On October 18th, around 3 pm, dozens of people participated in this cutting edge social movement. For the first time, a Flash Mob (FLASH mawb- n. a large group of people who gather in a usually predetermined location, perform some brief action, and then quickly disperse) of this nature took place in Santa Barbara.
This event was one of thousands across the world that occurred as part of “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now” on October 16-18, demanding that world leaders keep the promises they made in 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2025.

Participants froze on cue for 5 minutes on strategic locations along downtown State Street. First, they met at De La Guerra Plaza where they were greeted by the organizing committee – the Education Generation UCSB team-, in order to receive their final instructions. Education Generation UCSB is a student organization founded in 2008 whose aim is to promote the scholarship portal educationgeneration.org.

Last year, more than 116 million people participated in “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now,” grassroot events, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization in recorded history. These events are coordinated globally by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in collaboration with a side range of partners. For more information on the mobilization, visit http://standagainstpoverty.org/events/santa-barbara/stand-and-freeze-against-poverty.