Our Story

The Santa Barbara Opioid Safety Coalition is a local community coalition dedicated to saving lives and preventing opioid misuse through expanding public education and media outreach, enhancing opioid surveillance, preventing overdose and promoting Naloxone distribution, promoting safe disposal practices, encouraging early intervention, and expanding treatment access and recovery.

The group was formed in 2018 as a task force or action group of the Santa Barbara Fighting Back Leadership Coalition, which has met monthly for the past 27 years to bring together community leaders to reduce substance abuse through a comprehensive, community-wide system of care that includes prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare. The Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse is the administrative agency for Santa Barbara Fighting Back, which is chaired by District Attorney Joyce Dudley and includes decision makers in county and city government, law enforcement, health care, education, media and business. The Opioid Safety Coalition was formed as a working group of the larger coalition in response to the local opioid crisis.

In October, 2018 the group became a member of the California Opioid Prevention Network (COPN), a network for coalitions, organizations, and individuals working at the forefront of the overdose epidemic. Our coalition was awarded three grants to participate in COPN’s Accelerator Program (we are currently participating in the fourth grant cycle) which provide technical assistance and learning/networking convenings with similar coalitions throughout the state. COPN also sponsors the largest AmeriCorps VISTA program dedicated to opioid safety in the country, with the capacity to place 40 VISTA members in coalitions across California. VISTA members serve for one year, bolstering the impact of coalitions to incite transformational change within health systems and the communities they serve.

The Accelerator grant provided our coalition with a VISTA volunteer, hosted by the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, and the opportunity to work with consultants on developing a local data dashboard that will consolidate data being collected by all of the member organizations about local opioid use, treatment, and community impacts. Our accelerator grant team is also responsible for developing this website to bring attention to the opioid issue in our community and provide resources to individuals seeking treatment, as well as behavioral health professionals and policymakers.

Learn about the impacts of COPN’s Accelerator Program on coalitions throughout California:
> Download the COPN Accelerator 2.0 Final Report