Brighter Futures Childcare Initiative

“We love living here and love being a part of this community. With United Way’s help, we’re able to make it work. It means a lot to me to be able to raise my family here in Santa Barbara. It’s a beautiful place, but it’s extremely difficult to be able to keep up with the cost of living, just the basics. To pay the mortgage, for groceries, childcare, it’s almost impossible. Both of my children are enrolled in preschool, and the scholarship helped us afford the costs of these tuitions.”

“I’d like to take a moment to share how much the childcare scholarship has meant to our family over this past year. Two weeks after we had our third child, my husband lost his job and later that year we unfortunately lost all our belongings in a house fire. We tirelessly fought to stay in Santa Barbara, the amazing town in which we want to raise our kids. I started looking into financial aid for our childcare and found United Way. This scholarship helped us immensely. With the financial aid we received, we were able to put that money toward other bills and our now higher rent after needing to move. It gave us a little bit of relief as we struggled to navigate a new chapter. My husband and I both work in the community, and we hope to continue to raise our family here. It’s scholarships like this that can help working families stay in this community. Thank you for this incredible gift for our family.”