Located within the Tannery Digital Media and Creative Arts Center, the Tannery World Dance & Cultural Center is a nonprofit organization that provides support dancers from all over the world and helps raise awareness and appreciation for dance and performing arts. The center also provides dance lessons for boys and girls in Santa Cruz County, including ballet, modern, hip-hop and dance traditions from around the world. Besides classes, the center hosts performances, workshops and other cultural events.
Nuevo Dia is a day care center run in the Beach Flats neighborhood by the Community Bridges program. It provides low-income families with low-cost child care at sliding-scale fees. The program is predominantly Spanish-speaking. The center maintains a student-to-teacher ratio of 8:1.
Moms Offering Moms Support (M.O.M.S.) is a community organization based on River Street in Santa Cruz. M.O.M.S. is a community of women, children and their families who help and support each other through pregnancy, birth and parenthood. The group meets to discuss the joys, sorrows, trials and triumphs of being a mother, and the organization offers a safe place for women to give and receive support, learn, grow and develop connections with other mothers in the community. Current offerings include a Prenatal Support Circle and a Moms' Support Circle. Check the main site for details on support programs or on meeting schedules and events.
The Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium was built in 1939 and dedicated in 1940. The entrance's brick walkway is flanked by granite columns. The auditorium is a regular venue for large Santa Cruz events, including the Cabrillo Music Festival and bouts by the Santa Cruz Derby Girls. Luminaries who have spoken or performed at the Civic Auditorium include the Dalai Lama, Bob Dylan and Ray Charles.
At the beginning of 2010, Veterans Services relocated from its former location downtown in the historic Veterans Hall to the Emeline Avenue complex. Veterans services brings a mobile medical unit to the parking lot every Wednesday. In addition, a van makes trips regularly from Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley to the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Veterans must call ahead to make an appointment to speak with a Veterans Services employee. The mobile medical unit takes walk-ins.
The Friends of the Santa Cruz Public Libraries (FSCPL) is a nonprofit organization that supports the local public libraries and the book mobile. The organization offers programs, services and media to all the Santa Cruz Public Library branches. It additionally holds a big book sale twice annually at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.
The Walnut Avenue Women's Center, formerly known as the YWCA, offers a variety of programs for women and children.Their mission is to "improve the economic, physical, and emotional well being of all families in Santa Cruz County."The center offers a variety of programs ranging from adult literacy classes to support groups for youth.
Every June, the nonprofit hosts its Strawberry Festival, a celebration of the fruit that involves fun and games for all ages.In the fall, school supplies are provided for low-income families.
The center runs a 24-hour crisis hotline for women. It can be reached at 866-2-MY-ALLY.
Senior Network Services was established to help seniors and people with disabilities find support services. The organization prints a directory of resources based in Santa Cruz. The directory's contents are also available on the Senior Network Services website. Listings include community centers, employment programs, health support, housing and more.
Santa Cruz Elks Lodge offers a place for Elks members to gather. It works closely with the community through special programs, sponsorships, fundraisers and special events. The location hosts weekly bingo games and dinners, as well as birthday nights and community events. A calendar of local events is available at the website listed.
Resource Center for Nonviolence is a non-profit organization serving for the proliferation of peace and social justice. It offers educational programs and resources in nonviolence theory and history, methodology and current practice of nonviolence. The internationally recognized organization has interns from as diverse locations as Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Save Our Shores was formed in the late 1970s to combat the placement of offshore oil rigs along the Central Coast. The group of volunteers works tirelessly to protect and preserve the coastline of Central California. It also coordinates annual beach cleanups that draw thousands of volunteers.
Rising International is dedicated to promoting ownership of craft-based businesses by women in impoverished areas of developed and developing nations. The organization focuses on women in high-risk areas such as refugees, homeless women, those with HIV/AIDs and former slaves in former war-torn regions.
Seven Directions is located in the Old Sash Mill complex off River Street near Highway 1 and offers art classes for children and adults. The studio is filled with student art projects in progress. A Lego city sits next to a human skeleton and adjacent to an area called "Bird Zone," a colorful bird habitat.
Children's classes are available for toddlers through teenagers. Classes include painting, drawing, photography and film. Animation and claymation are popular classes at the school. Children - and adults - can celebrate birthdays with an "ArtParty" at the institute. Spring and summer camps are also offered.
The Child Development Resource Center offers free referrals for child care programs all across Santa Cruz County. The switchboard provides information on free and low-cost care, day care licensing information, and descriptions of local programs. The center also offers classes and workshops for child care providers and families on early literacy, guidance and discipline, health and safety, business practices and infant and toddler development. The office is located on the second floor of the Santa Cruz Office of Education.
Ecology Action is an environmental consultancy that provides educational programming throughout the Santa Cruz area. The programs are designated for individuals, businesses and schools and relate to climate, community, pollution prevention and energy efficiency. This nonprofit organization also offers bike programming and recycling services.
For more than 25 years, the St. Francis Soup Kitchen has served meals to the homeless and hungry of Santa Cruz. The kitchen is located off River Street near the Old Sash Mill and feeds 190 people on a daily basis. The premises also offer showers, which are open two hours a day. An outdoor patio offers a bike parking area. A row of benches lines one wall of the patio.