Senderos was founded in 2001 by Fe Silva-Robles and Dr. Nereida Robles Vasquez, indigenous Oaxacan sisters, as an after-school dance club named Centeotl Danza y Baile. They are still actively engaged as Senderos leaders and you can read more about them here. They wanted to create a positive cultural anchor for Mexican immigrant youth to build confidence and find pride and connection to their family heritage in the face of racism and pressure for gang involvement and substance abuse. In 2005 they presented the first Vive Oaxaca Guelaguetza, an indigenous cultural festival, which has grown to the largest Guelaguetza in Northern California attracting an audience of 4500 from all over the Central Coast, Bay Area, and beyond. In 2010 the Latino Role Models (LRM) conference was created – a free event presented in Spanish to inspire 500 students and their families to achieve their dreams for college and career. Now co-presented with Cabrillo College and K-12 County school districts, the conference features professional and college student presentations, and keynote speakers such as labor and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, author Reyna Grande, astronaut Jose M. Hernandez.
Plaza Comunitaria was created in 2012 as a center for adult learning and youth homework help, supported financially by the Mexican Consulate-San Jose. With parents’ encouragement, Ensamble Musical, an instrumental music program, was launched in 2014. Soon after, Senderos established a collaboration with Centro de Integración Social #8 (CIS), a public boarding school renowned for their banda de viento (wind band), located in Oaxaca. This collaboration has developed into a special annual transnational exchange that Senderos hosts for 25 CIS student musicians and their teachers for our month of Vive Oaxaca activities. The CIS visit is highly valued by the Senderos community and oaxaqueños throughout California.
¡Adelante Santa Cruz! began in 2015 which provides support and scholarships for selected middle and high school Latinx youth. Senderos also awards college scholarships annually to participating high school seniors. In 2016 we began co-presenting a Día de los Muertos community festival with Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. In 2017 Senderos established a collaboration with the UC Santa Cruz The Humanities Institute and Linguistics Department on a project called Nido de Lenguas (Nest of Languages) to study and share the value of Oaxacan indigenous languages. In 2021 we began collaborating with UC Santa Cruz for the Corre la Voz educational mentoring program serving middle school students.
Senderos maintains a strong affiliation with Santa Cruz City Schools who provides in-kind use of facilities for program activities. We have continued our founders commitment to provide all services free to ensure equitable access to performing arts and education support programs. In a typical year, Senderos partners with many community organizations and schools and performs at 40 events for over 25,000 audience members. 2021 marked the 20th anniversary of Senderos as an all-volunteer organization and in February 2022 we hired our first staff person, Executive Director, Gabriela Cruz to lead us into the future.
