe to simply BE. For many of us it's a relearning of what we had lost to the years of stress. As one visitor to Blue Sky recounted the camp is a place where we can relearn how to live simple. Most of our visitors come from Los Angeles and other populated coastal cities where nature deficit disorder can reach epidemic proportions. Much of the anxiety is relieved with stargazing the quiet buzz of a hummingbird's wings or the smell of wet dirt after a desert rain. These charms are free! And yet they are becoming unattainable for many. Our lodging here is not just for selfies though we do encourage that it's also about reconnection with the good earth around us. Over the course of 2022 we hosted 816 overnight visitors on our property: 375 campers in our six huts 68 guests in our Flagship Suites and 373 in our three dispersed camping tent platforms soon to be eight in 2023!. 35341 0 74351 ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Made in Cuyama Prior to the pandemic Blue Sky Center implemented the Start Grow Revive Your Business curriculum as part of Rural Community Assistance Corporation's Building Rural Economies initiative. Nine Cuyama Valley businesses graduated in 2020 from the program which taught essential skills to increase wealth for our local entrepreneurs and stimulated a healthy business network in our community. In 2021 members of the Cuyama Valley Victory Garden Network supported Ali our Community Coordinator and Sandra our Land Steward in redesigning the curriculum for cottage food industries while fully translating the curriculum into Spanish to serve our larger community! This work could not have happened without the support of our Líderes Jardines our Garden Leaders who contributed to the redesign of the curriculum. One of our core values is to build wealth in every aspect of our work so we ensure that workshop leaders as well as peer mentors are paid for their time. In the summer of 2022 another seven entrepreneurs completed our new and improved Talleres de Negocios which we called Cocinando un Negocio or Cooking Up a Business as the local entrepreneurs were focused on learning the marketing skills licensing and legal requirements and competitive advantages for developing home-based food businesses into family wealth-generating enterprises. At the Blue Sky Center property we continue to host local craftspeople in the Blue Sky Shops. We provide space to work and one-on-one technical assistance for sustaining and growing their unique businesses. 77297 0 74151 CREATIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Superbloom! Late in 2021 we responded to a request for proposals from the CDC Foundation an independent 501c3 charity which seeks collaboration between the CDC and organizations to improve health outcomes across the world. Public health agencies partnered with local arts organizations and artists to develop both timely messaging regarding COVID and vaccination and also to develop the capacity of local organizations as trusted sources for critical information. As one of just 30 organizations in the U.S. awarded a grant Cuyama's Vecino-a-Vecino Neighbor-to-Neighbor over the course of six months included 39 artist-led engagement opportunities: interviews story circles workshops in the schools and church as well as at Blue Sky recording sessions rehearsals and the final performance. Through these all-ages activities a total of 377 Cuyamans attended and participated representing 34% of the total Cuyama population! The final headline event was held In May 2022 where the Cuyama Valley was the stage for a community play about Cuyama by Cuyamans for Cuyamans called Superbloom: A Story from a Time Without Flowers. Set in a slightly altered Cuyama reality this community play explores our connection to our neighbors in divisive times and how we find hope in times of tension. Superbloom follows Mariflor a Cuyama resident as she and her community navigate the realities of a flowerless Cuyama Valley. One day before school Mariflor can't believe her eyes when she sees the first flower after a years-long shortage that's caused Cuyama residents to stop seeing color. When she tries to tell her classmates and teacher no one believes her. Seeking connection community and color Mariflor must reignite hope in her community and family. This production is credited to the 35 Cuyamans who served as Superbloom's cast and crew. CREATIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Dia de los Muertos Blue Sky Center established the Cuyama Valley's annual Dia de los Muertos celebration in 2016 in honor of its cultural significance to many residents of our community. Each year we work closely with the teachers and students of our local youth groups to pre-determine activities and other elements of the celebration. This year we received a $4,950 Quick Grant from California Humanities a nonprofit partner of the National Endowment of the Humanities for our Dia de los Muertos community event. We worked with our regional neighbors Corazon del Pueblo an arts and culture non-profit and writer Samuel Duarte to work with the youth groups. Leading up to the Dia de los Muertos community event Duarte led a series of workshops with students to learn about Dia de los Muertos create a communal altar and create a collective poem remembering lost loved ones. During the Dia de los Muertos event several students from the youth groups read aloud the collective poem to event attendees. The communal altar the students made was also showcased. Other event activities for attendees included opportunities to create paper flower crowns face painting and interactive altars where 94 attendees were invited to contribute offerings. 474750 0 535175 637596 true true false false false false false false false false true false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 20 0 8 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false 6 6 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true true true false CA X X Samuel Bassett 6614133005 PO BOX 271 NEW CUYAMA CA 932540271 Emily Johnson Co-Executive Director thru Aug 2023 40.00 0 X 47014 0 0 Samuel Bassett Executive Director 35.00 0 X 49079 0 0 Kelly Schmandt Ferguson President 1.00 0 X X 0 0 0 Jesse Sugarmann Secretary 1.00 0 X X 0 0 0 Coty Hastie Treasurer 1.00 0 X X 0 0 0 Bill Kelley Jr Member-at-Large 1.00 0 X 0 0 0 96093 0 0 0 false false false 0 0 0 0 86549 624960 4514 711509 Program Service Fees 721000 60270 60270 0 0 Facility Rents 531390 80829 78965 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 141099 292 292 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19526 8308 11218 11218 0 0 Misc Income 1176 1176 0 0 Event Tickets 1419 1419 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2595 866713 153340 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 87120 64282 15135 7703 0 0 0 0 78891 44938 33953 0 0 0 0 0 10004 6582 2958 464 14461 9514 4276 671 8138 5288 2850 0 2941 0 2941 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 467383 451670 15713 0 384 0 0 384 35060 31546 1774 1740 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 64476 42202 19233 3041 18350 8065 10285 0 0 0 0 0 708 0 708 0 420 0 420 0 0 0 0 0 36891 24271 10908 1712 7075 1667 5296 112 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 832302 690025 126450 15827 0 0 0 0 70642 94422 62741 59643 0 0 20038 25962 0 0 0 0 0 0 13789 22674 3112 4675 1155971 192338 991091 963633 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1161413 1171009 5841 10740 0 0 8420 7970 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 24750 0 39011 18710 X 1058365 1030703 64037 121596 1122402 1152299 1161413 1171009 34411 0 -4514 0 0 0 X true X false true false X 396552 108289 163157 236425 711509 1615932 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 396552 108289 163157 236425 711509 1615932 155744 1460188 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1615932 163513 0.90 0.91 X Part II - Line 10 | Year:, Amount:, Description:| 2018, , | 2019, | 2020, | 2021, | 2022, | RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 406412 406412 657050 115962 541088 89309 74090 15219 3200 2285 914 963633 RCAC Relief Loan 0 0 Part VI, Line 11b The 990 was reviewed by the full board and Executive Director. The President of the Board at the time signed the 990. Part VI, Line 12c Enforced as new board members join or when board members realize a real or perceived potential conflict of interest presented and reviewed at a regular board meeting. Part VI, Line 15 The Board of Directors has a policy of annually reviewing the performance of its executive staff with a process decided by and documented by the Board of Directors. Any hiring compensation changes termination or any other changes of executive staff are performed by the Board of Directors and recorded within the minutes and documents of the Board meetings in which the actions occur. Part IX, Line 11g Artist stipends honoraria = $41,720 Housekeeping = $21,653 Program consultants = $404,110 Part III, Line 4d | Description:, Expense Amount:, Grants Amount:, Revenue Amount:| COMMUNITY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: Event Feasibility Study and Community Beautification In February 2022 we published the Cuyama Valley Event Feasibility Study to help steer events toward supporting local residents businesses and community organizations in genuine ways supporting the Cuyama Valley economy by bringing in outside dollars. Be it anniversaries birthday parties reserving our six huts company retreats booking our dorms and meeting spaces or weddings of up to 110 people we're able to welcome a variety of people to our desert oasis. We're proud to say that for the year of 2022 we hosted 16 private events with a total of 568 attendees. When Caltrans called us to see if Cuyama was interested in receiving funding for a Highway 166 roadside beautification project their stipulations for having a meeting to discuss the opportunity was that we one had a group of local residents engaged in beautification efforts and two had a plan in place. Thanks to the Cuyama Valley Community Action Plan and the Townsites Beautification & Wayfinding Working Group we were in fact resource ready! Over 2022 Blue Sky Center facilitated the Working Group to develop a detailed beautification plan with Caltrans that includes planting a series of palo verde trees installing benches and landscape viewfinders and producing orienting display signs directed at visitors to provide an introduction to the Native history local economy and natural bounty of the area. Beyond the roadside funds are also budgeted to support creative activities and cash prizes within Cuyama schools. And in December 2022 the Working Group coordinated with local residents to host a free Dump Day resulting in 19,980 pounds of trash and excess household equipment removed from Cuyama and recycled., $54576, $0, $87664| FOOD AND AGRICULTURE: Healthy Food Systems. In the spring of 2020 Blue Sky Center implemented the Cuyama Valley Victory Gardens Project to confront immediate issues of food access in the Cuyama Valley during COVID-19. First the Santa Barbara Foundation then the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network and the FUND for Santa Barbara enabled our organization to install raised bed gardens supply planter materials seeds and starter plants as well as implement bilingual curricula. Nearing the third year of Victory Gardens we now serve 37 families. This project creates a supportive peer-to-peer network of 30 Latina leaders meeting monthly that facilitates information sharing ensuring the success of each family's garden while providing a sense of community. This year Victory Gardens hosted a number of workshops including cabbage fermentation nopales canning bread-making and garlic planting., $19702, $0, $30262| ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Cuyama Beverage Co Our Cuyama Beverage Company is cultivated by our community not extracted from it. Our Jujubee and Desert Sage meads are made from local honey in the Cuyama Valley and nurtured through water-smart agriculture in our region. We're passionate about creating unique small-batch beverages because our success means the success of our local farmers and producers. From this promise the Cuyama Beverage Company was established. Now in our second year we hosted Sunset Sips at Blue Sky Center featuring a two-flavor tasting of our Cuyama Beverage Company champagne-style meads along with other sustainable products in the Cuyama Valley: Rock Front Ranch honey and jujubes Santa Barbara Pistachios' flavored nuts and Santa Barbara Cheese Company's varieties made from Cuyama Dairy's cows., $20514, $0, $42870| L88 Airstrip Resurfacing: After months of closure for a full airstrip resurfacing project Cuyama's beloved L88 airstrip officially reopened on October 13 2022 with a ribbon cutting ceremony! We at Blue Sky Center manage and maintain the community airstrip which is critical to emergency support for Cuyama communities. It also serves to support local farming operations and as a portal for flying in visitors. L88 has gained widespread appeal as a go-to airport for computer simulator training! The airstrip was resurfaced over the summer allowing for its permit to be reinstated in October 2022. A ribbon cutting was hosted on October 13th at the airstrip featuring First District representatives from the County of Santa Barbara airport commissioners from the County of San Luis Obispo and 80 supporters from both the local communities as well as regional aviation enthusiasts. The Cuyama Buckhorn sponsored a meal and accommodations for the L88 volunteers who worked tirelessly over the summer to ensure that the project was completed on time. On November 12th 15 kids from the Cuyama Valley received free Young Eagle introductory flights at L88., $379958, $0, $374379|