SSRF was founded in 2015 by Ronnie D. Lipschutz, Kevin W. Bell and Thomas Rettenwender. All three were instructors in the Sustainability Studies minor at UC Santa Cruz’s Rachel Carson College, and all three wanted to pursue local projects that seemed unlikely to be developed by the University. A small, independent non-profit appeared to be a more feasible and attractive vehicle for these projects. SSRF did not really get off the ground until Spring 2019, when several UCSC students began to push the founders to activate the organization. Since then, SSRF staff, volunteers and interns have been working on the projects described in detail elsewhere on this website. You can learn more about the founders, staff and volunteers, who make the organization function, on the “People” page.