Our next meeting topic is Youth Empowerment on Tuesday January 13th 6-8PM.

Here are the projects we’ll be exploring at this meeting. Please click the links if you’d like to learn more about these projects prior to the meeting.

Santa Cruz County Children’s Network with Robyn McKeen
Through my work as a Community Organizer at United Way, I provide staff coordination for the Santa Cruz County Children’s Network, a County Board of Supervisor’s mandated body consisting of over 40 government agency, school district, and non-profit executives. The Network meets regularly to share information and coordinate countywide services for children, youth and families. This year the group assisted the Community Assessment Project in selecting a Community Goal to achieve by 2020 for youth: “Schools and communities will be safe, supportive and engaging places for children, youth and families”.  My dream is to increase the impact this group of influential leaders makes in our community towards this goal. How can we harness the expertise and influence of this group to empower our county’s youth and families? Learn more about this project here.

Unicorn Maps for Rejects, Delinquents & Other Healers with Jessica Vargas
Unicorn Maps for Rejects, Delinquents, & Other Healers is a recovery enrichment center that serves transitional age youth and young adults in recovery from substance abuse. We facilitate meaningful community discussions that engage young people in their own power, examine and enrich recovery-based principles, and inspire spiritual investigation. Our dream is to be a financially sustained resource available to all young people in recovery as well as those who work in the field of addiction counseling, and to have a strong online presence and following. We hope to expand our services to include daylong workshops and weekend retreats. We need help structuring our business model and building a media platform, and wish to find a permanent location that will act as our headquarters.   Learn more about this project here or follow our Instagram @unicorn_maps.

Subjects to Change (S2C) with Emily Hope Dobkin
Subjects to Change (S2C) is a program geared for teenagers who want to make a difference in Santa Cruz county by raising awareness of community issues through collaborative arts and cultural experiences. S2C consists of approximately 15 students from across the county who meet at the MAH every Thursday afternoon to talk community, create stuff, & change—both themselves, as a group, and the community. Coined as a group of chronic doodlers who dig music, embrace creativity of all kinds, and are determined to not only make Santa Cruz better, but want to get other teens involved—-my dream for this program is to engage as many teens from across the county to identify and describe the social issues they face through artistic collaborations and projects. Learn more about this project here.

KYTH-lpfm Radio with Ann Simonton

KYTH LP and youthradiosc.org is a 501 c (3) radio station, where youth, ages 12-25, will have an opportunity to express their creativity through art, poetry, music and news. Our job as adult mentors will be to offer ideas about groups whose stories aren’t heard and ideas for youth service. Media Watch will provide leadership, programming, radio production and fundraising training for our core organizing group. We need a home for antenna in Scotts Valley and a studio for our station near bus lines in Santa Cruz. KYTH-lpfm will provide youth a safe place to voice their concerns about vital issues that effect our present and their future. This station will offer commercial-free programming with the hope of community underwriting. Our dream is to be a voice that will network with all that is available for youth and children in our community. Radio can be that conduit. We also hope to host Pacifica programs, which no other station broadcasts locally, except for KZSC news, which runs one hour daily. Radio programming, live music, conducting interviews, organizing, fundraising will offer youth many unique skills that will benefit them throughout their lives. Learn more about this project here.

Beach Flats Community Center with Edgar Landeros

Info coming soon!