Santa Cruz nonprofit provides micro-grants for community projects
Thousand dollars and a smart idea go farther than you may think. For the last 22 years, Bread for the Journey (BFJ), a national nonprofit organization, has been operating on this principle.

BFJ has 20 chapters scattered across the country, including one in Santa Cruz, all with a simple mission: to collect funds and redirect them in the form of micro-grants of less than $3,000 to catalyze local community projects. The organization is run entirely by volunteers, often from their own homes.

“When I think of Bread for the Journey, I think of someone saying, ‘Here’s a little bread for your journey. Here’s a little bit to get you going—to get you to your next stop,’” says Jerilyn Kass, one of the four founding board members of the Santa Cruz chapter. “We give seed money for people who have these great ideas but [have] no money, and it gives them that initial push to get them to their next stop.”

Congregants from local church and synagogue to visit Israel together
In a set-up straight out of the corniest joke books, a pastor, a rabbi, and a fitfully observant Jewish journalist walk into an interview.

It’s a cold, blustery late spring morning, and Rev. Dave Grishaw-Jones, senior minister at the First Congregational Church, a United Church of Christ congregation, and Rabbi Paula Marcus, a rabbi and cantor at the Reform Jewish Temple Beth El, have both made time in their exceptionally busy schedules to sit down together. As they settle into Rev. Grishaw-Jones’ book-lined study, the two clergy members, who co-lead an interfaith Middle East dialogue group, prepare to talk about their latest—and perhaps most challenging—project. On July 14, they will lead 25 of their congregants to Israel and the West Bank for two weeks, on what they agree promises to be both an enlightening and exhausting journey. “The itinerary is rather frightening,” laughs Rabbi Marcus.

PG&E seeks $4.2 billion increase in revenue
The defeat of Proposition 16 on the June 8 ballot has been called a testament to the power of a grassroots public awareness campaign against a corporate opponent with deep pockets. It’s hard to disagree.

PG&E spent nearly $46 million dollars supporting the bill that would have effectively barred competition in its service areas by requiring a two-third vote in the given city for any new utility company to begin service. Opponents to the bill had less than $100,000 and relied instead on community activism and volunteers to educate the public about the bill. Now, with the giddiness of one victory still wearing off, consumer advocacy groups are turning their attention toward PG&E again—this time in response to a request for $4.2 billion in increased revenues over the next three years.

Coalition to Overcome Racism nabs $150,000 grant to aid racial healing in Santa Cruz
It’s always harder to fight something when most people won’t admit there’s anything to fight against. Just ask the members of the Santa Cruz County Community Coalition to Overcome Racism (SCCCCOR), who often find themselves up against the notion that racism simply doesn’t exist in Santa Cruz.

“Let’s be honest,” said Tony Madrigal, city councilmember and SCCCCOR member, at the group’s June 29 press conference. “Racism still exists and manifests itself differently throughout America. We see systemic racism everywhere—whether someone is trying to find housing, applying for a job, or receiving services.”

Local history teacher brings the Zinn Education Project to the classroom

The wall behind Jeff Matlock’s desk is covered with photographs and paintings of his heroes from American history: Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Abraham Lincoln, and Jane Adams among them. There is a photograph of women marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in 1913 with a sign that reads, “I wish Ma could vote!” And, as if to encapsulate Matlock’s “nothing is black and white” view on history, he also has two contrasting photographs beside one another: one of a group protesting World War I with signs that say “Don’t send our boys to die in a useless war,” and the other, a shot of U.S. soldiers wading ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day. “There are two sides to every story,” he says simply.

New teen-led group seeks non-violent solutions to local gang issues
The paper shook in Taylor Burdick’s hands, but her voice remained clear and steady as the Santa Cruz High School (SCHS) junior read a poem dedicated to her friend Tyler Tenorio, a 16-year-old fellow student who was beaten and stabbed to death by gang members in October 2009.

It was Saturday, May 29 at the Louden Nelson Community Center, and the event was the first forum hosted by Peace on the Streets (POTS), a non-violence group created by 20 SCHS students. Burdick stood before an audience of about 150 fellow students, parents, teachers and community members and shared her memories of Tyler, concluding, “For now he is a star in the sky, and I know I will see him again someday.” She looked up from her paper and added, before taking her seat, “I just really want to see a difference in our town.”

Cabrillo astronomy professor helps land Hayabusa spacecraft
Richard Nolthenius’ love affair with the night sky began when he was a child. “The sky doesn’t try to impress you,” he remembers realizing at age 10. “It doesn’t try to posture to be this, that or the other. It’s just so natural and so unaffected by us—and pure in some way.”

UCSC volunteer group prepares for its second trip to Honduras
Two years ago, Ida Shahidi was an average college sophomore enjoying her spring break in Costa Rica. Call it serendipity or call it accident, but one lost plane ticket and a missed flight later, she was on an unplanned flight home, seated next to a young man from UC Santa Barbara, having the conversation that would change her life—and the lives of dozens of other UC Santa Cruz students, as well.

Q&A with local anarchist Alex Barangan
It’s been one month since the streets of Downtown Santa Cruz turned rowdy and rambunctious in what was supposed to be a DIY May Day Dance Party. Good Times has since heard from city council members, the Santa Cruz Police Department, and two small business owners (whose businesses were vandalized). Now we sit down with Alex Barangan, a local engineer and member of the anarchist and DIY communities, to hear a different perspective. He did not participate in the May Day event, and speaks to us instead about the impact of the incident on the anarchist community, his own experience, and more.

A guide to the local candidates in the June 8 primary election
Traditionally, Good Times does not endorse candidates—but we can help you make informed decisions. We asked the candidates vying for a handful of key offices—County Board of Supervisors, the 17th Congressional District, and County Superior Court Judge—the same set of questions to help you get an idea of their platform and their plans for action. So take a gander at our candidate profiles before you head out to the voting booths for the June 8 primary—you may be surprised at what some of them have to say.