I am very thankful for all of the voters of Santa Cruz who chose a beautiful new, welcoming, and environmentally friendly world class library for the downtown area, along with 124 units of affordable housing. Once again, our community has shown the importance of libraries to all of us in the city and county of Santa Cruz. We are thankful for the way that the community, the supporters of the library, and city hall have worked together to bring this vision of a new library to the next level.
At the same time, I want to reach out to, and also thank, the many folks who voted in favor of measure O. I have had the opportunity to speak with many of you over the past few months, and I know how much you all love the library as well, although you have a different vision of its future. You disagreed with the proposal, you made your case to the voters, and although the proposal will move forward, it is in many ways a better one because of your efforts.
Now is the time for all of us to work together for the good of the library and of our larger community. We are proud to be associated with a strong group of supporters who volunteer, advocate for, and donate to keep the Santa Cruz City and County Libraries the best that they can be. As we move into 2023, I look forward to refocusing our attention on our primary mission, which is supporting the library as it addresses the issues of the day. And the most important of those now is the impact of the pandemic shutdowns on learning and the development of social skills.
Recover and Thrive is a campaign launched by the Friends, through Santa Cruz Gives, to provide the library with additional resources to support students and their families as they recover from the lost learning opportunities during the past two years. The library will use the funds we raise to increase tutors’ hours with the Homework Help and R.E.A.D.` programs, initiate a Reading Readiness outreach, and enhance the 2023 Summer Reading Program.
This is an opportunity for each of us to support our children in the spirit of the season. Santa Cruz Gives is an annual fundraiser on behalf of Santa Cruz County nonprofits sponsored by Good Times and the Volunteer Center. Their motto is “We Give Here Because We Live Here.” Please join me in giving generously to Recover and Thrive. through the Santa Cruz Gives website, at santacruzgives.org/nonprofit/fscpl.
Thanks to all who expressed their passionate feelings over the past few weeks, now let’s come together again and move forward on our new library.
