Santa Barbara launches "On Your Impact" campaign to boost resident climate actions

City staff presented a new outreach campaign called "On Your Impact" and asked the Sustainability Committee to help publicize signups ahead of a March launch.

"Again, I'm Jen Hollywood, and I'm an outreach coordinator in sustainability and resilience," the presenter said. Hollywood described the initiative as a 10-month challenge that invites residents, schools and districts to sign up on the city website, receive monthly newsletters with an educational focus and make optional pledges through an online form. Participants will be asked each month whether they completed committed actions to build personal accountability; staff said forms will be Microsoft forms and address collection will be optional.

Hollywood described incentives such as digital badges for participants to share on social media, bus advertising and partnerships with local businesses to provide gift-card rewards and small "swag" items. Staff also said the campaign will include pop-up outreach with QR codes, Spanish-language materials and opportunities for neighborhood committees and schools to register as groups.

Committee members praised the outreach and asked about tracking and metrics. Staff said the initial sign-up form will collect neighborhood or district information to help map participation and that monthly follow-up forms will record which pledges participants made and which they followed through on. "We're hoping to leverage our neighborhood improvement committee and try to get as many people involved," Hollywood said.

The committee encouraged staff to present the campaign to other advisory bodies (youth council was suggested) and accepted staff's offer to distribute printed buttons and QR codes for promotion. Staff said campaign content will be converted to evergreen materials on the city website after the initial 10-month push and could expand to 12 months in the future.

Next steps: staff will begin active signup outreach in February and start monthly communications in March; metrics from Microsoft forms will be used to monitor participation and geographic distribution.