Built Green Resource Center

The Santa Barbara Contractors Association and Built Green Santa Barbara have completed the remodel on a 2400 square foot 1920’s cottage in the California Historic State Park, El Presidio de Santa Barbara located at 914 A Santa Barbara St. The building is a zero fossil fuel usage facility that will create more energy than is used, and represents a historic opportunity to showcase energy independence, sustainable building practices, and the value of recycling our legacy structures.

The Resource Center offers information, programs and classes on green building processes and materials. Visit the Center and learn more about green building strategies, features and products. The interactive self guided tour highlights the green building features and materials that are present in each room. Each feature is identified as a strategy or action point from the Built Green checklist. The self guided tour will take approximately 1 hour and currently the Center is open by appointment only.

Built Green's New Program Director to Focus on Outcomes Not Activity

(Santa Barbara, CA) - Recent grants from the Santa Barbara Foundation and Towbes Foundation totaling more than $50,000 will set new plans in motion for Built Green Santa Barbara. "We've been developing the program's intellectual products, brand, and constituency slowly over the last decade. It's time now to step to the next level," says Karin Perissinotto, President of the Built Green Board of Directors. As part of this amplification, the organization has hired Kathleen O'Brien as its new Program Director. Some will recognize O'Brien as the nationally renowned consultant who helped design the program."Her familiarity with our program as well as the lessons learned from other programs she's helped develop is going to be a big boost to the plans we have for this year," notes Perissinotto.

A priority for the new director who is expected to hit the ground running this coming January will be launching initiatives funded by the grants. Some of this work will build on current work, such as green job training,  K-12 student engagement, public outreach, and the 2030 Challenge.  There will also be expansions in new areas identified by community stakeholders in workshops conducted in 2010, including quantification of benefits from green building features in the Built Green program, and a plan for the development of green affordable workforce housing. In all of these efforts, the focus is expected "to be on outcomes, not activity," says, O'Brien.

Other priorities will be improving the program's visibility and reach into the community, as well as strengthening the organization's systems and structure to ensure its longevity. "Right now, the program exists because of a few very dedicated individuals," says O'Brien. "It's important to move beyond that to creating a self-sustaining and independent organization that will be here to foster the long term change envisioned by these visionaries."