Organization

Hidden Villa is a nonprofit educational organization that uses its organic farm, wilderness, and community to teach and provide opportunities to learn about the environment and social justice. Hidden Villa stretches over 1600 acres of open space in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Its mission is to inspire a just and sustainable future through its programs, land and legacy.

Hidden Villa was founded by Frank and Josephine Duveneck, who purchased the land in 1924 and offered it as a gathering place for discussion, reflection, and incubation of social reform. Over the following decades, the Duvenecks established the first hostel on the Pacific coast (1937), the first multi-racial summer camp (1945), and Hidden Villa’s Environmental Education Program (1970).

Every year, 30,000 people participate in one of Hidden Villa's formal programs. An additional 20,000 visitors come to the preserve annually to explore the farm and gardens or to hike on the eight miles of trails. Its constituents cover a wide spectrum of age, physical ability, geography, ethnicity, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Its organic farm, rustic barns, sustainable structures and pristine riparian, woodland and chaparral wilderness provide opportunities to experience the beauty of its environment on a first-hand basis.