The Better Business Bureau of the Tri-Counties as been promoting ethical business practices in Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties since 1945. We help businesses and consumers resolve disputes and we provide reliability reports on area businesses. We are a non-profit organization and we provide, primarily on the Internet at www.bbb.org many thousands of reliability reports on Tri-County businesses every month. We report on both BBB member and non-member businesses.

Schooner Mystic Whaler:

The Heart of Central Coast Ocean Adventures Foundation

Mystic Whaler was built in 1967 in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and designed by V.B. Crockett. She is a representation of a late 19th-century cargo two-masted schooner. In 1995, she went through a significant overhaul. Mystic Whaler then operated on the East Coast for the next 26 years, conducting educational programs and charters throughout Long Island Sound, Connecticut, and the Chesapeake Bay. She started her three-month journey to California in October 2021 and was donated to CCOAF in January 2022. Mystic Whaler is Coast Guard-certified to carry a maximum of 50 passengers on day sails.

Central Coast Ocean Adventures Foundation (CCOAF) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit committed to delivering uniquely immersive ocean-based educational experiences along California’s Central Coast and the Channel Islands. CCOAF believes that to adventure is to discover and learn from the excitement of experiencing the unfamiliar.

CCOAF’s Mission is to utilize adventure through sailing and the sea to promote STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) comprehension, environmental stewardship, teamwork, self-confidence, and nautical skills for the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties with a special focus on youth. 

Roger and Sarah Chrisman founded CCOAF in 2021, acting on long-standing wisdom that the Santa Barbara Channel- and its ocean, islands, and coastline- are educational treasures from which everyone should benefit.

The organization’s flagship resource, the 110-ft schooner Mystic Whaler, is the perfect medium for exploring adventure-inspired learning through sailing and the sea. CCOAF’s hands-on, activity-based programs develop and strengthen STEM academic comprehension, social/emotional maturity, environmental stewardship, nautical skills, and historical lessons. CCOAF is committed to making engaging experiential education and the Santa Barbara Channel more accessible to the communities of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

CCOAF works with communities to provide programs relevant to their needs. While many of CCOAF’s programs are for 10-18-year-old youth, some are intergenerational and family-oriented, where parents and their children can grow and learn side by side and from one another.

Volunteers and volunteer opportunities are especially important to CCOAF, seen as essential in remaining not just a resource for the community but a part of it. CCOAF offers educational programs year-round, from half-day to multi-day voyages, adaptable to the needs of the group served, be it a school, community-based organization, or programs open to the public.

CCOAF provides financial assistance for access to programs based on needs through funding from private foundations, corporate and government grants, individual donations, and fundraising program revenue. CCOAF also offers Mystic Whaler for fundraising events, multi-day adult educational trips to the Islands, corporate team-building, and fundraising public day sails focused on local wildlife and ocean conservation.

Food Share is the largest hunger-relief organization in Ventura County. Founded in 1978 as F.O.O.D. Share (Food On Our Doorsteps) by eight friends in a family garage, Food Share quickly outgrew that space and now operates in Oxnard, CA with three warehouses with a combined 46,000 square feet of space.

A 501(c)3 non-profit organization, Food Share is a member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief network of food banks, as well as the California Association of Food Banks.

An estimated 1 in 4 people in Ventura County experiences food insecurity, meaning that they are without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food. 

Food Share serves 267,000 people in Ventura County annually or 31% of the county population. Before the pandemic, many of the families Food Share served would need supplemental food perhaps two-three times a year. Most were low-income working families, many living paycheck-to-paycheck, who needed occasional help when there was some temporary squeeze on income. This trend continues but at higher numbers.

Established in 1973, Interface Children & Family Services is the region’s most comprehensive nonprofit social services agency providing direct, responsive, wrap-around services to address the complex needs of clients and our local community.

As a critical safety net for children and families, Interface provides 30 distinct programs across seven core program areas including mental health & trauma treatment, domestic violence & child abuse prevention, youth crisis & homelessness, human trafficking prevention & intervention, justice services, and 211 information & assistance in 39 California counties.

Today, Interface serves tens of thousands of local individuals annually, assists 250,000+ callers through the 211 call center across the state, and continues to earn the respect of individuals, businesses, and foundations, which provide grants, donations, and in-kind services to ensure that the work of Interface is sustained.

Many Mansions is a non-profit organization that provides well-managed, service-enriched, affordable housing to low-income residents of Southern California. We operate 20 communities consisting of over 700 units of affordable housing. We serve more than 1,600 of the most vulnerable members of our community. Our residents include families of very low-income, seniors, veterans, disabled individuals, and those who were homeless. Our mission is to provide homes and inspire hope through quality housing, services, and education. As long as there is a need for affordable housing in our community we will seek ways to provide families with a place to call home.

No Limits teaches underserved deaf children and families the skills to succeed in school and in life through its after-school educational centers and distinguished theater arts program, promoting advocacy and awareness worldwide. The primary purpose of the No Limits program is to provide an inclusive and equitable education that removes systemic barriers for children with disabilities and marginalized populations so all deaf children can mainstream with their hearing peers and pursue higher-level education.

United Parents provides resources to empower, strengthen and support families raising children with mental health, emotional and behavioral disorders.

United Way has been a member of the community since 1945. United Ways community investment strategy focuses on providing solutions to priority community issues.Combine individual/business/corp results

Camarillo Wings Association, is a 501(c)(3), all-volunteer non-profit corporation that host the annual Wings Over Camarillo Air Show | Car Show |STEM on the 3rd weekend in august at Camarillo Airport