FEATURED GRANTEES

44th Multicultural Festival

The Multicultural Festival (MCF) remains one of the longest-running traditions at UCSC. Each May, more than a dozen student organizations come together to celebrate the diverse cultures represented on campus through cultural performances, community engagement, and the sharing of traditional foods.

Through the support of a Campus Sustainability Council (CSC) grant, we were able to serve more than 500 student and community attendees while incorporating sustainable event practices. Funding allowed us to provide reusable utensils and compostable serving materials, significantly reducing the event's reliance on single-use plastics.

All cups, plates, bowls, and other dinnerware used during the festival were purchased as compostable alternatives. While this may seem like a small change, it helped demonstrate that large-scale events can successfully prioritize sustainability without sacrificing accessibility or attendee experience. By introducing participants to practical alternatives to conventional plastic products, the festival encouraged greater awareness of sustainable consumption and waste reduction practices that can be adopted in future events across campus.

Close-up of multiple beige rectangular boxes with red text that reads 'Influenza Flast'.
Three women smiling and holding small packages labeled 'Multicultural Festival,' sitting behind a table with a stack of white items. The women are outdoors at a festival with a stage, other people, and a tent visible in the background.
A woman with glasses holding a sign that reads 'MultiCultural Festival' outside in a park or outdoor area on a sunny day.
Group of women standing outdoors in a line, wearing purple shirts, smiling, and with arms crossed on a sunny day.
Performers dancing on an outdoor stage decorated with international flags, dressed in colorful traditional Mexican dresses and shirts.

Kresge Garden

The CSC grant has been essential in supporting our organization’s work by allowing us to create a fully functional and accessible garden space for our Spring Internship. With this funding, we were able to provide interns with tools, soil, mulch, and other materials, which not only supported structured garden time but also encouraged interns to independently return to the garden outside of scheduled hours. Many interns have taken initiative to use the space and tools on their own, showing a deeper level of engagement and ownership over the garden.

As a steward, I have also seen how the sharing of knowledge from the internship has extended beyond the garden itself. Interns have brought what they learned into broader campus spaces, contributing to increased attendance and participation in meetings focused on creating a more sustainable campus. The internship has become a point of connection, where students feel more empowered to engage in conversations around sustainability, environmental justice, and institutional change.

CSC funding has supported every aspect of this process, from maintaining the physical space to providing resources that allowed us to advertise the internship and involve more students. This has strengthened our ability to build community, expand participation, and create a space where sustainability is practiced, shared, and carried into other areas of campus life. Overall, the grant has played a critical role in advancing student leadership, community engagement, and sustainability efforts at UC Santa Cruz.

Location:
The Kresge Garden at UCSC is located in the northwest corner of the campus within Kresge College, specifically sandwiched between.

Volunteer Hours: Sundays 10am - 2pm

A large evergreen tree in the background with a clear blue sky. In the foreground, there are small green plants, a garden with a mini greenhouse, and gardening tools.
Two women smiling and posing for a photo under a wooden archway covered with pink and white flowers, holding a gift box and a basket, in a green garden setting.
Group of people walking along a garden path surrounded by lush greenery and trees.
Group of people having a gathering outdoors in a lush green garden, seated around a table with food and drinks, with some standing and a dog nearby.

Food System Working Group

The Food Systems Working Group (FSWG) is a student-led organization that works to bring sustainably-grown food produced by socially-responsible operations to campus dining halls and, through a collaborative process, promote education and awareness of our food system.

This year, the CSC grant funded four different student positions on the FSWG team: the Community Herb Garden Steward, two Real Food Calculator Student Researchers, and a FSWG co-chair.

These students made it possible for our program to engage over 4000 UCSC students in food-systems- and sustainability-related activities. While all of our events, workshops, and publications have sustainability-related content, one of the most important functions of these spaces is simply to introduce new students to the lenses of food sovereignty and environmental justice. CSC funding allows student leads to host these critical conversations in spaces that are designed to be accessible entry points to food and environmental justice work. All of our programs and services are free to students, and often include food or take-home items such as zines, seeds, medicinal salves, and more.

In particular, the Community Herb Garden and Demeter Seed Library are dedicated to preserving and breeding locally adapted cultivars and open-pollinated seed varieties in California’s Central Coast. Through seed saving and seed swapping, making teas and medicines, and hosting weekly garden workdays, the Community Herb Garden Steward practices and teaches practical ways to contribute to sustainability efforts at UCSC.

The Community Herb Garden Steward was also the lead student on the first-ever Raíces y Futuros: Food Justice and Abolition conference. Participants in the conference learned from practitioners and fellow students about strategies to abolish violent systems and create sustainable, community-based solutions.

Two young women in a garden of colorful flowers, wearing hats decorated with flowers, one holding a bouquet and the other with hands clasped, during sunny weather.
A woman speaks at a workshop or conference called 'PACESY FUTUROS' in a wooden hall with an audience listening attentively.
A person wearing a gray cap with a floral wreath around it, standing in a colorful garden with various plants and flowers, on a sunny day with a clear blue sky.
A panel of five people seated at a long table with a pink tablecloth, speaking or listening during an event. Behind them is a large banner that reads 'RACHEL'S SYFU' with colorful floral decorations.

Oakes Community Garden

Those interested in getting involved with Oakes Community Garden can learn how to grow food, compost, and care for plants while getting involved with the Oakes community. We host volunteer hours and garden workshops every Sunday from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm during the academic year, with snacks, hands-on gardening, and the chance to take home herbs, flowers, or veggies. It’s a great way to build skills, meet people, and help make our space even better. Further, if you’d like to be involved in the space outside of the volunteer hours, you may reach out to the stewards via our instagram or email below. We accept any contributions to the garden, that being creative arts, new gardening methods, and any other community ideas, as we only exist as a result of the effort of our school’s community. Additionally as a community space, our doors are open 24/7 and you, or any other community members do not need our permission to go in. So, if you ever need a space to be outside, hang out with friends, or have a small club meeting, you can use the Oakes Garden as your community resource.

The CSC grant helps Oakes Garden’s expand its outreach, improve community engagement, and enhance long-term sustainability. The grant directly funds essential garden upkeep, helping us successfully run a composting system for the Oakes apartments, maintain and repair the garden’s structures, complete general plant care and make the space appealing and comfortable for the Oakes community. The grant has largely supported some larger projects like building an agroforestry area with new fruit and nitrogen-fixing trees, restoring and upgrading our pond’s ecosystem, and launching fall and winter food crop production, using the CSC resources to purchase materials, tools, and plants additionally expanding volunteer involvement and fostering sustainable knowledge within the garden and Oakes.

Location:
Oakes Garden is down the road past Oakes Learning Center, behind Oakes Cafe, overlooking Lower West Field. 

Contacts:
Oaks Stewardship | oakesgar@ucsc.edu
Oaks Garden Supervisors | deljones@ucsc.edu & ellac@ucsc.edu

Two women standing outdoors in a garden, smiling and showcasing plants or roots they've pulled from the soil. The background features trees, gardening tools, and a playground.
Three children planting and tending to a garden in an outdoor area with trees, bushes, and parked cars in the background.
A wooden table holding homemade baked goods, painted signs labeled "French Lavender," "Onions," "Carrots," and "Jalapenos," a potted aloe vera plant, a plastic container of cookies, a glass dish with grilled meat, and an oven mitt.
Two women recycling near a large green compost bin in a wooded outdoor area with trees and a wooden fence.
Map of Oakes College showing the location of the Learning Center, Oakes Garden, and Lower West Field, with pathways and parking areas.