Arts group seeks help raising a down payment

The Sacramento nonprofit group Sol Collective is asking for the public’s help to move from tenant to landlord.

For a decade the group has promoted arts, culture and activism within Sacramento at a 3,200-square-foot gallery on 21st Street. When the building’s landlord moved to sell the building, the group was offered a chance to buy the single-story property.

“This is for the next generation,” said Estella Sanchez, Sol Collective’s founder and executive director. “We don’t want them to have to worry about rent or displacement and this way we ensure there is always a creative space held for young people and communities of color in Sacramento.”

Sanchez is asking for the community’s help to raise the last $35,000 of the estimated $100,000 down payment. The cost of buying the building is $406,000, but the mortgage payments won’t differ significantly from the current rent. The organization’s online crowdsourcing campaign had raised $4,156 as of Monday.

“In addition to the daily arts and cultural programming that Sol Collective provides via their youth labs, recording studio, internship programs, Sol Collective also plays host to the Sacramento Activist School, Sacramento Young Feminist Alliance, local Aztec dancers, Foreign Native, Zero Forbidden Goals” and a number of other organizations that utilize the gallery space, the organization says on the fundraising page.

This story was originally published October 11, 2016 at 1:36 PM with the headline "Arts group seeks help raising a down payment."