Kim Allen has been a largely unheralded Santa Cruz hero. Two decades ago she started Growing Up in Santa Cruz, providing countless resources to parents and their kids who are growing up in the most wonderful county on Earth. She was one of only a few women at the top of the publishing industry and put together a successful monthly free newspaper overcoming great odds and challenges.

She’s helped two generations of kids, some of them grown up and now working for her paper. She donated to area nonprofits, letting people know about their work. She sponsored local events, including the Cabrillo Music Festival and Kid’s Day downtown, of which she was one of the founders. She’s a bright spot, known all over the community.

That’s why we were lucky when she decided to turn over her baby to us. Having two kids grow up with Growing Up and now, with our 2-year-old son, we wanted to quit working for other people and devote ourselves to our main priorities, family and kids, and sharing the information every family needs about raising children here in Santa Cruz.

Brad has been a lifelong journalist, going from his first job at Good Times  to the San Jose Mercury News and the Gilroy Dispatch. He also teaches journalism at Cabrillo College.  Jennifer wrote for the successful online publication, Santa Cruz Patch. She  has worked as a children’s photographer and has steadily helped in classrooms throughout the years with both her grade school kids.

We’re looking to continue Kim’s work and hoping to move it into the future. We’ll make the paper more colorful and more local, hoping to encourage your letters, freelance stories and photos. You’ll see already we’ve brought in some popular local writers.  

We’ve also brought in a new web designer, Diana Fitts, who built a new site, www.growingupsc.com.  We are building a stronger presence on Instagram and Facebook. We’re looking for parents and teachers who want to blog on our site. We’d love some from every school in town.

We also want your letters and ideas for columns and articles. Send them to [email protected]

Thanks for your support and we’re looking forward to growing with everyone in Santa Cruz.

Jennifer Ford,  Brad Kava