Tiffany Dena Loftin and Wisdom Cole will be coming to UC Santa Cruz on Apr. 18, 2024 to participate in the Dream It, Build It: Organize Our Power event, as a part of Student Organization Leadership (SOL) Council’s Spring Special. The event will focus on students forming a mindset grounded in community and learning to create positive change. It will be held in the College 9/John R.Lewis Multipurpose Room from 7-9 p.m., and the doors will open at 6:30 p.m. 

Tiffany Dena Loftin is a 2011 UCSC alumna who has a substantial career throughout different levels of government. She was the National Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Youth and College Division, and worked as the community engagement director for Vote.org. 

Loftin has a five-year background in national labor union organizing. She has been a part of various organizations such as the American Federation of Teachers and the American Federation of Labor-Council of Industrial Organizations. 

“The labor movement has never won anything without the community,” Loftin said to the Labor Tribune in 2016. “It’s important that the Labor Movement remembers and understands that it is accountable to the community it lives in.”

Wisdom Cole is a 2015 UCSC alumnus and the current National Director of the NAACP Youth and College Division. In his role, he has worked on campaigns centering on the cancellation of student debt, removing police from schools, and increasing voter access for young Black people.

Cole was previously a field and state conference organizer for the Afrikan Black Coalition (ABC), the largest Black collegiate organization in California. When he was a UCSC student, he worked collaboratively to organize the ABC conference that featured esteemed keynote speakers such as Marc Lamont Hill and Angela Davis. He received the Chancellor’s Achievement Award for Diversity in recognition for outstanding contributions to furthering diversity, inclusion, and excellence at UCSC. 

“It is up to young people to recreate the structures, tools, and tactics that will define our future,” said Cole in an article published in the The Boston Globe. “We are not only the leaders of tomorrow, we are the leaders of today. Together, we will right the wrongs of the past and ensure that every American has the opportunity to thrive.” 

To RSVP click this link: Dream It, Build It Event