Coastal Fund (formerly known as Shoreline Preservation Fund)

Pro Statements

As the manager of many of campus's coastal-related natural resources and
public paths and interpretive signs, I would like to say that many of
these great features on campus would not exist without the support that
the Coastal Fund gives to students and to our group to mentor students
in this work. The Coastal Fund supports 1000s of students each year who
gain hands-on experience leading research projects, leading
environmental educational experiences for Pre-K to HS students, working
with the Cheadle Center team on ecological restoration, interpretive
signage and more. Coastal Fund really helps connect students to the
coast and helps students connect to the land and gain an empowering
experience in this world of environmental bad news.

The Coastal Fund Board members gain a very professional granting agency
board experience and conduct their work professionally. I am always
impressed with the process and decision making and communication from
the Coastal Fund student board members and staff mentor. We have, with
CF funding, provided paid internships and student worker positions to
students from all majors - including Env. Studies, geography, EEMB,
psychology, communications, film and media studies, global studies,
history, sociology and more. The testimonials from those students are
that the experience changed their lives and helped them refine their
goals for the future.

Sincerely,

Lisa Stratton

The Carsey-Wolf Center, which is UCSB’s center for media studies, strongly
encourages students to continue their support of the AS Coastal Fund. Our
Center hosts the Coastal Media Project, which is a nine-week intensive
summer environmental media production and documentary film studies
program. Working in teams, students from a wide variety of backgrounds
produce short documentary films that focus on our coastal environment. This
twelve-credit program is designed to expand the way vital stories are told. It
trains students to be thoughtful and informed environmental mediamakers
with knowledge of documentary modes and a toolbox of possibilities for
creative intervention, including hands-on training with state-of-the-art
equipment. The program features a multi-day intensive trip to the Channel
Islands, and culminates in an end of summer film premiere in UCSB’s
Pollock Theater.
The Coastal Fund has provided vital financial support to this program. They
funded elements of the program that otherwise would have been supported
through lab fees, like our orientation trip to the Santa Cruz Island reserve
station, or funded by individual film team fundraising, like production
expenses. They also directly supported undergraduate and graduate student
assistants for the program. We are incredibly grateful to the Coastal Fund for
providing our students with these career-shaping opportunities. We
particularly appreciate the way the Coastal Fund’s creative mission supports
projects across the humanities, arts, and sciences.

Since 1999, Coastal Fund has been a significant and critical funding source for UCSB projects that celebrate, explore, and protect our coastal environment. We help create both entry-level and advanced paid opportunities for students to gain career experience in a variety of fields and have a positive impact on our campus.

Coastal Fund has not sought a fee increase since 2006. Since that time, the California minimum wage has more than doubled and the amount requested of Coastal Fund now vastly exceeds our available budget (~$850,000 requested with only ~$400,000 in available funds). As a result, we are unable to fund many deserving applications. Increasing our lock-in fee will allow us to support more students with equitable wages. Any fee increase will help close the gap between what is requested and what we can fund, further benefiting the student body.

Coastal Fund pays for beach and Isla Vista street cleanups, environmental education training programs, restoration initiatives, environmental media programs, field and lab research, and monitoring and protection for our threatened snowy plover population. It also supported the original construction of the stairways which connect the IV bluffs to the beach. These projects are essential to UCSB’s amazing campus experience, and we hope they will continue into the future.

Please vote to increase Coastal Fund’s lock-in fee so that we can continue to support our students and our coastal community.

Anannya Deshmukh
Coastal Fund Chair

Coal Oil Point Reserve, part of the UC Natural Reserve System, strongly supports the lock-in fee
reaffirmation and fee increase for UCSB Coastal Fund. Coastal Fund provides an invaluable
service to UCSB students by funding paid internships and projects that protect and preserve the
local environments and biodiversity that make this campus so uniquely beautiful.
Thanks to Coastal Fund’s generous support, the reserve offers 60 internships each year to
students from a range of major disciplines including environmental studies, biology, chemistry,
writing, art, and history. These positions support the reserve with crucial conservation,
education, and environmental monitoring programs while providing students with opportunities
to acquire field and research experience to enhance their professional development. After
graduation, many of the past reserve interns have gone on to use their skills in graduate school or
careers with organizations such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, San Diego Zoo Wildlife
Alliance, State Parks, and environmental consulting firms.

Coastal Fund grants also make it possible for Coal Oil Point Reserve to protect habitats for
research, education, and recreation. Coastal Fund plays a significant role in maintaining the
beach and public trails that are enjoyed by the UCSB community and conserving local sensitive
species.

The lock-in fee reaffirmation and fee increase will allow Coastal Fund grantees to continue to
support internships for students to gain hands on experience in their field and keep stipends
competitive with minimum wage. These measures will also help preserve our local coastline for
all to enjoy.

I wholeheartedly support the Coastal Fund’s reaffirmation and increase of their lock-in fee
because of the much-needed funding they have provided UCSB for over 20 years to preserve our
local coasts and to sponsor students’ academic and co-curricular interests, as well as
innumerable preservation projects.

For the last seven years, the Coastal Fund has supported the GIVE Benefit sale, which
mitigates the impacts on the university and Isla Vista community each June as thousands
of students move out. GIVE responds to the problems of overflowing dumpsters,
accumulated trash, arson, and discarded useful and recyclable goods by asking students to
donate their reusable goods. The donations are sold at a giant sale and 100% of the
proceeds are donated to Isla Vista non-profits. Every year, GIVE saves over 40 tons of
donated goods from the landfill, donates 1 ton of packaged food to the AS Food Bank, and
recycles hundreds of pounds of e-waste.

A crucial contribution from the Coastal Fund is the funding it provides for dozens of paid
internships in education, scientific research, legal advocacy, ecosystem restoration, and art. This
funding supports opportunities for low-income students who cannot afford un-paid internships
because they work 2 or 3 jobs. In addition, the Coastal Fund sponsors many campus programs
such as beach cleanups, the campus lagoon restoration, and a snowy plover protection program.

Vote yes on this fee and ensure that students can accept un-paid internships and develop skills
and knowledge that will highly benefit their future career.

Viviana Marsano, PhD., Director of Civic & Community Engagement

Con Statements