Community Spotlight: Meet Beth Skidmore, MSACN of Rooted Santa Barbara County

Beth Skidmore, MSACN

Chair and Executive Lead, Rooted Santa Barbara County

Can you please share more about yourself and the mission of Rooted Santa Barbara County? 

I’m Beth Skidmore, MSACN, a local nonprofit professional with a background in the arts, education, and healthcare. After a significant experience with nutrition in my own family, I went back to school to earn a master’s degree in Clinical Nutrition. That journey ultimately led me to launch Rooted Santa Barbara County.

Rooted helps our community put Food is Medicine into practice so all our neighbors have the opportunity to eat to thrive. Through bilingual, culturally relevant nutrition and food literacy programs, we help our neighbors build the knowledge, practical skills, confidence, and connections to prevent and manage chronic disease and feel their best. We also train healthcare providers, community health workers, educators, and other trusted professionals to support the people they serve with nutrition and lifestyle.

We work alongside clinics, libraries, schools, universities, food access organizations, housing organizations, and community partners to bring this support into the places people live, learn, work, and receive care. By combining evidence-based practices with community wisdom and lived experience, we’re working to make prevention and good health more accessible throughout Santa Barbara County.

Who has made a strong impact on your life and has helped you to get you where you are today?

I’ve had the benefit of wonderful mentors, colleagues, coaches, friends, and partners who have linked arms and supported me along the way. My husband inspired my path into nutrition through our family’s own experience and has encouraged and supported me every step of the way.

I really believe we are better together. I’ve learned so much from people who have shared their expertise and experiences, challenged my thinking, opened doors, believed in an idea, or rolled up their sleeves to help make it happen. Those experiences have helped me grow and reinforced my belief in the power of collaboration, a belief that is at the heart of Rooted.

What are some recent highlights at Rooted Santa Barbara County? And what events, milestones and steps are in the near future?

It’s been an incredibly exciting period of growth for Rooted. Programs that began as pilots are becoming ongoing programs and partnerships, and we’re experiencing increasing demand from healthcare providers and community organizations across Santa Barbara County.

Our Eat to Thrive / Comer Para Prosperar programs are now reaching community members in settings ranging from libraries and schools to cancer survivorship care, clinics, food access organizations, and community programs. We’re also expanding training for healthcare providers, educators, students and community health workers. Most importantly, our evaluations show participants gaining knowledge and confidence, making meaningful changes, and sharing what they learn with their families and communities.

We’re at an inflection point. Food is Medicine is gaining momentum nationally, and we have an opportunity to put it into practice locally in a way that is accessible, culturally relevant, and rooted in the strengths of our community. We’re expanding bilingual programming, deepening partnerships, and building Rooted’s capacity to meet growing demand and make prevention a lasting part of our community’s health infrastructure.

What about Rooted Santa Barbara County is special to you, what would you like our readers to know?

What is most special to me is the people behind Rooted. Our team brings so much heart, skill, expertise, collaboration, and empathy to this work, creating spaces where nutrition and health feel accessible, practical, welcoming, and joyful.

Our partners are also essential. They care deeply about the communities they serve, and by bringing our different strengths together, we can accomplish so much more. And our donors made this work possible — many were visionaries who saw the opportunity before we had the local outcomes to prove it. They gave us the chance to test, learn, build, evaluate, and demonstrate what is possible.

At its heart, Rooted is about making good health possible for all of our neighbors — and doing it together.

Why did you think it was important to become a member of the CNL? What do you value most about your connection with CNL?

I’m a lifelong learner, and I believe professional development in community is incredibly valuable. I’ve participated in several CNL programs, including the Board Leadership Institute and, most recently, the new Nonprofit Adaptability Lab. We’re only two sessions in, and it has already been groundbreaking — giving our team new context and tools for thinking about financial health and approaches we’ve been working toward.

I’ve also known Dena Jenson since early in my career through the AFP Santa Barbara/Ventura Board. Her thoughtfulness and understanding of our nonprofit community, and what organizations and leaders actually need, is truly unmatched. She surrounds herself with an incredible team, trainers, and partners, including the Santa Barbara Foundation, who share that commitment to strengthening our sector.

What I value most about CNL is the combination of learning, connection, and practical application. I always leave inspired, encouraged, and with something I can put into practice immediately and revisit over time.

How can the community support you? Where can they find you on social media?

There are so many ways to support Rooted. Financial support helps us expand accessible, bilingual programming, strengthen partnerships, and build the capacity to meet growing demand.

Rooted is an upstream investment in community health. Investing in effective prevention today can improve health and reduce far greater human and financial costs downstream — helping our neighbors prevent or better manage chronic disease, feel better, live longer, support their families, and contribute to their communities.

You can also attend or share a program, introduce us to a potential partner or funder, volunteer, or simply help spread the word. Every connection matters.

Learn more, find upcoming programs, and support our work at RootedSantaBarbara.org. We’re also on Instagram (@rootedsantabarbara), Facebook, and LinkedIn at Rooted Santa Barbara County. And please reach out (beth@rootedsantabarbara.org) — we love connecting with neighbors whether you believe in this work or are simply curious to learn more.

Beth Skidmore, MSACN, Chair/Executive Lead

Rooted Santa Barbara County RootedSantaBarbara.org

hello@rootedsantabarbara.org

Instagram: @rootedsantabarbara

Facebook: @rootedsantabarbara

(she/her/hers)

Learn more about our mission and priorities at https://RootedSantaBarbara.org/invest-in-community-health!