Rise Together
Santa Cruz County
Photo Credit: SENDEROS
Rise Together is a coalition of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color leaders and a team from Community Foundation Santa Cruz County working collaboratively to advance racial equity in Santa Cruz County.
We acknowledge that the land of Santa Cruz County, where we are working towards racial equality and justice, is the unceded territory of the Awaswas and Mutsun speaking peoples. There are no known survivors from the Awaswas speaking tribes whose territory extends from Aptos to the Pigeon Point Lighthouse . The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band are descendants of the Indigenous peoples taken to missions San Juan Bautista and Santa Cruz. Their traditional territory includes Watsonville to the Elkhorn slough and east to the Diablo range. Today the Amah Mutsun Land Trust is working to restore traditional land stewardship to these lands to ensure the ancestors of both the Awaswas and Mutsun speaking ancestors are honored and never forgotten. All people are asked to support these efforts.
Zapoteco translation by Rise Together Member, Fe Silva-Robles:
Neze'dzu zuadzu yu Santa Cruze'nh, ga'nh shnabdzu yuge'llah yuge'dzu suadzu wenh, gakdzu tuze, lhache' yu'nh ke se'ezande' bene'nh sene' Mutsun nha' Awaswas. Yuge' bene' welalle'nh Amah Mustun Tribal Band besetse'e le'e ga'nh sene' misiones San Juan Bautista nha' Santa Cruz. Nella yuge'e tsu'unhe' byenh yisyizi'e yisyiyune' yu ka' ka'nh dzale' gak lhu'u llinh tse Amah Mutsun Land Trust kwents kwe' yele'txhenlhalle' tantw ba bsa'aktek tsee’.
Our purpose is to build awareness, trust, and investment in the work led by, for, and in support of People of Color in Santa Cruz County. Through our individual and collective stories and efforts, we give voice to our experiences and propel actions and funding that will change existing systems of inequity and build a county where everyone can thrive.