Prop 16: Making Equity a Reality

At Summer Search, our staff and participants are passionate about achieving racial equity and liberation and strongly believe that everyone has the right to succeed in the path they choose for themselves.

As part of this commitment, we are proud to endorse Proposition 16 on the California ballot this fall alongside more than 400 community organizations, businesses, and local elected officials.

Proposition 16 would create opportunities for Summer Searchers by allowing public universities in California to admit students to their schools using a revised holistic review process that includes Affirmative Action. Affirmative Action within a holistic review process would allow the admissions committee to consider someone’s race and gender in addition to other qualifications, to account for unequal access to resources and opportunities. This opens doors for young people, like those we work with every day.

Sandy, a Summer Search Bay Area senior at Sonoma Valley High School, shared why she is in favor of Prop 16:

I am in support of Prop 16. Prop 16 affords me the ability to succeed, to achieve my higher education goals based on my qualifications and not just the color of my skin.

Systemic racism touched my life at a very young age, as a Mexican American student growing up in Sonoma, fighting for the bare minimum has been a common lived experienced for me. It is because of these hardships that I know my inner strength will only continue to develop as I start my journey onto college and claim my future.

As a first-generation high school graduate the pressure to go to college and provide for my family is a weight I bare as I am applying to colleges. Prop 16 is a first step towards making equality a reality for our marginalized students-diversity we can see.

Voting Yes on Prop 16 builds a better future in California by supporting the dreams and goals of our young people. In addition to voting Yes on Prop 16, you can: