Sunday, May 10
Event: Celebrating Mothers: a bilingual family program on Mother’s Day.
Benefit for Beach Flats Community Center, featuring music by Zun Zun, corsages for mothers, Latin American food, desserts, and beverages, and a bilingual/multicultural book fair.
Time: 1-5 pm
Location: Veteran’s Hall downtown
Admission: by donation
One of the most important features of a Transition Initiative is the building up of social resilience, a.k.a. Community! That is why we are so excited to support the Beach Flats Community Center, a unique example in Santa Cruz of a neighborhood-based community-building resource. We would like to imagine a center providing afterschool care, adult education, parenting classes, and cultural events in every neighborhood!
You are invited to celebrate Mother’s day and support the Beach Flats Community Center at this bilingual cultural event featuring a concert by local family favorites Zun Zun and the Raices de Santa Cruz Baile Folklorico Dancers.
The event will also feature a unique bilingual and multicultural book sale brought to us by Hicklebee's Bookstore in San Jose and a local distributor of Barefoot Books. Latin American food will be provided by families from the community center.
The program:
Books and Food for Sale 1-5 pm
Baile Folklorico Dancers 2:00
Concert by Zun Zun 2:30
The Importance of the Center:
Because of Santa Cruz City budget cuts, the community center lost all of its funding and city sponsorship. The Center needs to raise $150,000 by June to stay open The Center is the hub of the community-- working to meet the residents’ ever-changing needs and to provide a safe, nurturing place for hundreds of neighborhood children. In cooperation with Nueva Vista Apartments, BFCC houses a parent participation pre-school and provides academic support for children grades K-12 through IMAGINE, an afterschool tutoring program in collaboration with the Boys and Girls Club. Children are offered enrichment opportunities like the BFCC’s accomplished Mexican folkloric dance troupe, Barrios Unidos’ Kid’s Club, and Family Fridays during the summer. Additionally, the Center has presented adult education and support groups and facilitates valued social services such as free nursing care in conjunction with San Jose State University, a much- treasured community garden, and a pilot Community Supported Agriculture program to distribute organic produce. The neighborhood has been beautified and maintained through the Center’s sponsoring of periodic neighborhood cleanups and the planting of over 150 trees.
For more information, contact Sheila Carrillo.