Santa Cruz Black Youth Empowerment Workshop (2020)

I am organizing this GoFundMe in order to raise money for a Black Youth Empowerment Workshop, whose name will be determined collectively by the youth involved, in Santa Cruz this summer. The workshop plans to begin online the week of July 22nd and continue on for four weeks culminating in a celebration at the end of the summer in August. The goal of the workshop is to empower Black high schoolers through the teachings of Black history and youth organizing grounded in critical race and ethnic studies curricula and Black feminist theory. As a Black student from Santa Cruz majoring in Ethnic Studies and Environmental Science at Santa Clara University, I know how valuable this education can be for Black students.

Under the current social, political, and racial climate, we hope to create a space for Black students to think, process, and engage in actions that address and help them make sense of the current climate. We, as a collective of multiple organizations (with support from UCSC NAACP, Resource Center for Nonviolence, Santa Cruz Community Coalition to Overcome Racism, and partners from Santa Clara University), hope to reaffirm to these youth that Black lives do and always have mattered and that their voices are what is needed in this current time period. We plan to encourage these students to participate in a collaborative engaged learning for action and community engagement.  I aspire to make this workshop a free resource to Black students in Santa Cruz, as I know there are few spaces where we can go to feel welcomed and valued and I do not want anyone to feel excluded due to monetary constraints. 

When I attended Santa Cruz High School ( SCHS, class of 2017), Black Student Union (BSU) was my only form of support regarding racial incidents that I went through on a daily basis. Students had to fight and continue to fight to make that space possible on our campus. If it weren’t for BSU and the education I received through my involvement in it, I am unsure if I would be where I am today, about to graduate from Santa Clara University with a double major. I am now back in Santa Cruz and re-engaged with SCHS’s BSU and hoping to bring back to the community opportunities to learn about our history that I know firsthand are lacking in our community. I expect students to gain a sense of community from this workshop and the confidence to create their own safe spaces at their respective high schools across the county. All students deserve to experience the safe space and education I received in my own high school BSU as well as to share those resources with other students. 

Money fundraised for this program will go towards putting on this month-long workshop. Our budget covers care packages for the students, individual copies of the course material, art supplies, notebooks, food for the final celebration, and guest speakers. We could really use community support to help make this a beneficial experience for all involved. Now is the time to show that Black lives matter beyond just talking about it, and to reallocate your wealth to the education and empowerment of Black youth in a city that is lacking meaningful opportunities for Black students. 

If you have any questions, or if you know of a Black student that may benefit from attending this workshop, please reach out to Chloe Gentile-Montgomery, the organizer of this GoFundMe.