Culture C.O.-O.P. and United in Unity to hold Cupcakes for Equality event
America was founded on the principles of freedom and equality. However, despite this banner of equality and justice Americans aim to uphold, there are deep inequalities rooted in many of America’s institutions. The Culture C.O.-O.P. and its sister non-profit organization, United in Unity, are working to promote equal rights for all with their event Cupcakes for Equality.
Cupcakes for Equality is set to take place this Saturday at Let Them Eat Cake from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Cupcakes will be sold for $1 and customers can enter their cupcakes in the baking contest (there is a 12 cupcake minimum) for $10. The proceeds will go to the Culture C.O.-O.P. and United in Unity.
Sandy Holman, the director of the Culture C.O.-O.P. and United in Unity, explained the mission of the organizations and the reasoning behind those goals.
“They both focus on promoting respect for equity, diversity, cultural competency, literacy and a quality education for all,” Holman said. “The reason we have that mission statement is because we think that is the core foundation of concepts that help people survive and thrive, regardless of what their disciplines are.”
The C.O.-O.P. and United in Unity aim to spread these goals via educational forums, presentations, equity trainings and different nonprofit community events.
Isaiah Jurado, a senior English and communications double major and a member of the PR and marketing team for United in Unity, is the head of the event. He explained why the work was worthwhile and his favorite part of the job: working at schools.
“When you show up at a school assembly and see the kids so excited, it really pays off,” Jurado said. “The fundraising isn’t the most exciting thing for any intern, but when you see the kids really enjoying it and really enthused about the assemblies, it [makes it really worthwhile].
For Charity Peets, the co-leader of the event marketing team and the head blogger for the editing and writing team at The Culture C.O.-O.P., an important aspect of the work they do is the cross-cultural exchange that occurs, even just between the diverse group of interns.
“With cross-cultural exchange it is important to be around other cultures and comfort and interact with one another, learning about people of different backgrounds,” Peets said.
Holman hopes to spread the word about what the The Culture C.O.-O.P. and United in Unity have to offer those living in Yolo County.
“This work is hard. It’s challenging to do and it’s not always appreciated either. It’s a low priority to many until there’s an incident, a hate crime, or something like that. We [as a society] are always reactive, never proactive unfortunately,” Holman said.
Jurado explained that he really wants Cupcakes for Equality to be a community event for people to come together and have fun.
“We do want to promote ourselves and get our message out, but I think more so, more importantly, is to just have a great community event. We have all kinds of different people [willing to support our cause],” Jurado said.
More information can be found on the event Facebook page and at the Culture C.O.-O.P. website.
