Santanero Project

The Santanero Project is currently working on a proposal for a City-funded youth space. As youth who were born and raised in Santa Ana, we have experienced a lack of free, recreational spaces for young people. Most, if not all, of the current youth centers are focused on academics. While these spaces provide very needed resources, the City has made limited investments in recreational centers for young people. We envision a space, employed primarily by young adults, where youth can be themselves and not fear judgment.

They’re in the process of creating a Youth Steering Committee to get youth perspectives as we continue to figure out the logistics of such a space.

Right now, one of their priorities is advocating for the creation of a city-sponsored space for high school-aged youth. They’re in the process of creating a Youth Steering Committee to get youth perspectives as they continue to figure out the logistics of such a space. 

Youth will attend 3 one-hour Zoom sessions in October, November, and December to give us their perspectives on the availability and need for youth spaces in the City. None of the Zoom sessions will be recorded, and their feedback will remain anonymous. We will incorporate their feedback into our proposal to the City. We are especially looking for youth with the following identities: LGBTQ+, systems impacted, low income, racial minorities, houseless and/or in foster care, and youth impacted by mental health.

Any youth interested in our Youth Steering Committee should fill out their google form linked here.

Mercadito el Carrusel

We love supporting the growth both by providing the spaces and administrative support to grow el Mercadito. A partner since the inception, this is an important space for worker cooperatives and entrepreneurs to gathered monthly over the last several years to create a Community Market named El Mercadito Carrusel in Santa Ana. Its goal is to steward a growing base of worker cooperatives and local entrepreneurs, and create shared prosperity for Santa Ana residents in a way that is more equitable than current avenues allow

Cooperativas y emprendedores de la ciudad de Santa Ana, se han reunido a lo largo de los últimos meses para crear un Mercadito Comunitario, El Mercadito Carrusel en la Ciudad de Santa Ana. Nace con la idea de crear una base de cooperativas y pequeños negocios locales, para desarrollar prosperidad entre los residentes de Santa Ana de una manera más Justa.

Vecindario de Lacy en Accion

Data to Improve Community Conditions Shaped by Structural Racism

El Centro is proud to support VeLA in guiding and obtaining new funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. Building on four years of survey data produced through community based participatory action research (CBPAR) project on households in the Lacy neighborhood within the City of Santa Ana, California. This CBPAR project seeks to better understand housing insecurity, displacement and extreme overcrowding in the context of gentrifying neighborhoods, COVID, and recently won rent control. As of 2019, Santa Ana ranked the nineteenth most racially segregated city in the country, while simultaneously nested within the 6th most racially segregated metropolitan region. The CBR project between 2015 and 2018 on Lacy, found extremely high rates of overcrowding that are significantly higher than official estimates and contributed to the community’s organizing and policy push for rent control.

This current proposed study is the first post COVID-19 and post rent control survey and uses mixed methods to capture various forms of displacement impact through 1) outward movement of households, localized gentrification and regional exclusion and 2) forms of extreme spatial concentration within neighborhoods like overcrowding, housing deprivation, and poor housing conditions. By drawing attention to the combination of contrary forms of displacement and housing deprivation, we hope to better understand the scope of housing insecurity and displacement, which has specific implications on affordability standards and anti-displacement measures in Santa Ana. Finally, this research builds with the Mexican, Guatemalan, and El Salvadoran immigrant women who have been the community based researchers and the organizers in this neighborhood, and also activates existing partnerships between several organizations engaged in this work together for almost a decade.