Welcome

Pajaro Photovoice Project

The Pajaro Photovoice Project is an opportunity for Residents of Pajaro to tell personal stories using images about the impact of climate change on their lives, their families and their community.

The participants of the project (youth and mothers) will use images and text to tell their own stories about the short and long term impacts of flooding, heavy rains, drought, heat, air quality due to wildfires, etc.

The goal of the project is to use photojournalism techniques to help give individuals in the underinvested community of Pajaro an opportunity to tell lasting stories and express their fears, hopes, and dreams in the real face of climate change.

The Pajaro Photovoice Project is partially funded by a grant from the Employee Conservation Action Fund of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Photovoice Process

Five Residents of the town of Pajaro consisting of 2 high school-aged youth, two young adult mothers who have been employed as fieldworkers, and one adult community leader participated in a short photovoice process to answer the question: “How is climate change impacting the town of Pajaro?”

Residents took 8-10 photos and discussed the story and meaning behind the photos with project staff and each other to develop a text narrative for each chosen photo. Emily Reigh, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Science Education at UC Santa Cruz served as an advisor to the project.

The photos and participants participated in a community photo gallery on Wednesday, May 8, 2024 at Somos Cafe in Watsonville. If you have questions about the project or would like to host the images at your space, please contact Eloy Ortiz at eloy@regenerationpajarovalley.org