CAUSE Action Fund Raises Funds for Electoral Work

On April 21 at the Cabrillo Pavillon, CAUSE Action Fund (CAF) held its annual Leadership Awards Reception, a fundraiser for its work aimed at electing candidates who will best represent working class families, immigrants, and young people. Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez and CAF’s Grassroots Leaders Juanita Colmenares and Litzy Moreno were honored.

Operating in Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, this nonprofit helps recruit, train, elect, and hold accountable candidates. It is affiliated with the nonprofit CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy). CAF’s priorities are rent stabilization and eviction protections, clean air and water protections, and living wages for farmworkers. 

After a reception hour, where 130 guests mingled and enjoyed live music and Mexican food from El Zarape, guests were seated for the program. Co-Executive Director Hazel Davalos thanked guests who contributed to County Supervisor Joan Hartmann’s victory, keeping the progressive majority on the Council. In that election, CAF did its first-ever voter engagement in Lompoc, the county’s “new political center of gravity,” where CAF plans to continue building relationships.

Turning to this November’s election, Davalos spoke with her typical warmth and conviction, emphasizing the importance of combatting voter fatigue and disillusionment at the national level because of the implications on voter turnout for local elections. 

In Santa Barbara, Davalos noted that, “we are just one vote away from passing rent stabilization,” which she termed, “the most transformative tenants’ rights policy in the city’s history.” For District 1, she announced CAF’s endorsement of Wendy Santamaria, who has worked tirelessly to organize tenants in support of rent stabilization. Davalos noted the devastating effects of gentrification on the Eastside, an historic Latino community.

She shared some of CAF’s recent work, including its Run for Justice training, which develops the skills of candidates running for office in the two counties.  

At the local and state level, CAF takes positions on ballot measures and mobilizes voter support. According to Davalos, “this year’s ballot is filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly.” The so-called Taxpayer Deception Act, funded by the CA Business Roundtable, would require a 2/3rds vote for many taxes, “making it all but impossible” to raise the funds needed for housing, healthcare, and education. “And most sinister of all, it would retroactively overturn existing local measures, threatening over $50 million in current funding for cities and school districts here in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.”

Another initiative CAF is opposing would overturn a law, authored by Senator Monique Limón, that bans oil drilling next to homes and schools. Noting how well financed the big oil interests behind this effort are, she stressed the need to fight back.

CAF supports a proposition to lower the voter threshold for affordable housing bonds from two-thirds to 55 percent, making it significantly easier to get voter approval. CAF is working on putting an affordable housing bond measure on the ballot in Ventura in November, which could raise hundreds of millions of dollars and may serve as a model for Santa Barbara in a future election.

Davalos also referenced CAF’s plans for upcoming elections in Santa Maria and Santa Paula, both of which offer opportunities to flip seats, and its plans for other parts of Ventura County.

CAF Boardmember Dick Flacks presented the award to Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez, whom he lauded for reaching out to people, making them feel recognized and represented, and welcoming grassroots leaders.

CAF Grassroots Leader Juanita Colmenares was honored for her work in Santa Barbara, holding candidates and elected officials accountable as well as canvassing and phone banking. Grassroots Leader Litzy Moreno, a high school senior in Santa Maria, was honored for her organizing work, including for the Toxic Tour, which educated elected officials and others about toxic sites.

Geoff Green led a paddle raise, seeking especially to enlist more Movement Builders, who donate to CAF each month, as he himself has done for the past 14 years.

In closing, Davalos proclaimed that “CAUSE Action will do what we do best — we’ll knock on thousands of doors throughout our region this fall to talk about what’s at stake on this ballot… . We’ll mobilize working-class immigrant neighborhoods to vote and build the next generation of leaders in our communities.”

For more info about CAF, go to https://www.causeactionfund.org/about-us/.