News
Helping Holidays!
Here at the Green Business Program we work all year long to spread the word about our certified Green Businesses. Now more than ever, it is important to support local and small businesses. Below are some ways you can help keep our vibrant local business community alive and well so we can enjoy them when we can be safely together again.
It is also important to minimize food waste and give back to organizations feeding our neighbors during this time. Check out the Santa Barbara County Food Action Network's "Stay Home and Eat Local for the Holiday's" and consider donating to the Santa Barbara County Foodbank, Food from the Heart, or charity of your choice working to address food insecurity.
Please, vote with your dollar this holiday season and shop at our local Green Businesses here: https://greenbusinessca.org/find-green-business/ Below are just a few of the many local Green Businesses you can support.
Le Reve Organic Spa & Boutique is the first and only green certified spa offering facial specials in Santa Barbara. They strive to use only the finest of organic products in our services. One reason why their skincare has been voted the best in the industry 10 years in a row!
"It is more important than ever to support your favorite green businesses and shop local. Investing in small business is investing in your community. Make it a happy holiday for our community! If things are tight this year you can still invest in your community and support your favorite small businesses by showing a little love online. Follow them on social media. Leave a great review including what you like about them. Repost their specials! Like their posts. Spread the love Santa Barbara. "
Le Rev is offering $25 in spa bucks with all gift card sales of $100 or more this holiday season. Additionally, they are offering a GWP(Free Gift w/Purchase) for all other spa or skincare sales.
Specials: https://le-reve.com/specials/
Shop: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/Pages/OnlineStore.aspx?studioid=2467&partnerID=0&catid=
"Thank you for helping our green business!"
"We are actively shipping orders and gifts of wine throughout the US for the holidays – let’s face it, everyone is drinking a little more wine this year, after all!"
Glittered Wine Bottles: Our custom gift bottles are a big hit. Put your request in your order notes or simply email us to add your choice of colored glitter to any bottle for $10.
Virtual Wine Tastings: Did you know that Riverbench can host a wine tasting with your friends, family or co-workers? Drop us a line to learn more.
"It’s important to shop local and green this holiday season because it boosts our local economy while helping the planet. We hold a lot of power with our spending and it’s important to use it wisely to ensure they type of world we want to have. Santa Barbara is a unique and amazing community that has so many great businesses owned by our great community members. We need to support them, especially in a year like 2020, by keeping our spending local." -Lindsay Helmick, Chief Financial Officer
Learn more about their sustainable building: https://www.buildallen.com/sustainable-building
California Green Business Network:
Sustainable Gift Ideas
As the holidays quickly approach, the pressure is on to find gifts for loved ones. While we all want to spread joy, we don’t want our environmental footprint to spiral out of control in the process. Read more for tips on choosing thoughtful and green presents.
The Gift That Keeps Giving: Donate to Non-Profits This Season
This year, consider donating to CAGBN or a nonprofit of your choice. This is a tax-deductible way to support your community during this time. Click here to find certified Green Business non-profits across the state. You can even donate to the California Green Business Network by clicking here
How to Make Sustainable New Year's Resoluions
After an unprecedentedly challenging year, we are charging into 2021 with resilience. When honoring the tradition of making New Year’s Resolutions, we can incorporate our commitment to the environment. Read more for some inspiration for January 1st.
Tips for Healthy Dining
As we make adjustments to our holiday plans during the COVID-19 pandemic (and some of us host for the first time!) here are some tips for a more eco-friendly meal:
- Shop at local farmers markets
- Use home-grown fruits and veggies when you can
- Choose organic/fair trade produce from stores
- Have vegan/vegetarian options
- Avoid waste! SaveTheFood has a guest-imator tool that will take into account your number of guests, the type of meal and eaters, and how many leftover meals you want to have. It will then give you an estimated amount of each food type you would need for your holiday meal. Pretty cool!
Healthy Mind:
It has been a difficult year for all us, so it is especially important to take care of yourself. You can't fully help others until you help yourself! Below are links from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Mental Health America (MHA) that has tips for dealing with COVID during the holidays.
https://mhanational.org/preparing-holidays-during-covid-19
https://emergency.cdc.gov/coping/selfcare.asp
Resource Update for Businesses from the Santa Barbara South Coast Chamber of Commerce (SBSCCC):
Here is their COVID resource page with updates from standard links from the Small Business Administration (SBA), and US Chamber and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The SBSCCC have been really focusing more recently on advocating to move Santa Barbara County to a defined Tri-County Subregion in response to the Governor’s most recent stay-at-home order to address having our businesses be able to open outdoors. They see this as a primary need for our business community to not face additional economic hardships during this period.
The Chamber has a number of programs they have implemented to assist businesses in response to the Pandemic through their Chamber including their Roadmap to Recovery which can be found here. Findings from this work will be released starting in January and will be a continued throughout the 2021 year. They also host a monthly virtual B2B (Business-to-Business) networking event through Zoom where businesses can network and connect on a regular basis. Their next B2B event will be Thursday January 28th from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM. For more information on the event please contact Stephanie Armstrong at Stephanie@SBSCChamber.com
WEV also has a number of resources on their sites including loan opportunities.
There are also additional grant opportunities for Goleta based businesses through the Better Together fund in partnership with the City of Goleta. Those grants can be applied for here.
Have a healthy holidays!