COC brings back Non-Profit Community Resource Fair
More than 25 nonprofits from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley gathered at College of the Canyons’ honor grove, in front of the college’s Intercultural Center, for the Non-Profit Community Resource Fair on Tuesday.
In a collaboration with the COC Center for Civic and Community Engagement and COC’s Golden Z Club, students on campus could learn about the programs in the valley that help provide resources for the community.
Golden Z clubs, which are formed on college campuses through Zonta International, focus on providing young “people in [the] community with the tools, information and guidance they need to impact the world around them,” according to a pamphlet passed out during the event.
Tara Takhar, a first-year member of the Golden Z Club, discussed the club’s incentive, as well as structuring the tables with one of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
“Through Golden Z, we outreach to women and children, and we get the support that they need and everything else. We do this every year. We bring all the nonprofits in, set up their booths and we connect them to the 17 sustainable goals of the U.N.,” Takhar said. “We took the nonprofits that are already existing in the Santa Clarita area, and we’ve asked them to pick which one of these 17 goals their cause resonates with.”
Among the goals included are: “no poverty,” “zero hunger,” “gender equality,” “affordable and clean energy” and “peace, justice and strong institutions.”
According to Takhar, the most prevalent of the goals among the nonprofits are “good health and well-being” and “quality education.”
“The support [today] has been amazing, the response from people has all been positive. In my experience, everyone’s been very friendly and super interested in what we all have to offer,” Takhar said.
Among the booths was the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk table, with employee Rebecca Evangelista seeking out election workers for the upcoming election.
Evangelista discussed the overall positive response in conversations with students.
“Some people are interested, some don’t have time. But it’s nice to be out here and spread awareness to students and young voters, especially since now a lot of people are now registered to vote,” Evangelista said. “We encourage a lot of people to go out there and vote at the same time. Help us with our democracy.”