More than 50 Pajaro residents, business owners, and philanthropists gathered in the community room at Sun Ridge Farms on Nov. 15 for an event called Proudly Pajaro.
They were there to discuss the current state of post-flood recovery efforts and to learn about the work that members of the community are doing to build greater economic stability in Pajaro.
The format was like speed dating. Each table had a different theme—immigration, youth and education, climate justice, to name a few—and attendees learned about each topic through a local lens for 10 minutes before moving on to the next table.
“This is all planned chaos, it’s all good,” said MaríaElena de la Garza, one of the event organizers and CEO of the nonprofit Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County.
Amid the chaos, she and Sister Rosa Dolores, a longtime Pajaro resident and executive director of Casa de la Cultura—a local nonprofit that supports migrant farm workers—took a moment to reflect on how the community is doing.
“We're meeting every Friday, and we talk about, what can we do?” said Sister Dolores. “What can each family do to prepare for if we have another disaster, not only a flood, but earthquake and all those other things.”
Community leaders like Sister Dolores have been in constant mobilization since the March 2023 flood. Resilience was a word that came up again and again at Proudly Pajaro. Another common theme was frustration at the slow pace that relief dollars have trickled in from the county.
The State of California gave Monterey County $20 million for recovery following the levee breach, with $10 million earmarked for direct aid to residents and businesses.
“We're still waiting for those 10 millions here in Pajaro right now,” Sister Dolores said. “It's like drop by drop. I mean, give me a break.”
“And meanwhile, people can't pay their rent,” de la Garza added. “Meanwhile, people aren't ready for winter because now they're not working and they need whatever they need for their families.”
The most recent status report from Monterey County came out in late September. At that time, just under $1.4 million out of $10 million had been distributed to residents and businesses. A county spokesman said on Nov. 19 that he didn’t have a more recent figure, but applications are constantly being processed. The next formal update on the spending is scheduled for the January board of supervisors meeting.
Many residents think it’s taking too long.
Monterey County Supervisor Glenn Church said part of the reason is that these particular relief funds were a rare form of aid.
“This is an unusual chunk of money that came in and it has unusual restrictions, unusual processes to go through,” Church said, “and we've never done anything quite like this.”
Each request for reimbursement has to go through a series of checks — not just at the county level, but from the state, too. Something as simple as forgetting to attach a receipt could lead to significant delays.
“I know these folks need personal assistance, too, as soon as possible,” Church said, “and I keep trying to push as many cogs in this government wheel as there are to spin, but it's slow. But it's getting there.”
In the meantime, the community is taking matters into its own hands with events like Proudly Pajaro, which raise awareness both of the town’s unmet needs and its efforts to meet them from within.
“We just have to be our own solution,” said Tahra Goraya, who leads the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership and co-organized Proudly Pajaro. “We can't look to state and feds all the time. I think policy is really local, where the rubber meets the road. We're right here.”
Monterey County has until the end of 2025 to spend the full $20 million in recovery funds. As of now, there are various infrastructure and emergency preparedness projects in the works in addition to the individual and small business relief applications.
With so many recovery efforts still in progress, Pajaro residents are hoping for a gentle winter this time around.
