City of Santa BarbaraCandidate for Mayor

James Joyce III is a community leader and founder of Coffee with a Black Guy. For much of the past decade, James has served the people of Santa Barbara as District Director for State Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson, who represented nearly 1 million constituents within Santa Barbara and Ventura. In that role, James was responsible for the day-to-day operations representing the Senator and her work. He has worked for years on housing, income inequality, and improving opportunities for small business.

James has served on various advisory boards in the area. He was a part of the founding advisory committee for Impact Hub Santa Barbara, and has met with hundreds of local business owners in the area. He knows the needs of the community, and knows how important it is to be a champion for our local businesses: the backbone of our local economy and middle class families.

Into its fourth year, Coffee With A Black Guy serves as a safe place for interactive, community conversations about a variety of issues from the perspective of a Black man. It's been a growing, grassroots effort hosted by James and his team in Santa Barbara to help put an end to racism. Simply put: Coffee. Connection. Conversation. Forbes Magazine featured James and his work with Coffee With A Black Guy in a piece published during the Covid-19 outbreak. James was recognized for his outstanding leadership in aiding anti-racist conversations even during a worldwide pandemic and has served as a guest speaker for the NAACP chapter of Ventura County during their solidarity rally for George Floyd. James knows how to have hard conversations, and looks forward to bringing people together to solve Santa Barbara’s most pressing problems.

James is also on the board for the Common Table Foundation (formerly the Lois and Walter Capps Project), the California Association of Marriage & Family Therapist Education Foundation, Sanctuary Centers of Santa Barbara, as well as the national board for Student African American Brotherhood (SAAB), where he helped found the collegiate chapter while a student-athlete at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Additionally, James serves on the advisory board of the Ventura County Leadership Academy, and the Santa Barbara Young Black Professionals.

Prior to working in the public service sector, James, a Maryland-native, served as an award-winning newspaper journalist in several diverse communities across the country covering a variety of subjects; from education to crime, local politics, features and more.

As mayor, I will do everything in my power to raise the profile of the city, raise the public discourse of the city, and most importantly: raise the civic pride for every person who lives here. We need a leader who cares more about locals than political special interests. I have spent more than a decade meeting with constituents just like you and working diligently behind the scenes to make this a better community. I have seen Santa Barbara at its lowest points, and I have been a level-headed leader in times of crisis.

Our City has spent the last year in a pandemic and a recession, but I believe that better days are ahead. Santa Barbara needs a leader who knows how to have difficult conversations and build consensus, a leader who has the knowledge and expertise at the State and Federal levels to bring home as much money as we need to get back on our feet, and a leader who can bring transparency and accountability to our City. 

We can’t do it alone. We can only do it together, as a united community. 

By bringing people together, we can solve Santa Barbara’s most pressing needs. As your Mayor, I will:

• Improve community outreach

• Support our local businesses

• Ensure housing solutions that meet our needs, while respecting the character of our neighborhoods

• Protect our green spaces

• Create a more just and equitable community