work.notes

I got my start as an organizer in the aftermath of the Watts Rebellion. Much of my life still revolves around applying the lessons I've learned from civil rights, anti-war, environmental, feminist, and LGBTQI+ organizers. I've been a member and leader in many movement and community groups in the Santa Cruz region since the 1970s. These days I assist grass-roots groups and election campaigns with strategic and technical support. My goal is to marshall technology and social engagement on the sides that usually lack the resources of the dominant political forces. In the past, my community work led me to election as City Councilmember and Mayor of Santa Cruz, and I currently (2026) serve as an elected Trustee of the Santa Cruz County Board of Education.

I like to find things out. Some of my recent research has included census data analysis for social service, educational, and racial equity insights; local residential ownership analysis; and of course, voter data analysis, allowing campaigns to identify which voters to contact for the best use of volunteer time and money.

My favorite subject in recent years has been teaching public speaking techniques to local students and youth leaders, including in our county's annual academy for students interested in serving as student trustees on school boards around the county.

I love the puzzle of writing a program that does something useful! These days I focus on shared online systems for group work, along with tools for my own research and data analysis. Some recent stuff:

• the Santa Cruz Community Calendar, now in its tenth year, an automated system for groups to post their events and activities (and which I'd love to promote more, given time)
• a survey service that enables both phone interviews and online self-interviews; used last year to test support for what became Santa Cruz City's successful Measure C in November; currently in use by a large local political group surveying its members about organizational priorities
• voter data systems used in numerous campaigns, providing voter counts for budgeting, door-to-door contact lists, data for mailings, mobile canvassing apps, online petition signer verification and data input
• online supporter contact systems for organizing, tracking and communicating with organizational members, volunteers, and contributors
• code modules that I can link together to render information in many formats including PDFs, automated web pages, spreadsheets, canvassing lists, maps, labels, stickers, QR codes, images, animations, and data files tailored to exact specifications
• I recently achieved a longtime goal of publishing some of my code as open source for others to use. This requires code to pass a battery of reliability tests on dozens of different computers around the world. Passing all tests validates my work and assures that others can use it with confidence. Kinda like getting a peer-reviewed journal article published!

• Technical: Graphic design & layout, editing & proofreading, spreadsheets, shared documents, operating mass text & email services, mapping; I develop software with several languages and coding tools, and enjoy learning more.
• Planning. Goal-based project planning, budgeting & cash flows built on plans. Wisdom from the financial director of a large organization I work with: "Don't plan a budget; budget a plan."
• Practical. I'm good at process completion. Example: Get a mailing out - coordinate data source, writer, designer, graphic artist, print shop, and mail house, with review and approval as needed by the client committee.
• Data Management. I work with data from many sources, and my data tools handle all kinds of data management, cleanup, manipulation, and statistics. I work with small, large, and huge data sets, from cleaning up community group and small business mailing lists to analyzing census and scientific data with millions of records.
• Groups. I enjoy assisting groups clarifying their shared purposes and organizing themselves to achieve their goals. I am often asked to chair/facilitate groups, to help all participants engage in the subject respectfully and constructively.
• Teaching. I've been lucky to have many chances to empower someone with knowledge or skill that I can share or find out for them. I've taught programming, public speaking, meeting facilitation, canvassing & petitioning, woodworking, web design (starting in the '90s!), voter strategies, and organizing methods.
• Leadership. Having held many positions of leadership and trust, lately I've enjoyed supporting other leaders, especially those who are young or emerging from groups taking on community concerns.