On December 7, 2023, the Center for Labor and Community (CLC) held a reception to commemorate the official launch of this exciting new hub for labor-related research and activism at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Over sixty participants crowded the third-floor salon of the UCSC Institute of the Arts and Sciences on a chilly evening, to meet the CLC staff and affiliated faculty, and to learn more about the current and future programming of the center.
The participants included local union leaders and activists, representatives of non-profit organizations operating in Santa Cruz County, and UCSC students and faculty from a wide range of departments and research institutions.
The event began with a welcoming address from Katharyne Mitchell, Dean of the UCSC Social Sciences Division, who conveyed her enthusiasm about the birth of this new center in a moment of increased interest in unions and labor rights. Following Dean Mitchell, the CLC Faculty Director and Interim Faculty Director, Steven McKay and Miriam Greenberg, detailed how the CLC was able to take advantage of a unique funding opportunity provided by the State of California under its 2022 budget to strengthen labor studies and applied labor research at UC campuses across the state.
McKay and Greenberg then explained how the CLC, which is a product of earlier labor studies initiatives at the UCSC, is now using this funding to conduct original research on young workers in the Central Coast region, to strengthen local unions both on and off the UCSC campus, and to introduce UCSC students to the labor movement through an innovative summer internship program.
The event closed with a specific recognition of the CLC by California State Senator John Laird and State Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin, and celebratory greetings from the Executive Director of the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, Cesar Lara.
