This story originally appeared in the Santa Barbara Green Guide 2025/26,
a collaboration publication between 'Santa Barbara Independent' and 'Bluedot Living'.
Ricardo Venegas may be the perfect person to run a community garden. The longtime neighborhood outreach coordinator for the City of Santa Barbara is a natural green thumb, tending to a dozen fruit trees at his home ― cherimoyas, persimmons, figs, grapefruit.
Warm and affable, Ricardo is also a through-and-through people person, a requirement when working with a diverse group of gardeners in a limited public space. He started his career mentoring gang members and now oversees the Santa Barbara Arts Alliance, a program that helps city youth spearhead service projects like graffiti abatement, neighborhood clean-ups, and public murals.