On March 30, 2025 Housing Matters will host Picture This: Cultivating Our Compassionate Community, a curated storytelling event that will spotlight unique perspectives on what it means to build, sustain, and celebrate a culture of compassion within the context of resolving homelessness in Santa Cruz County.
Our presenters bring unique perspectives on the themes of equity, shared responsibility and power, and the honesty and bravery required to advance solutions. We recognize and celebrate the capacity for compassion inherent in Santa Cruz County. We are a community fueled by compassion, creative expression, and innovation. Cultivating a compassionate community requires collective dedication to fostering education, uplifting personal narratives from marginalized voices, and bridging social and political divides to enact positive change.
We will inspire audience members to contribute to housing justice for all through compassionate action. In our exploration of our unique, local community, we will reflect on the systems that can be reformed to better serve people who are experiencing homelessness. Audience members will discover their role in creating an environment in which everyone can thrive in stable housing.
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication, it is a powerful tool that allows us to better understand each other’s experiences that shape how we interact and engage in the world around us. This event’s purpose is to gather our compassionate community, listen to stories, and draw on imagination to advance concrete actions that resolve homelessness together.
On March 30, 2025 Housing Matters will host Picture This: Cultivating Our Compassionate Community, a curated storytelling event that will spotlight unique perspectives on what it means to build, sustain, and celebrate a culture of compassion within the context of resolving homelessness in Santa Cruz County.
Our presenters bring unique perspectives on the themes of equity, shared responsibility and power, and the honesty and bravery required to advance solutions. We recognize and celebrate the capacity for compassion inherent in Santa Cruz County. We are a community fueled by compassion, creative expression, and innovation. Cultivating a compassionate community requires collective dedication to fostering education, uplifting personal narratives from marginalized voices, and bridging social and political divides to enact positive change.
We will inspire audience members to contribute to housing justice for all through compassionate action. In our exploration of our unique, local community, we will reflect on the systems that can be reformed to better serve people who are experiencing homelessness. Audience members will discover their role in creating an environment in which everyone can thrive in stable housing.
Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of communication, it is a powerful tool that allows us to better understand each other’s experiences that shape how we interact and engage in the world around us. This event’s purpose is to gather our compassionate community, listen to stories, and draw on imagination to advance concrete actions that resolve homelessness together.
EMCEES
China Clark, Speakers Bureau Member, Housing Matters
Chris Field, Speakers Bureau Member, Housing Matters
PRESENTERS
Bella Bonner, Founder / Executive Director, Black Surf Santa Cruz
Gina Castaneda, Santa Cruz County Deputy Probation Officer
Tenzin Chogkyi, Buddhist teacher and compassion educator
MariaElena De La Garza, CEO, Community Action Board
Edward Estrada, SSVF Program Manager, Housing Matters
Curtis Reliford, Founder of Follow Your Heart Action Network
Heather Rodgers, Public Defender of Santa Cruz County
Effron Veal, Program Coordinator of the Rising Scholars program at Cabrillo College
MUSIC Anthony Steinberg, Direct Services Coordinator, Housing Matters