Women’s Financial Security, Food, and Health Community focused
Community Bridges
Daisy Miranda – WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Intern
Community Bridges (CB) envisions a thriving community in which everyone has the opportunity to unleash their full potential. CB’s family of ten programs delivers essential services, provides equitable access to resources, and advocates for health and dignity across every stage of life.
Daisy supported CB’s Women, Infants, and Children’s (WIC) Program through a range of activities, including program promotion and community outreach, breastfeeding support and education at community venues, and food recipe development, cooking demonstrations, and educational workshops at farmers markets.
Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley
Mayte Flores Ortega – Financial Security, Food, and Health Intern
The majority of health and wellness takes place outside the doctor’s office. At the Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley (CHT), we embrace a comprehensive definition of wellness that includes the equitable pursuit of activities, choices, and lifestyles that emphasize disease prevention and mitigation. We envision an equitable Pajaro Valley with health, wellness, and a full quality of life for all.
Mayte was an ideal fit for an internship with the Community Health Trust of Pajaro Valley (CHT). Seeking to eliminate health disparities among low-income individuals and families in Pajaro Valley, CHT advances health equity through its leadership in advocacy, collaboration, and wellness. As CHT’s Financial Security, Food, and Health Community Intern, Mayte collected stories (e.g., conducted interviews), data, photographs, video, and other information and assets to demonstrate the impact of CHT’s programs and services on Pajaro Valley low-income individuals and families, particularly low-income women and children.
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Santa Cruz Community Health
Daneidy Mazariegos Cifuentes – Prenatal and Outreach Services Intern
Santa Cruz Community Health (SCCH) is a federally qualified health center serving low-income people, with three primary care clinics in Santa Cruz County. Their mission is to improve the health of their “patients and the community and advocate the feminist goals of social, political, and economic equality”. Driven by a commitment to health care as a human right, SCCH provides high-quality, affordable, comprehensive health care to all ages, gender identities, ethnicities, abilities and sexual orientations, regardless of ability to pay.
Daneidy worked with SCCH’s Outreach and Enrollment Program, which assists low-income women with enrolling in services such as Medi-Cal and also runs a food distribution program. Daneidy also assisted with other SCCH programs, including the launch of a new medical abortion service. Daneidy enrolled mothers in Medi-Cal, Covered California, and CalFresh, providing guidance with insurance applications and related questions, legal referrals, immigration aid, housing assistance, and access to other social services such as food distribution programs.

Second Harvest Food Bank
Kei Gallegos Estrada – Family Health and Wellness Intern
Founded in 1972, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County was the first organization of its kind in California and is the second oldest food bank in the United States. Sixty-five thousand Santa Cruz County residents rely on the food bank for food and access to related services. Serving this many clients is no small feat. On a regular basis, nearly 2,000 volunteers recruit, organize, schedule, and carry out food distribution efforts throughout the County.
As an intern, Kei eagerly strengthened Second Harvest’s programming with the Women, Infants and Children’s Program (WIC). Working out of a food distribution site at one of WIC’s locations, Kei and the Second Harvest team organized and led inclusive, generative, nutritious cooking demonstrations with mothers and expectant mothers that incorporated fruits and vegetables being distributed by the food bank. To further advance mothers and pregnant women’s nutrition, health, and financial security, Kei assisted with applications for CalFresh, WIC, and other services. Kei received training and on-going support from SHFB staff, and worked closely with the Wellness and Nutrition Director and the Nutrition Education team. Kei also interviewed women program participants about their experiences related to food insecurity, health, economic stability, and Second Harvest’s programs.

Video coming in January 2025
CEJA Community-Engaged focused
Davenport Resource Service Center
Lyza Chavez – Immigration Services Intern
The Community Action Board (CAB) oversees multiple anti-poverty programs across Santa Cruz County. CAB programs provide services, assistance, and training to approximately 11,000 low-income county residents annually, in areas including housing, employment, immigration, and emergency assistance.
Working with the program director, Lyza helped the Davenport Resource Service Center’s Immigration Legal Services department, which provides low-cost legal assistance for eligible low-income individuals and families on the North Coast of Santa Cruz County. Lyza supported this program by screening clients, filling out immigration forms, and advocating for immigrants in our community who need legal information and referrals.
Homeless Garden Project
Halle Bohlig – Summer Growing the Table Program Intern
The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) is a Santa Cruz-based nonprofit organization that provides job training, transitional employment and support services to individuals experiencing homelessness, with the goal of securing stable housing and employment for program participants. In recent years, HGP graduates have demonstrated a 90% success rate on average. HGP operates a 3.5-acre farm, a robust volunteer program and a value-added enterprise that manufactures and sells an assortment of products including bath & body, food & beverage, candles, wreaths, and more. Our transitional employment program takes place on our organic farm and in two related enterprises–the farm enterprises and our Value-Added Enterprise (VAE). Trainees “add value” to farm materials by producing over 40 products. We aim to operate well-run enterprises that give our trainees opportunities to master job skills, and a place for the community to challenge assumptions about homelessness and to support our work and the people we serve.
Halle focused on HGP’s Value-Added Enterprise production, particularly on-farm production of materials used in products. The enterprise starts with seed, progresses through planting, tending plants, harvest, workshop production and sales.

Video coming in January 2025.
Davenport Resource Service Center
Areli Lopez – Food and Family Advocate Intern
The Food and Family Service Advocate will support a variety of programs at the Davenport Resource Service Center (DRSC), a CAB program providing emergency and poverty prevention services to low-income families on the North Coast of Santa Cruz County. This includes weekly food distributions, our Summer Lunch program for youth, and outreach and education efforts, which focus on financial education, emergency preparedness, and COVID-19 safety.
As the Food and Family Advocate Intern, Areli worked with DRSC’s staff to support the operation of these essential services, including set up and break down for community events and distributions, and various forms of outreach through call, text, flyers and other platforms as identified.
