Everyone ages 14-19. Everyone.  If you are 13 and going to be a freshman in high school in the fall of 2024, you can apply too. The general rule: high school students.

Yes – they are genuinely encouraged to apply. Please do. All are welcome here and the more diverse the community of leaders, the better the Cadre will be.

• We will accept up to 500 applicants for initial consideration.  
• Everyone who applies after the initial 500 will automatically be on an application waitlist.
• Once applications are received they will be checked for completeness.  Incomplete applications will be rejected from the initial 500 and we will fill those slots with completed applications from the application waiting list in the order they are received.
• Our Analytical Decision-Making Framework is focused on finding the best leadership candidates from each neighborhood as identified in our application. (This will be refined in the future – We know it is not perfect AND – we only have 80 seats this summer)  Applicants are competing with people from their own neighborhood. Not other neighborhoods. The desiderata are diverse cadres of people from different neighborhoods and backgrounds working together.  This is realistic training for “spontaneous volunteer” leadership.
• What makes a best candidate?  Someone who has a strongest likelihood of using the training and community network connection we provide for the immediate benefit of their community.
• The Goal of the Admission Process:  To create diverse cadres of “most likely to lead” people from each neighborhood in Santa Barbara County.  Our goal is to weave a safety net of compassionate and capable human beings throughout the County – to build the “human infrastructure” of resilience.  To accomplish this, we need people who want to help their community, who are trained to be good at helping others and who regularly, patiently and willingly collaborate with spontaneous volunteers.

Of course, but helping the community adapt to the challenges of a changing climate is what this course focuses on.

You are welcome to apply. 

This program will be taught in English in 2023 and in English AND Spanish in 2024.

We are very sorry not to offer it in both languages this year, but this is a new program and “you have to walk before you can run.”

We do have bilingual staff on site and can answer questions in English and Spanish, so if you struggle with English, (and speak Spanish) we can work with you and this is not a barrier to being admitted to the program. 

Seriously – don’t let this get in the way.

If you are a leader and are reading this in translation please apply.  We will do our absolute best to accommodate you if you are accepted.

You bet it is. Definitely a plus – at the Academy and in life as far as we are concerned.

The more languages you speak, the more people you can work with during a spontaneous volunteer deployment.

You can ask to be wait-listed on a week when you can make it.

No.  If you miss a day of training, you will not receive certification.

Don’t apply. Certification requires attendance to the fully scheduled training program.

You will not receive certification at the time of training.

However, with a doctor’s note, we will allow you to make up the required training on a weekend during the following 6 months.

Absolutely.  We fly the pride flag high at the Bucket Brigade and BB Academy.

You are welcome and encouraged to apply and the Bucket Brigade Academy is a safe space.

If any cadet is unable to treat other with total respect, we will kick them out.

The first thing we teach is “All Positive Communication.” Volunteer leadership demands total respect for others. Anything less will not get it done.

Mean comments, inappropriate comments, rude behavior, harassment or anything deemed to be “not respectful and kind” will not be allowed at the Academy.