Cheryl M. Williams is a 43 year resident of Santa Cruz County, recently retired after a long career working for the Santa Cruz County Administrative Offices. Her career spanned across all branches of local government:  judicial, executive, and administrative. She learned how money is disseminated and public policies are designed to impact marginalized and underserved communities. Her involvement at the level of which she was working illuminated the need for collaborative and cross-sectional problem solving. During her tenure, she was an active member of SEIU serving on the Board of Directors, in many roles. While there, her primary focus was making certain that her community was included and represented, and pushed for a Black/African American Caucus. Prior to moving to Santa Cruz County, Cheryl lived in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. She attended Boston University where she pursued her passion for Biology recognizing the importance of having a visual representation of having a Black Woman in the role of scientist. While there, she requested to be housed in the intercultural floor of her dorm where she amplified her love for other cultures. Cheryl’s social activism was sparked at the age of 13 when her Mother gave her the book,100 Years of Lynching by Ralph Ginzburg, chronicalling the lynching of 5,000 American Black Males and 10 Females through photographs, newspaper articles, posters. Upon recognizing the atrocious events contained in the book, she chose instead to learn about how the Black community pushed back rather than how they were victimized. Currently, Cheryl is the Executive Director of Santa Cruz Black, a Black led grassroots organization dedicated to empowering the Black community across generations and intersectionalities. Her work focuses on housing affordability, wealth generation, and mental wellness. Her vision is to see a more inclusive community free of the stressors brought upon by racial injustice. Cheryl is an artist at heart with a passion for making jewelry and her best creation has been her son Damian, a self taught musician.

President-Researcher-Social Entrepreneur Ayo Banjo feeds off intense high-pressure quick decision-making situations that allows his big ideas and extensive network to successfully execute project goals. As the first undergraduate freshman in the history of the University of California to win the Office of the Student Body President, his first successful fundraiser at age 19 raised half a million dollars in housing support for low-income students. Banjo now intersects political technology to social justice work, giving human rights advocates access to advanced data to create changes in policies aimed at reducing homelessness, combatting redlined racial discrimination, and empowering young professionals of color to build a culture of leadership and opportunity in their community. Banjo arrives fresh from pioneering the PACE Admissions program at UC Santa Cruz, tripling access to Pan-Afro services available for prospective and current Black students and serving as a plug between the campus and larger Santa Cruz community. His 55-page published research, “Higher Education’s Black Agenda” led to the creation of a six-figure funded Black research grant program across the entire University of California system, and shifted the conversation around accessibility by using action-based research to identify best practices toward increasing the retention and recruitment of diverse student populations in higher ed. Working with governmental partners on renewable energy climate programs, overseeing statewide voter turnout efforts, and serving on the Executive board of the statewide NAACP, Banjo’s work has been featured in news publications such as KQED, GoodTimes, CalMatters, the California Report & public radio. He has been identified as an advocate for higher education policy advancement by the NAACP, worked on climate advocacy with the United Nations and City of Santa Cruz, and helped pass CA-SB 1004 to increase mental health resources to all CA public higher education institutions. Working to diversify companies, academia, venture capital and representation in key municipal governments, Banjo‘s signature leadership strategy uses high-impact collaborative decision-making processes to cultivate community trust around diverse equitable services. Banjo proves that no age, nor skin color, can be limited to the drive of leadership, turning passions into projects that seek to help our collective human society, protecting the general welfare of the next generation.

Staff Members!