As we close out our fiscal year, REACH has something worth pausing to recognize: this is the largest, most dynamic portfolio of work in our organization’s history, backed by a record budget and a growing wave of investment from public, private, education and community partners.
From energy to aerospace to housing to workforce, the investments flowing into San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties right now are reshaping what’s possible for the people who live and work here.
The work is working because the region is working together — 80+ businesses, cities, SLO and Santa Barbara Counties, state agencies, and all 5 of the region’s public colleges and universities all investing in REACH and leaning in with us to change the Central Coast’s trajectory.
-
$9.5 million for Space Vandenberg
-
$5 million for the Central Coast Clean Energy Innovation Initiative
-
$9 million for 16 regional projects through Uplift Central Coast
-
$4.5 million in private-sector investment
-
$9.3 million annual budget — REACH’s largest ever — to move this work forward
Here’s a look at what’s happened this year, and a peek at where we’re headed.
EXPAND GOOD-PAYING JOBS
This has been a year of ideas becoming action.
+ Space Vandenberg translated regional aerospace momentum into a major state-funded initiative. (More on this below.)
+ On the energy front, we launched the Clean Energy Innovation Initiative in partnership with Cal Poly, a milestone that signals our region’s growing role in the nation’s energy future, and are actively championing extended operations at Diablo Canyon as part of an “all of the above” approach to ensuring energy reliability, advancing climate innovation and protecting the jobs, workforce and community benefits that anchor our regional economy.
+ We also helped raise the region’s high-tech profile, including working alongside GO-Biz and UC Santa Barbara to host a California Quantum Day that brought Nobel laureates together with state officials and industry leaders. The message was clear: this region is ready to compete at the highest levels of the innovation economy.
Read more about Santa Barbara’s Quantum Impact>>>
EMPOWER PEOPLE: BUILDING CAREER PATHWAYS
Our workforce development work has been as busy as anything else this year.
+ Through the Uplift initiative, we directed significant resources into dozens of community projects, and we’ve been aligning precision manufacturing pathways to real, available jobs. This includes $3.7M for 13 projects benefitting SLO County and $4.4M for 16 projects benefitting Santa Barbara County.
+ In June 2026, 18 paid interns started a 2 month-long internship working alongside space professionals at Vandenberg, part of a new generation of talent being built right here on the Central Coast through Space Vandenberg.
+ Meanwhile, Cuesta College’s Aviation Maintenance Technology program, started with support from ACI Jet, expanded its industry partnerships with Cal Poly and Joby Aviation, and the partnership between Trust Automation and San Luis Coastal Unified School District to launch an advanced manufacturing apprenticeship program has resulted in its first full-time hire. One student. One career. That’s how this starts.
Watch our video about how community colleges are making futures bright>>>
ENABLE HOUSING FOR THE REGION’S WORKFORCE
A strong economy only works if workers can afford to live here. This year:
+ REACH launched a new cross-functional housing team dedicated to moving housing abundance from concept to reality.
Watch our video about why we’re in the housing game>>>
+ We partnered on the Lompoc Unified School District surplus land housing project from its earliest stages, a model for what’s possible when regional partners align.
Read the story of the Lompoc School District Housing Project>>>
+ We facilitated a housing roundtable at Vandenberg Space Force Base with Congressman Carbajal, and we’ve been an active partner in supporting the SLO County Housing Implementation Plan.
We’re going big on housing because the region demands it.
Many of these ideas took center stage at our Ideas and Action Summit in March — and they’ve only gained momentum since.
