Tina Matthias

Tina Matthias began her career in a nonprofit setting at the Living Coast Discovery Center for over 32 years as the Volunteer and Programs Manager. She also served as the chair of the Sustainability Commission for Chula Vista until late 2022. In 2020, Tina created the nonprofit South Bay Sustainable Communities Network (SBSC) to build healthy and sustainable communities.

In 2022, 16 SBSC neighborhood composting sites composted 50K pounds of food waste throughout the South Bay. The harvested compost was returned to the community.

Through Youth 4 a Sustainable Future (Y4SF), Tina began educating our youth to take action and reduce the impact of climate change in schools. In School Year 2022/23, Y4SF students in 9 schools diverted over 33K pounds of food waste from the landfill. Of these, 30,600K pounds were rescued, and edible foods were returned to the community.

Since beginning South Bay Sustainable Communities Network, Tina has received the Melvin Jones Fellow Award from the Lions Club International Foundation, Constituent of the Month from the House of Representatives and Congressman Juan Vargas, and has led the nonprofit to receive the Organization award for Sustainable Champion from the City of Chula Vista.