Santa Cruz Student Housing Co-ops

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The Santa Cruz Student Housing Co-operative (SCSHC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit that helps to manage two housing cooperatives in Santa Cruz, California. The Cesar Chavez House is on Main Street, and the Zami House is on Laurel Street.

Contents

[edit] History

SCSHC was founded in 1991-92, when a group of UCSC students involved in anti-Gulf War activism rented a house together on Bixby Street in Santa Cruz.[citation needed] This eventually led to the purchase of the Main Street house by NASCO Properties. Additionally, prior to the purchase on Laurel Street, SCSHC leased the Epworth House on Santa Cruz's famous West Cliff Drive.[citation needed]

Zami House from Laurel Street
Zami House from Laurel Street

The properties are leased from NASCO Properties, which is a 501(c)(2) title-holding corporation for North American Students of Cooperation (NASCO).

[edit] Organization

Each of the houses maintains a degree of autonomy from SCSHC, to which they pay rent. Weekly meetings are held in each house[1], where the decisions which guide the members of the co-op in their actions are made. The process to make decisions used in both houses is consensus decision-making.[citation needed] Each house has representatives on the SCSHC board. A yearly meeting of the membership of both houses uses voting to elect executive members of the board, including:

  • President
  • Vice-president (traditionally the representative to NASCO)[citation needed]
  • Secretary
  • Treasurer
  • Education (this position has a vital role in spending the education budget, fulfilling the 501(c)(3) criteria)[citation needed]
A full membership meeting in the Zami courtyard
A full membership meeting in the Zami courtyard

Cesar Chavez house (popularly known as "Chavez") currently has 22 residents and 2 boarders.[citation needed] Zami's population is around 21.[citation needed] These numbers reflect the numbers of renting members. At each house, the possibility of boarding exists, whereby a member of the house resides elsewhere (often in a car on the street) and participates fully in the house otherwise.[citation needed] The co-ops both operate a co-ordinator scheme, whereby members of the house are elected (again, an extraordinary meeting is held where voting is used) to co-ordinator positions. The UCSC quarter scheme is used at Zami with co-ordinators serving one quarter, although being a student is not necessary for participation in SCSHC.[citation needed] Chavez elects coordinators until they stand down (some positions have conventional terms, for example the finance coordinator lasts for two quarters).[citation needed] The responsibilities and titles are listed below:

  • Kitchen Coordinator - organizes shoppers to buy food, and coordinates bulk orders, ensures a certain level of "sanitation"
  • Finance Coordinator - ensures rent is paid to SCSHC, conducts general financial operations
  • Workshift/Loveshift Coordinator - organizes all members of the house in their weekly chores as well as work holidays
  • Garden Coordinator - (Attempts to) Maintain the garden and other plants on the property
  • Membership Coordinator - ensures the house has a full quota of renting members
  • Maintenance Coordinator - organizes external contractors to fix things, unless they can fix it themselves
  • House Rep - represents the house's interest to the SCSHC board meeting, coordinated external house relations with NASCO and other parties

Workshifts (known euphemistically as 'loveshifts' at Chavez[2]) are a major part of co-op living. Between 5-7 hours are spent weekly by each house member on tasks that contribute to the running of the house.[citation needed] For instance, 3 workshift hours per week is the assessed contribution made by cooking dinner for the entire house by a pair of house members (6 hours split between two cooks).

[edit] House activities

House activities vary widely. Some are included below[citation needed]:

  • House shows - the co-ops scene are major institutions in the alternative culture of Santa Cruz. Regular house shows reinforce this position.
    A Chavez party in full swing
    A Chavez party in full swing
  • Studying - various members of both houses are students at Cabrillo College, UCSC, and various other institutions
  • Cooking - each house supports nightly, communal, vegan or vegan with vegetarian option dinners
  • Education - house members must contribute to the education of the general community or themselves. This is distinct from studying, and takes place for the continuing 501(c)(3) status of SCSHC. To meet this guideline, the Chavez Co-op often hosts Free Skool Santa Cruz classes.[3]
  • Community Radio - Zami houses FRSC [4] in its basement. Actual radio transmission is made from a secret location off-property, so no FCC violation is made on the property.
  • Food Not Bombs - Chavez currently hosts Food Not Bombs every Wednesday, and serves at the Santa Cruz Farmer's Market around 4pm the same day[5]
  • Assassin - an event/game that often brings the two houses together
  • Housecest - when house members hook up with each other, often causing problems
  • Toast - the cult1 of toast inhabits both houses.[citation needed]
  • Dumpster diving - resourcefulness and recycling are greatly valued within both houses.
  • Indymedia - house members contribute to Santa Cruz IMC, the local hub of the global IMC network, and Zami!'s public skillshares are announced on the website

[edit] Policies

SCSHC continually strives to be explicitly and actively lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, transgender-, queer-, intersex-, and allied-person-friendly, anti-racist, anti-sexist, feminist, inclusive and non-partisan. The houses are in charge of their own activities for enforcing this policy. The houses manage to maintain a fairly even balance between the sexes.[citation needed]


[edit] Principles

The principles of the Santa Cruz Housing Co-ops are adopted and adjusted from the Bermuda House Living Collective, Spring 1975.[citation needed]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chavez Co-op Weekly Meetings
  2. ^ Chavez Loveshifts
  3. ^ Free Skool Santa Cruz
  4. ^ Freak Radio
  5. ^ Food Not Bombs

[edit] Footnotes

Note 1: The Toast Bible