SESLOC Credit Union is proud to honor Kayla Rutland as a SESLOC Young Change Maker. Kayla recently earned the award for her work with SLO City Farm, starting as a volunteer and rising to the role of Executive Director.
The SESLOC Young Change Maker Award is given to a young person or young professional under 40 doing significant work to benefit their community. Anyone can nominate a young person for the SESLOC Young Change Maker award on the Wild 106 website.
Kayla joined SLO City Farm as a volunteer in 2017, as the program was expanding through community programs including elementary school education and public work parties. During her time as a volunteer, SLO City Farm grew with more education opportunities for students in kindergarten through middle school, the purchase of chickens and a coop to start animal husbandry programs and the installation of solar panels.
In 2021, Kayla transitioned from the organization’s Board of Directors to becoming the Executive Director. In this role, she oversaw several growth initiatives, including the addition of over 300 olive trees for a future olive oil production project. During this time, the partnership between the farm and Cal Poly increased. In 2022 alone, 28 Cal Poly students completed 450 hours of service in the areas of climate action, food security, and K-12 education, along with the construction of two farm infrastructure projects by Construction Management students.
In 2026, she oversaw the execution of a Wash-Pack facility, which allows for the expansion of farming and education programs. The facility also houses and supplies the farm’s “Pay What You Can” farm stand, where community members receive up to $30 discount or no-cost fresh produce from City Farm’s market garden and collaborative City Farmers.
Produce grown on the farm also supports food equity programs in San Luis Obispo county. According to SLO City Farm’s most recent annual report, the organization yielded 14,326 pounds of produce grown using regenerative techniques, 7,370 pounds of produce donated to the SLO Food Bank, and 6,300 hours of hands-on regenerative agriculture instruction for youth.
Outside of the nonprofit, Kayla is the Board Secretary for San Luis Obispo-county based farm-to-consumer platform Harvestly.org, where City Farm SLO sells produce, eggs and wool for direct delivery. She meets with Harvestly’s executive director weekly to collaborate on ways to improve access to fresh, locally produced foods to the community.
SESLOC congratulates Kayla for being named a SESLOC Young Change Maker!