Communities Speak
Guadalupe
(Santa Barbara County)
Project Title: Guadalupe Speaks
Sponsor: The Dunes Center
Project Director: Larry Alkire
“Guadalupe Speaks” sought to use oral history interviews with a broad group of ethnically diverse long-term residents to help revitalize the small, mostly agricultural coastal town of Guadalupe, which has been in economic decline since the early 1980s.
Serving as interviewers for the project were students in the Ethnic Studies Department at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and teen members of the Keystone Club at the local Boys and Girls Club. The owner of a local multimedia company videotaped the interviews and turned them into a documentary for showing at community events.
The interviews covered a range of topics and included stories about the changing living and working conditions for farmworkers over the years and the experience of Guadalupe residents during World War II, when entire families of Japanese American ranchers we taken to internment camps. “The stories gave young people and Guadalupe newcomers insight into the history of the area and a better understanding of the experiences of the many ethnic groups in Guadalupe,” said Project Director Karen Evangelilsta.
According to audience surveys taken at “Guadalupe Speaks” events, 94 percent believed that the project raised their awareness of the town’s history, and 81 percent indicated the project made them believe they could mold the community’s future. Focus group participants reported that one of the primary effects of the project was the way it increased community engagement. And project partners who were interviewed said that the project increased people’s knowledge of how the community had changed over the years and bolstered people’s sense of pride in Guadalupe.