Q&A with Keeda Haynes:

Respond to this email with your questions

or message us on Instagram @santacruz.black

We are looking forward to sharing this conversation with the community.

We are pleased to announce that we reached maximum capacity for attendees and are grateful for those who will join us at this powerful event in collaboration with the Santa Cruz Public Defender's Office.

We are honored to highlight incarceration justice organizer and author Keeda Haynes in honor of Black History Month! Lawyers, investigators, social workers, and everyday people will be traveling across the country to train local public defenders, enhancing defense mechanisms to explore abolitionist perspectives.

Come join us for a night of inspiration and insightful conversation reimagining our criminal justice system.

We reach powerful understandings when we ask questions! Please feel encouraged to submit yours! Share your passion and perspective about The Criminal Justice System by sharing your questions with us and they may be answered by Keeda Haynes at this upcoming event.

About Keeda Haynes and her story:

Imagine being in love, trusting your partner, and then losing your liberty for four years plus supervised release because you were a pawn in a conspiracy that you weren't aware of nor had any interest in.

Your future dreams and aspirations are now in question.

You re-enter society with a mark on your back.

But you are steadfast.

You don't give up.

From federal prison to navigating the hoops necessary to be able to even sit for the bar exam, and then pass it on your first try. You are an exemplar of determination and courage.

This is only a snapshot of the inspirational story that is of Keeda Haynes.

I recently finished her memoir, Bending the Arc: From Prison to Politics, and it is a story, a reality, worth telling and to be read. I look forward to having the privilege of meeting Ms. Haynes on February 23rd at our home within the Resource Center for Nonviolence.

In community,

Chris

Santa Cruz Black

Upcoming Collaboration

with The African Roots Social Club:

“Join us Friday, February 24th

for our special Black History Month Afro-Futurism Party at The Resource Center For Nonviolence.

WE ASK ALLIES TO BE MINDFUL AND STICK TO A FUTURISM AND/OR FUTURISTIC THEME!!!

We’ve got something new … A CLOTHING SWAP! An appreciation of fashion should come with a focus on sustainability

We ask that you bring no more than 25 items. Clothes are recently washed and folded or neatly transported. We provide tables, racks, and some hangers (feel free to donate hangers). Remaining clothing will be donated!

Arts and Crafts by Madonna Camel and Sey Scott

Final Friday Fashion Party aims to create a welcoming and accepting environment where ANYONE is free to be themselves. Through multiple avenues of self-expression including fashion, music, and art; don’t be afraid to be the most authentic version of you! We are a safe space for the marginalized with a focus on Queer and BIPOC Communities.”

UPCOMING COMMUNITY EVENTS

A tool for the community: The Santa Cruz County Black History Month Calendar includea events celebrating Blackness and Black History throughout Santa Cruz County.

Keep track of all the events by using the calendar linked here: BHM Calendar

For a better look at the Black History Month Calendar…

click here!

If you would like to have your event represented on this site: email Programs@Santacruz.black with the event info and It will be added ASAP!

Happy Black History Month!

New additions to the calendar are below!

“We're excited and honored to be hosting the world premiere of 'A Diaspora Journey' – a newly-commissioned five-part suite composed and performed by @iamelena and @lionelloueke. 'A Diaspora Journey' explores myriad musical traditions – spanning time and continents – to reflect the many ways that Black people and cultures have expressed and told their stories.

Join us for the premiere concert on Monday, February 20th. Our thanks to The Creative Work Fund (a program of the Walter and Elise Haas Fund that also is supported by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) for granting support of this project. Link in bio for 🎟️🎟️ and info.

On Tuesday, February 21st, please join us for A Diaspora Journey: Conversation with Elena Pinderhughes & @thomassagepedersen. This discussion about the project and musical suite is FREE and will be held in-person and live-streamed. Our thanks to @blackhealthmatters_scc for sponsoring this event! Link in bio for more info.”

Other upcoming opportunities in Santa Cruz

“A reminder about Tandy Beal and Company’s AUDITION this coming Sunday, at the Tannery Dance Studio in Santa Cruz. Doors open at 2 pm to register and warm up. 2:30 start time. Please bring a short excerpt showing movement skills.

We are looking for movement teachers and assistants for our ArtSmart school programs—and good movers for our in-school shows, Imagine IF….

Ideally you are interested and qualified in both performing and teaching, but we will consider those whose interests are only in one area.

Qualities we cherish: a love of learning, organized, cheerful, team spirit, focused, open, responsible, accountable, imaginative, caring, fun, alert.

We mentor up-and-coming teachers.

We encourage people to let us know if they are planning to come at tandybealcompany@gmail.com ….. but people who decide at the last minute also welcomed!

For more information about our ArtSmart Programs please go to tandybeal.com

 All good wishes, Tandy”

Check Out Liberation Ventures. Coming soon to Santa Cruz:

Liberation Ventures accelerates the Black-led movement

for racial repair. Liberation Ventures is building a multiracial democracy that works for all of us — by making racial repair a reality in the United States. We are realizing a dream in our name, where reparations for Black people unlocks true belonging for us all.

SUPPORT US AND HELP US
BUILD OUR 2023 PROGRAMMING AND BEYOND

A one-time gift of support or becoming an ally with a recurring monthly gift allows us to grow our burgeoning grassroots efforts to amplify the Black community in Santa Cruz County and build community programming and community assets.

Santa Cruz Black (initially as Santa Cruz County Black Coalition for Justice and Racial Equity) was established in response to the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. That event and the fact that the Black residents of Santa Cruz County are only 1.7 % of the total population was the catalyst to bring Black concerns out of the shadows and into the forefront in this county.

We are dedicated to Black initiatives through community engagement, including: our commitment to closing the racial wealth, developing affordable housing opportunities, empowering youth, and creating community events for Black residents in Santa Cruz County.

Our mission is to empower & sustain a prosperous & thriving Black community by building and advocating for fair & just policies that promote increased access and equity in health, safety, & well being.

Please consider supporting Santa Cruz Black.

A one-time or monthly donation of ANY size sows the seeds needed for our emerging organization to thrive.

For example,
$100 will allow us to print and distribute our organizational informational collateral
$250 supports building and maintaining our IT infrastructure and needs
$500 enables us to provide transportation for our cohorts in the Melanated Makerspace program to events county-wide.
$1000 allows us to sustain our office space and expand our services as a growing community resource.
$2500 provides support for our larger community events in providing guest speakers and artists the honoraria they deserve.

Follow @santacruz.black on Instagram and visit our website, Santacruz.black for more information about Santa Cruz Black as wee as other local events and community news