CAUSE Action Fund Honors Community Leaders

Victories for Working Class Families Celebrated

Honoree Isaac Gil, CA Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, Co-Executive Directors Lucas Zucker and Hazel Davalos, Honoree Alexyis Jones, and Donor Relations Manager Stanley Tzankov | Credit: Gail Arnold

On April 19, CAUSE Action Fund (CAF) held its annual Leadership Awards Reception at the Cabrillo Pavillon. The event featured an energizing program highlighting CAUSE Action’s vitally important work advancing the interests of working-class families and immigrants. Honored at the event were City Councilmember Wendy Santamaria, who is a former CAUSE organizer, Carmen Anguiano, Santa Maria youth leader Isaac Gil, and Lompoc youth leader Alexyis Jones.

At the reception, the 150 guests mingled and enjoyed live music and Mexican food from El Zarape and were then seated for the program. Co-Executive Director Lucas Zucker noted the harsh reality facing vulnerable community members, with the intrusion of masked federal agents, the slashing of critical healthcare assistance, and the gutting of environmental protections, but quickly pivoted to the successes attained locally through organizing.

Since the start of the Trump administration, Zucker related, these efforts have led to big housing victories in the City of Santa Barbara, including a rent freeze, a policy framework for a permanent rent stabilization ordinance, stronger eviction protections, and the right of tenants to legal counsel. Significant housing victories were also achieved in Ventura, Oxnard, and Santa Paula.

To aid immigrant families, Zucker shared, CAUSE Action and partners worked to secure millions of dollars from local cities and counties.

On the environmental front, CAUSE Action worked with state agencies to monitor and protect schools from toxic pesticides in Santa Maria and to shut down and clean up Ormond Beach Generating Station, a polluting power plant in Oxnard.

Co-Executive Director Hazel Davalos shared that last year CAUSE Action joined the coalition to pass Prop 50 because of the high stakes involved given the gerrymandering in other states. To gain voter support, CAUSE Action’s team spoke to 6,000 voters.

Not only did Prop 50 decisively pass, Davalos noted, but huge gains were made in local elections in working-class Latino neighborhoods that had swung to the right in 2024. “Trump showed us that working-class communities of color are contested political terrain if we don’t organize, but we showed what happens when we do. Santa Maria swung nine points to the right in 2024, and nine points back to the left in 2025. Oxnard swung seven points to the right in 2024, and 10 points back to the left in 2025.”

Davalos spoke enthusiastically about CAUSE Action’s current work for this June’s primary talking to thousands of voters in support of Ricardo Valencia for County supervisor. A school board member, teacher, and advocate, Valencia is running for the seat held by retiring Supervisor Steve Lavagnino. Davalos noted that nearly half of the county population is Latino, yet there are no Latinos presently on the Board and agricultural and oil interests dominate North County politics. Now more than ever, she emphasized, Latinos need a voice on the Board.

Zucker related how he sees opportunity in the present climate for a new generation of progressive leaders to emerge locally. On May 16, CAUSE Action will be hosting a campaign training session. Run for Justice, Zucker explained, is not just for declared candidates, but for anyone considering running someday. In this one-day program, CAUSE Action will teach the nuts and bolts of campaigning.

Zucker contrasted the relevance of local versus federal government, especially in present times, emphasizing the power of local government “to make life more affordable for working people, to stand up for our immigrant communities, and to protect the health of our people and planet.”

He appealed for donations to fund its voter mobilization efforts this year in the City of Santa Barbara, where the mayoral and three council seats are on the ballot, as well as in key elections in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Ventura, and Santa Paula. The efforts encompass not just local candidates, but important statewide measures as well.

Santa Barbara City Councilmember Wendy Santamaria was honored at the event as a “powerful voice for social and economic justice” according to Zucker. Carmen Anguiano, who accepted the award remotely from Mexico, was honored, especially for her organizing role in the renoviction fight at 215 Bath Street, where she was a tenant. Youth leaders Isaac Gil and Alexyis Jones were honored for their organizing work in Santa Maria and Lompoc, respectively. At age 17, Gil has already done significant grassroots work and his eloquently written and delivered acceptance speech demonstrated his passion to serve and his impressive leadership skills.

Operating in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, the nonprofit CAUSE Action helps recruit, train, elect, and hold accountable candidates. It is affiliated with the nonprofit CAUSE (Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy).

For more info about CAF, go to http://causeactionfund.org/about-us.