About Us
About Our Roots/Our Routes
Living Histories of Belonging and Cultural Sustainability on California's Central Coast
Our Roots/Our Routes is an initiative born out of passion and commitment to bring forward the untold stories of the Central Coast’s Indigenous, immigrant, and ethnic communities.
The project aims not only to preserve the past but to illuminate the living experiences of communities that continuously shape the cultural landscape of our region.
Anchored in a commitment to the self-defined needs and interests of participants, Our Roots/Our Routes highlights the stories of cultural survival, resilience, adaptation, resourcefulness and innovation that undergird people’s patterns of being and belonging here. It is a project that celebrates the roots and heritage that inform people’s sense of their history as much as it illuminates the routes by which they have entered the Central Coast—how they adapt and create their lives here, how they build community, and how they reshape the world around them in the process.
Our Mission
To support and strengthen diverse Indigenous, immigrant, and ethnic communities in sharing their living (hi)stories on the Central Coast.
Our Vision
To create a greater sense of place-based belonging, representation, and connection among all Central Coast communities.
Our Approach
As custodians of community stories, we collaborate with program participants on their terms, to share their stories in ways that serve them, and that ultimately contribute to a richer sense of belonging and understanding of the past, present, and future of the Central Coast for all of us.
We use a range of methods–including oral history interviews, photography, and film–to document the rich cultural lives of Central Coast communities. Whatever the form, the driving force behind our process remains the same: We are committed to a process of documentation and archiving that is anchored in the needs, interests, and desires of the community members who share their stories with us.
Who We Are
