Loma Mar, an eclectic community in the Santa Cruz Mountains, has transformed the historical Loma Mar Store into a nonprofit community hub known as the Loma Mar Outpost. Created by owners Jeff and Kate Haas, the Outpost aims to provide a gathering space for residents, who previously faced challenges due to the community's small size and remote location. Executive director Janet Clark highlighted the generosity of the Haases in establishing the nonprofit, drawing parallels to successful models like New Jersey's JBJ Soul Kitchen as potential frameworks for similar initiatives in small towns.
But the owners had bigger dreams for its community role that required something outside a restaurant's usual for-profit setup, says executive director Janet Clark. So last October, they began the process of converting operations into a nonprofit structure.
They have just basically gifted this to the community, which is unbelievably generous, Clark says. It's one of only a handful of nonprofit restaurants in the nation.
New Jersey's JBJ Soul Kitchen community restaurant group, for example, is funded by the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation. They could be a model, Clark says, for other small towns.
Gathering spaces for residents have historically been few and far between, leaving the community vulnerable when disaster strikes.
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