Week One of the 2025 Encampment

In the first few days of the 2025 Encampment, young people from across the country got to know each other through an interactive project they create together: the “River of Life,” where each young person draws, paints, or collages the significant events in their lives and shares with the group. This activity and forming the community agreements together begins the journey of this year’s summer program. Some community agreements shown in photo.

Program Director Jesus Salcido said, “After a few days of getting to know each other, it was time to dive into the communities we will be learning about and working with. On July 3, they met with local educators and community organizers in Oxnard and Santa Barbara who are actively engaged in issues of education equity, cultural preservation, and youth empowerment. By visiting sites like Lab805 and Ortega Park, Encampers witnessed grassroots efforts to reclaim public space, celebrate cultural identity, and challenge injustices carried out by both local and federal actors. These interactions help youth understand how local activism is deeply connected to the themes we will be exploring, and provide models for how they can take action in their own communities.”

Brother facilitators Marcus and Casmali Lopez led the group on a nature walk that included seeing traditional Chumash dwellings. Click for Encamper Noah drawing one and speaking about his experience. Casmali shared his knowledge of local plants, including sage, which has a sacred importance and is also a fire deterrent in this arid environment. Click for Encamper Myijade smelling sage for the first time. Click to hear Encamper Nicolas telling what he was learning in this field trip. Marcus and Casmali shared songs that are meaningful to the Chumash people, who are indigenous to this region. Click to hear one.

In the afternoon, they met with community organizer Andi Garcia, who is part of the community effort to protect Ortega Park for local people’s use. She described their persistence in continuing to negotiate with the city to keep it accessible and safe. They continue to do consistent outreach to make sure folks living around the park are involved and still have access. Click for a short clip of Ms. Garcia talking about some different forms of activism, including painting murals. The mural she refers to — “The Statue of Liberty’s Silent Protest,” by Dutch street artist Judith de Leeuw — can be found here: https://hyperallergic.com/1026078/judith-de-leeuw-massive-ashamed-statue-of-liberty-mural-emerges-in-france/.

Later that day, the group met with community organizers in Oxnard who are working to protect people from ICE raids.

“Ortega Park was a good example of persistence and collaboration. They consulted with everyone in the immediate community that Ortega Park serves. It was inspiring to see how the people worked together. Before I didn’t really understand what ICE is and, now, I do.” – Augusto, Encamper

“It was very helpful for me because I didn’t understand before what really goes into community organizing. I really appreciated their fearlessness. Each and every person making up VC Defensa is so strong and they inspire me to do better back home.” – Krissy, Encamper

That evening, the Encampers participated in Aztec dancing with a local group.

“The Aztec dancing was really powerful. Although I physically couldn’t participate much, I enjoyed the music and watching everyone dance. The message of dancing to the East (representing the sun), West (representing Mother Earth), South (representing youth), and North (representing elders) was really beautiful to witness, as well as the cultural preservation we got to see across generations, especially considering that a lot of people these days do not make an effort to learn about their culture. I think that it’s very powerful and inspiring that they’ve kept this practice alive.” – Braeden, Encamper

The Encampers spent July 4 exploring this year’s theme, “Justice Knows No Borders.” Education Director Jane Sapp led the group in a series of questions to draw out their descriptions of what justice is and what borders are. The group agreed that there are many different kinds of borders: interpersonal, national, emotional, political, etc. They ended the day with a cookout dinner.

Program Director Jesus Salcido talked about the next day: “We stepped outside campus and immersed ourselves in the vibrant culture and daily life of the Oxnard community. By attending the Oxnard College Swap Meet, we experienced a rich mix of local traditions, food, music, and commerce — all rooted in the lives of Latino, farmworker, and Mexican Indigenous communities. This outing helped us ground our understanding of immigration, labor, and cultural resilience in real places and faces, while practicing our deep observation skills.”

The Encampers participated in the community swap meet, purchasing fruits, snacks, jewelry, toys, and goods from local vendors. During a discussion after, the interns who had been at the Encampment previously noted that there were about half as many people at the swap meet as in earlier years.

“A lot of [local] people couldn’t go because of what’s happening in the area [referring to ICE raids]. – Giovani

“Every time there’s a festival at my church, we have similar stands. It reminds me of home in that way. I see that the size being diminished is a prime example of the ICE issue and its impact on immigrant communities. There was still music playing, people buying flowers for their partners, children buying ice cream. It showed me a sense of community even if I didn’t belong to that community.” – Annie

“The swap meet reminded me of my home in Brazil because we have a lot of flea markets. The vendors seemed a little scared.” – Augusto

“It makes me wonder if the swap meets in my area are also having many fewer people attend because of the ICE raids.” – Leo

Later that day, the Encampers joined the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE) on a tour to some of the toxic sites in Ventura, including the Port of Hueneme, Ormond Beach Generating Station, New Indy Containerboard Factory, Wastewater Facility, and Halaco Superfund Site. They were led by Odette Moran Lopez (pictured) and several youth leaders from the community who shared their experiences resisting against the sites that harm their community. Participants talked about the natural beauty of the area and the visible (and invisible) pollution that impacts the land, people and wildlife. Click for some of the Encamper reflections on the tour.

While today, we close out our first-week post, the Encampers embarked on a three-day “deep-dive” into immigration. Today’s session asked: What is immigration? Why does it matter?

The objectives

Connect immigration to personal stories and family histories.
Build shared vocabulary about immigration, migration, and displacement.
Begin to link present-day immigration dynamics to deeper histories (colonization, borders, labor).

Click for an excerpt from the Encampers’ creative responses to this session. We will continue this exploration in next week’s post.

Click to for a sneak peek into one of the first music workshop sessions with Ms. Jane Sapp on piano.

Some Encamper Photos

Encamper Photo.

Thank you to the staff and Encampers! A special thank you to our intern Brooklyn Gentry who provided photo and video for this post! And, to interns Imani Jimenez-Ireeta and Maribel Mendoza who gathered Encamper quotes. Shout out to Margot Gibney for video and text additions. Ongoing gratitude for our copyeditor, alum Ruth Thaler-Carter. We are glad to acknowledge images and/or video from photo/videographer Elibet Valencia Muñoz who can be reached at: LUSTER OPTICS.

2025 InterGen Program

If you are curious to know what the Encampers are learning in our “Justice Knows No Borders” summer program, join us virtually for the 2025 InterGen Program on Saturday, July 19, for two virtual sessions. The in-person registration has closed but you can still register for the virtual sessions by using the link below!

REGISTER FOR THE VIRTUAL INTERGEN: https://tinyurl.com/InterGen-virtual25

Saturday, July 19, 2025 – VIRTUAL PROGRAMS

In the afternoon, virtual participants are invited to join us for a hybrid session that will include in-person participants after an introduction to a conversation about social justice strategies based on the Encampers’ areas of concern; for instance, reproductive rights, immigration law, and environmental justice.

1:00 p.m. HYBRID VIRTUAL INTRODUCTION TO SESSION 3: EFC staff, interns, and board members introduce the topics that will be discussed in the breakout groups. We will share experiences, thoughts, and strategies in this lively conversation.
1:30 p.m. Breakout groups, including in-person and virtual participants in a conversation about strategies and actions we can use to address inequities at this moment in time.

2:15 p.m. Report Back — one person from each group talks about their discussion.
2:40 p.m. Session ends with farewell to virtual participants and a song.
- 5:00–6:00 p.m. Dinner
- 7:00–9:00 p.m. SESSION 4: Encamper Creative Presentations (live on Facebook or Instagram for virtual participants. In this session, a favorite each year, the Encampers present what they have been learning in a creative form. This is a relaxed presentation that the Encampers put together with staff, where you can expect poetry, music, dance, visual art, and more.

REGISTER FOR THE VIRTUAL INTERGEN: https://tinyurl.com/InterGen-virtual25

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