Ways to Build Community

-Turn off your tv/computer
-know your neighbors
-look up when you are walking
-greet people
-sit on your stoop
-plant flowers
-use your library
-play together
-buy from local merchants
-share what you have
-help a lost dog
-take children to the park
-garden together
-support neighborhood schools
-fix it even if you didn’t break it
-have potlucks
-honor elders
-pick up litter
-read stories aloud
-dance in the street
-talk to the mail carrier
-listen to the birds
-put up a swing
-help carry something heavy
-barter for your goods
-start a tradition
-ask a question
-hire young people for odd jobs
-organize a block party
-bake extra and share
-ask for help when you need it
-open your shades
-sing together
-share your skills
-take back the night
-turn up the music
-listen before you react in anger
-mediate a conflict
-seek to understand
-learn from new and uncomfortable angles
-know that no one is silent though many are not heard- work to change this

Zami! Co-op has two open spaces!

Please see the “About Us” entry below for details and contact information.

About Us!

Zami! House

Zami! House (aka the Zam aka Zamtown) is a housing cooperative on Laurel St. in Santa Cruz, CA, with 15 to 25 members. We stand for social justice, radical politics, alternative lifestyles and maintaining a safer space and an autonomous zone.

Zami! Strives to be a safe space. We do not accept white supremacism, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-semitism, transphobia, sexism, ableism, misogyny, or any other oppressive shit in language, action, dress or lyrics. We are here to create an autonomous space free of oppression and fear.

We celebrate diversity, reclaimed sexualities, cultural awareness, consent culture, bodies (of all shapes, sizes, colors and abilities), art & reclamation of public spaces, sexual autonomy, critical discourse & discovery, and an awareness of one’s own privilege!

Santa Cruz Student Housing Cooperative

SCSHC is a 501(c)3 non-profit cooperative. This cooperative is composed of two houses, Zami! House and Cesar Chavez House (another house like Zami! in Santa Cruz.) SCSHC is governed by a board or directors, all of whom are members of Zami! or Chavez. The board plans educational events, puts together a yearly budget, and facilitates cooperation between the houses at biweekly board meetings.

NASCO Properties

NP is a 501(c)2 land trust that holds properties. There are currently 8 coops, very much like SCSHC that are members of NP. NP is a subsidiary of NASCO Education, which in turn is subdivision of the more nebulus NASCO Family. NASCO Properties is composed of its member co-ops, is governed by a board of directors (the majority of whom live at member co-ops), and is supported by hired staff headquartered in Chicago. The co-ops are rad, the board members awesome, and the staff are pretty much co-op gods. The board meets via teleconference fairly frequently and face to face at least three times a year, once at NASCO Institute and twice at member cooperatives.

NASCO Institue is an event that NASCO Education holds one a year in Ann Arbor Michigan. It is a weekend of parties, educational panels and workgroups, and NASCO events (including a NP board meeting.) It takes place during September every year and all SCSHC members are encouraged to attend.

The current NP properties are:

• Sasona in Austin Texas
• Qumbya in Chicago Illinois
• ACME in Athens Ohio
• SCSHC in Santa Cruz California
• COUCH in Urbana Illinois
• Nickel City in Buffalo New York
• Fletcher Collective and Kalamazoo Collective Housing in Kalamazoo Michigan
• Boulder Housing Coalition in Boulder Colorado

.

We host a wide variety of shows from hardcore, thrash, and punk, to pop-punk, folk, indie and spoken word. Frequency is dependent upon the weather and other events scheduled (free-skool classes, finals/midterms for the students,and dance parties).

If you’re interested in having a venue for your show just give us a call. It’s preferable if you’ve already got a line-up and will make it more likely that you’ll actually get to play. If you are a lone band on tour or just can’t find some peeps to play with give us a shout anyway, maybe we can help you pull something together.

If you’re interested in LIVING at Zami!, we would love to have you! We require that you come to two house meetings and two house dinners (meetings sundays at 7pm, dinners everyday except saturday at 7). We also require that you complete an interview which involves you and three housemates asking a set list of questions so that we can get a feel for who you are and where you’re at. Here are just some of the perks of living at zami:

+2 dozen sexy housemates
+Countless Friends of Zami!
-Vegan Meals 6 Nights a week
-Graduate level Star Wars discussions
-More queers than you can shake a stick at
-5 Blocks from downtown Santa Cruz
-Across the street from a 15/16 bus stop
-Lovable (if shade-challenged :[ ) garden + compost
-Lots of Common spaces
-Cheap Rent!
-A Common Computer
-Utilities and Food purchased cooperatively

Contact:

Zamtown@gmail.com