APTOS — Approximately 300 people showed up to the Community Foundation of Santa Cruz County’s “Rise Together” coalition launch party Friday night, many gathering for the first time with friends they could only see via Zoom during the early stages of the pandemic. The charitable event was an excuse to reunite between not-for-profit organization booths and a dance floor donated by Motion Pacific.
While socializing, attendees learned about Rise Together approximately one year into its making in the Community Foundation’s courtyard adorned by papel picado, or multi-color fiesta flags.
Rise Together, explained the 17 leaders of color and four Community Foundation staff members that make up the committee, convened mid-2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the disproportionate effect COVID-19 was having on minorities. Its mission is to progress racial equality in Santa Cruz County.
“Our goals are to increase upward economic mobility … amplify, value, celebrate and preserve people of color’s stories, arts, culture and community events, change policies … at the root level, deliver essential services, address barriers and build community capacity to fight racial disparities … (and) to continuously give and grow sustained funding for communities of color,” explains the group on Rise Together’s website.
Santa Cruz City Councilman Justin Cummings explained the launch was delayed in order for constructive conversation to happen between the leaders to be able to outline Rise Together’s goals. The goals will navigate how the group uses a $423,000 grant from the Community Foundation.
Additionally, time was needed for many of them to get to know each other in order to work together in a meaningful way. Most of the leaders were recruited into the coalition by Community Foundation Engagement Officer Stacey Marie Garcia, a woman colleagues say made Rise Together possible with her behind-the-scenes work.
“A lot of us didn’t know each other coming into the room, so we had to spend a lot of time cultivating relationships and connecting,” Cummings said. “Through those connections, we are figuring out what it is we all want and ultimately we all landed on seeing how we can attract more donors to support these organizations and not just have a one-time (donation).”
Meaningful support
Rise Together is significant, the group stressed, because it allows for the work to be done by, for and in support of people of color in the region. It’s even more significant, said Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center Founder Cat Willis, because community members are joining in the effort alongside advocates of color.
“I was so hyper-focused on the Black community … the Black community was just starting to galvanize and come together,” Willis said of her initial reaction when she was recruited to Rise Together. “So it feels good to see that philanthropists, investors and even community members want to see investment … it’s not just us, everybody is a part of it. When our whole community has an equitable life, it means that we have a thriving community.”
Willis used the example of a Silicon Valley startup and how logical it is for individuals interested in their product to invest. Giving to the Community Foundation’s Rise Together Fund is just that — an investment in the future of minorities in Santa Cruz.
“In the nonprofit or small community world, it’s often like, ‘Donate to us! Donate, donate!’ ” Willis said. “That’s exactly what we’re talking about when we talk about equity. We’re talking about investing in healthcare and investing in housing. When you invest for the long term, it means that that’s what equity looks like.”
Breaking the chain
That investment is how systemic change really will happen. Giving to nonprofits that are willing to help with educational and career development opportunities for people of color allows for the prospering of all populations, Cummings said at the event.
“One of the tough things for nonprofits in this area is … How can you bring in interns and people who are going to be, when the torch needs to be passed, engaged in the work and cultivate leadership within the next generation?” he said.
That’s the most interesting focus for Cummings out of the topics discussed during bimonthly meetings among the group’s community organizers, social justice and arts leaders, indigenous cultural practitioners, city officials, social workers and more. The county’s wealth and income disparity that people of color live every day can be eased by a pipeline created for their youth to climb up and find success.
“(We have to ask) how do we give them opportunities so that they can lift themselves up and be able to have jobs and buy homes and raise families so that we don’t see this disparity along racial lines,” Cummings said.
The biggest part of creating the pipeline is ensuring it runs for a long-term period, not just a short stint fueled by the momentum of the start of Rise Together. Cummings said that keeping nonprofits that support paying young people of color and training them to become leaders will translate to a more equitable environment.
“People of color, from the socioeconomic standpoint, are not as well off. To expect them to come into something that’s a volunteer position for eight to 10 weeks during the summer when they could be working, the likelihood of that happening is very low,” he said.
Work long-overdue
Dr. Carmin Powell, director of pediatrics at Watsonville Community Hospital, said she is happy that the efforts she wished had been made when she was growing up in Santa Cruz through the ‘90s are finally being made. Her involvement in the local NAACP chapter allowed for her to be a part of the endeavor while her job allows her to provide the lens of health inequities that exist in Santa Cruz, such as people of color’s lack of access to information.
“Every year we will look at how we are (doing) in terms of the mission and the goals,” Powell said. “It’s one thing to say it, but it’s another thing to prove you’re pushing the needle.”
As the sky darkened, those present celebrated the achievement of finally showing up.
“(It) takes all of us staying together and gatherings of all of us of our different backgrounds to be the norm, to be the thing that we all continue to do. (We must) continue to want to know each other, to want to know what it’s like in each other’s shoes,” Community Foundation CEO Susan True said. “We have to do this for a sustained time, forever, to make our county more just.”
Santa Cruz’s Senderos dancers moved skillfully across the stage, signaling the end of formal presentations and the start of an open dance floor. Locals took the direction of emcee and Rise Together leader DeAndre’ James and “got funky,” following the energetic vibe established by earlier acts such as Ensamble Musical and Estrellas de Esperanza.
For information
For information about the organization, visit risetogetherscc.org or follow the progress on social media at #RiseTogetherSCC.
