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Day 31 at Santa Cruz Peace Camp 2010

Published on August 4, 2010 in Community Building

August 3rd was the 31st day of Santa Cruz Peace Camp 2010, a protest at the county courthouse against the City of Santa Cruz municipal code known as the Sleeping Ban. The Peace Camp began on July 4th as a 8pm – 8am refuge for people in Santa Cruz who do not have a legal or safe place to sleep between the hours of 11pm to 8:30am. It quickly transformed into a full-time demonstration for all to see.

Santa Cruz Peace Camp 2010 is reminiscent of the 2007 protest against the Sleeping Ban which began on August 12th at City Hall and lasted about a week. The Santa Cruz police department raided the demonstration at City Hall at 3am on August 18th. As in the case with Santa Cruz Peace Camp 2010, the 2007 protest was a public visualization of the lack of a place for people to legally sleep. Read More and View Photos

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Freak Radio Santa Cruz Celebrates 15 Years Of Pirate Broadcasting

Published on March 27, 2010 in Community Building, Media

Free Radio Santa Cruz celebrated 15 years of unlicensed, community supported radio on March 27th at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center in downtown Santa Cruz. The night featured local musicians and brought together past and present station programmers, as well as other community members. In addition to the local musicians, Tom Lodge, a pirate radio legend and pioneer from England, spoke of the great days of Radio Caroline, which allowed for the British Invasion. Lodge recently penned a book called The Ship That Rocked The World: How Radio Caroline Defied the Establishment, Launched the British Invasion, and Made the Planet Safe for Rock and Roll.

Free Radio Santa Cruz can be picked up at 101.1 FM in most of Santa Cruz, and online at www.freakradio.org Read More and View Photos

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Santa Offers Hugs, Hot Chocolate, Cookies and Clothing in Santa Cruz

Published on December 20, 2009 in Community Building, Solidarity & Outreach

On Sunday, December 20th, Santa was hanging out at the corner of Pacific and Soquel in downtown Santa Cruz offering hugs, hot cocoa, cookies, conversation and warm clothing to passers-by. Many people were receptive and appreciative of Santa’s kind spirit and the elf giving out cocoa and cookies.

Several people inquired about the motivation behind Santa and the elf, assuming there was an organization or cause seeking publicity and donations. However, the motivation was solidarity and mutual aid within the community, and it was accomplished through direct action. There was no involvement, or ulterior motives, from any charity, non-profit or civic organization. Read More and View Photos

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UCSC Coalition Rallies Against Budget Cuts, Fee Hikes and Layoffs

Published on May 28, 2009 in Community Building, Education, Race

cut-the-top_5-28-09-sm On May 28th, students, staff, workers, and faculty rallied at the base of the UC Santa Cruz campus to protest the UC administration’s decision to cut Community Studies department staff, Latin American Latina/o Studies professors, and director positions at the American Indian Resource Center and the Women’s Center. The rally was organized by the New UC, a coalition that seeks to save quality of education in the UC from regressive, belt-tightening attacks, to ensure universal access to education, and to promote freedom of thought in the university.

Since May 26th, members of the Student of Color Collective (SOCC) have been on a hunger strike at the base of campus to protest budget cuts to underserved communities. In addition to the hunger strike and rally at the base of campus, resisidents of UCSC’s Family Student Housing (FSH) held a demonstration with tents to protest inadequate living conditions and a rent hike. Read More and View Photos

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Marching and Speaking Out to Save the Beach Flats Community Center and Gardens

Published on December 9, 2008 in Community Building

The Beach Flats Community Center (BFCC) is the neighborhood resource center in the heart of the Beach Flats community. For the last 15 years the BFCC has provided programming that is flexible and continually responsive to emerging community needs.

With community support, the BFCC has steadily worked hard to increase the quality of life in the Beach Flats, increased parent participation in all programs, graduated over 190 children from preschool programs, provided a safe place for children, planted over 150 trees, promoted literacy, and can today boast to having 0 youth on probation in the neighborhood. Read More and View Photos

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