Resilient Foodsheds

Break the Mold 2023

Saturday, November 4, 2023

9:30 AM – 2:00 PM

On Saturday, November 4, 2023 the 6th Annual Break the Mold Conference will be held at San Jose City College for the 2nd year. This year the focus of the half-day gathering will be on how to promote structural alternatives with respect to food and housing. The event will be led by students, faculty and partner organizations from around the South Bay, including SJCC MEChA, ALMASS, Ethnic Studies Department and Chicana and Chicano Studies, Associated Student Government (ASG), Human Agenda and Resilient Foodsheds. Featured speakers include elected officials, non-profit leaders, community advocates, and specialists in these areas. The student perspective will be represented on both panels. Ample time will be available for networking and creating new alliances.

Program

  • 9:30 – 10:00 AM :: Cafecito
  • 10:00 – 10:15 AM :: Introduction
  • 10:15 – 11:45 AM :: Solutions to the Food Crisis
  • 11:45 AM – 12:30 PM :: Lunchtime & Networking
  • 12:30 – 2:00 PM :: Solutions to the Housing Crisis

Break the Mold is open to all – students and the public. Admission is free. Free parking is available in Lots B, G and H. Coffee and breads will be offered at the cafecito; burritos will be offered for lunch.

Speakers

Introduction

  • JC Jacinto — SJCC Student
  • Richard Hobbs — Human Agenda
    • Richard Hobbs is the Executive Director of Human Agenda and the former Director of the Office of Human Relations of Santa Clara County. As an attorney he has helped thousands of immigrants with their immigration papers and has taken initiative in forming immigrant-led worker cooperatives that encompass the DECKS values of Human Agenda: democracy, equity, cooperation, kindness and sustainability. Mr. Hobbs is a former professor at SJCC and served on the Boad of Trustees of the San Jose Evergreen Community College District for 16 years.

Solutions to Our Food Crisis

  • Carolina Silva — SJCC Student (moderator)
  • Peter Ruddock — Founder and Policy Director, Resilient Foodsheds
    • Peter Ruddock is an advocate for sustainable food and all things that strengthen local food economies. He believes that when we make food choices, we must employ a triple bottom line: choosing food that is good for the Earth, good for all of those who work to bring it to us and good for our health when we eat it.
  • Javier Zamora — JSM Organics
    • Javier Zamora is the founder of JSM Organics, a 200 acre Real Organic Project-certified farm in Monterey County California that grows vegetables, fruits, and flowers. He is very active with ALBA, the Agriculture And Land-Based Training Association, which trains and connects farmworkers to the skills, resources, and land they need to launch their own farms. Javier himself is a graduate of ALBA.
  • Mireya Gomez-Contreras — 9 Organic Farms & Co-leader, Esperanza Community Farms
    • I am a mother of two curious and fun children and I have three sisters. I’ve lived in Watsonville, California for almost 30 years and my favorite thing about living here is the passion & pride of the predominantly Latino community as well as the work ethic of a culturally diverse small rural city. As a little girl I grew up working alongside my farm laborer parents in the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Coast in California. I think I inherited my mom’s green thumb because I landed very naturally in the agriculture sector and I love everything about it. I studied at UC Santa Cruz and received my BA in Sociology with a minor in education. After 27 years of working in the regional nonprofit sector, I found my professional niche as a Language and Cultural Consultant. At Esperanza Community Farms I am able to practice my values of interdependence, dignity, and joy for all. Most of all I enjoy the farm’s focus on family and the invitation to connect more deeply with people and the earth. At Esperanza I’m able to combine my personal interests, professional goals, and my vision for a healthy community.
  • John Tillman — SJCC Student, Jaguar Market
    • I’m a 55 yr old man trying to get my AA degree. I am not sure what major is I’m taking broadcasting and journalism I want to be a therapist. I have received a Peer Mentor certification from San Jose city college my thing is to help people, I mean fully help people. I am a musician, a chef, Activist, Father, Grandpa. I got all the things that a person needs I can cook take care of your hunger My music I make for your soul and I am patient and listen to help with your problems. I’ve been so many places and met many people and I know what it means to be hungry and know that the Jaguar market is a good program.

Solutions to Our Housing Crisis

  • Assemblyman Alex Lee — Keynote Speaker
    • Alex Lee (李天明) represents California’s 24th Assembly District which includes Fremont, Newark, and Sunol in Alameda County as well as Milpitas and northern San Jose in Santa Clara County. Assemblymember Lee was elected in 2020 and became the youngest Asian American legislator ever elected and the first openly bisexual state legislator in California history.
    • He currently Chairs the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee and the Select Committee on Social Housing. In his first term in office, he was named “Legislator of the Year’’ by the Golden State Manufactured Home Owners League (GMSOL) and the California Attorneys for Criminal Justice (CACJ). He also received the “20 under 40” Leadership Award from The Council of State Governments.
  • Valeria Herrera Vasquez — SJCC Student (moderator)
    • Valeria Herrera Vasquez, an international student from Peru, currently serves as the President of the Associated Student Body at San Jose City College. Her academic pursuit in Business, specifically focused on Marketing and Communications, reflects her dedication to leadership. Acknowledged for her abilities, she was recently appointed as a Leader in Residence by the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities. Valeria also actively contributes as a student ambassador at the International Student Program Office, emphasizing her commitment to fostering global connections and experiences.
  • Oscar Quiroz Medrano — SOMOS Mayfair
    • Oscar Quiroz-Medrano is a first-generation Xicanx, San José native, and the son to two previously undocumented parents (Zacatecas & Oaxaca, MX), the stark reality of the inequalities that affect our communities (i.e., affordable housing, equal education, proper representation, and fair wages) presented itself from the get-go, directing him down the path of social justice, and an impeccable hunger for knowledge. In collaboration with SOMOS Mayfair, Oscar plans to continue and refine his political awareness by actively listening to the community to encourage them to speak up to ensure the next seven generations of leaders are adequately equipped in the digital age.
  • David Low — Destination Home
    • David Low brings more than a decade of public policy and strategic communications experience to the work to end homelessness in Silicon Valley. Prior to joining Destination: Home, David served as a senior advisor and communications director to San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, where he was intricately involved in the mayor’s efforts to combat Silicon Valley’s homelessness and affordable housing crises. He also spent a number of years working on the team of former Mayor Chuck Reed, as well as in the nonprofit sector, including as marketing and communications director for the YMCA of Silicon Valley and regional communications director for Breathe California.
    • David grew up in Silicon Valley and is an alumnus of UCLA, where he earned a dual bachelor’s degree in political science and communication studies.
  • Sandy Perry — Affordable Housing Network
    • Sandy Perry was raised as a Quaker in Massachusetts, attended Stanford University from 1967-70, and moved to San Jose in 1990 with his wife Andrea and daughter Christina. He has been an active volunteer in the Affordable Housing Network and what is now known as CHAM Deliverance Ministry ever since.
    • From 1997 to 2009, Sandy collaborated with CHAM and First Christian Church to shelter unhoused families at the church, overcoming City efforts to shut it down. In 2001, he helped organize to pressure San Jose to allocate 30% of its affordable housing funds to extremely low-income families for the first time.
    • He joined the 2015-18 campaign to strengthen rent control in San Jose, and was part of the Serve the People San Jose campaign to stop the Google expansion into the City.
    • Sandy was a commercial roofer for 20 years and helped manage the CHAM-First Christian Church shelter from 2000-09.
  • Vitumbiko Kambilonje — SJCC Student
    • I’m a returning to college non-traditional student from Malawi and I’m studying for a Political Science for Transfer degree at SJCC. I aspire to transfer to a four-year college and continue my pursuit of studying Political Science with ambitions of attending law school down the road.
    • My housing experience is a varried one here in San Jose. Within ten months, I’ve lived in three different neighborhoods, with my most recent being a Sober Living Environment. The mental toll of moving three times during the school year was taxing, but I managed to get through the experience by confiding in, and finding support, through the community I’ve fostered here at SJCC.
    • You learn a lot about yourself and those who surround you when faced with housing insecurity. Through it all, however, I’ve grown as a person and try to give back by advocating for people in similar situations by volunteering my time with Survivors of the Street (SOS) — a group of formerly unhoused people helping fellow unhoused people in San Jose.

Interactive Campus Map

Get directions here.

Free event parking available in Lots B, G and H.

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