Melissa Fontaine Announcement
Across the County and the Central Coast, LegacyWorks shows up in service of a wide array of collaborative initiatives that build healthy landscapes and resilient communities. Our projects require authentic community engagement, partnership facilitation, relationship building and capacity support that ranges from graphic design and communications to project management and grant writing. Our programmatic growth requires expanding our talented and heart-centered team. We’re thrilled to welcome and introduce you to our newest Santa Barbara Regional Initiative team member - Melissa Fontaine!
Melissa brings to LegacyWorks a deep commitment to both the natural world and local community. Her dedication to the environment traces back to volunteering with the Student Conservation Association after high school, building trails and immersing herself in the Virginia backcountry - a transformative experience that catalyzed a life of service to the natural world.
Later at Fairview Gardens she experienced the interconnectedness of our food system and the potential to build community around shared meals. She then dedicated the next 10+ years to improving food systems in Santa Barbara County. She co-founded Goodland Kitchen, a farm-to-table cafe and community-supported kitchen in Goleta, taught hands-on culinary trainings to cafeteria food service workers as Food Literacy Manager with the Orfalea Foundation, co-founded the Nutrition Advocate Network as Director of Community Impact with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, and mentored the Calfresh team as Food Security Coordinator at UCSB.
“Through these experiences I came to understand that by building trust and relationships, a community will be much better equipped to respond to hardships as they arise, including food insecurity, wildfire, pandemics, or other challenges.” - Melissa
During her career she has also been an advocate for underserved communities. She was born in Colombia, speaks Spanish fluently and has first-hand appreciation for the importance of diversity in building community resilience.
Like LegacyWorks as a whole, she enjoys stepping into different roles to meet community needs. Her favorites include coalition builder, project manager, scone-baker, GIS map maker, policy researcher and spreadsheet wizard. Most recently she played a key supporting role in the Community Environmental Council’s wildly successful $16.9 million climate campaign.
Melissa holds certificates in Permaculture Design and Salesforce as well as a Masters in Environmental Science and Management from the Bren School at UCSB. When she is not at work, you can find her volunteering as a UC Master Gardener, at Ellwood Bluffs, in her own garden, or poking at a sourdough loaf to see if it's ready for the oven.
Melissa with her family in the Sierra Nevada
Melissa loves numbers so in honor of her - Melissa by the numbers:
Interns mentored: 23
Herbs growing in her garden: 16
Years in Santa Barbara County’s non-profit sector: 15
Most miles hiked in one day: 12
Countries visited: 11
Languages spoken: 2
Daughters: 1