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Newsletter
February, 2015
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Live the Challenge - 100 Days to Better Health
 South Kern Sol, News Report, Aurora Cervantes
ARVIN, Calif. - Building Healthy Communities launched its 5th annual "Live the Challenge" campaign at a community event at Arvin's Veteran Hall late last month.
The January 29th event drew upwards of 200 residents from around South Kern, many of whom took on the campaign's challenge of pledging to sustain healthy lifestyle changes for 100 days. At the end of the 100-day period, participants will join in a 5k 'fun run' and fair in Lamont.
The January event was also used as a forum to gather community input on what changes residents would like to see in the areas of education, environment, recreation and health.
South Ke  rn Sol attended the event and asked community members, "What changes they pledged to make for the next 100 days?" "My goal for change in the next hundred days is to not consume sugar or salt."Ofelia Aguirre, 40 (left)
Read the full story here. |
South Kern Youth On The Red Carpet for the McFarland USA Premiere
Photo above: (from left to right) Reyna Olaguez, Annalisa Robles, Marylou Chavez, Jose Pinto, and AnaKaren Yanez.
Last week, three youth from South Kern, AnaKaren Yanez, Marylou Chavez, and Jose Pinto had the opportunity to walk the red carpet for Disney's McFarland USA movie premiere at El Capitan theater in Hollywood, a film based on the 1987 true story.
"The movie was absolutely inspirational," said Pinto. "Sometimes all we need is someone to believe in us."
The inspirational film tells the story of young cross country runners who worked together to overcome many obstacles to become champions in McFarland, a small, economically-challenged, agricultural city in the Central Valley.
"McFarland USA reminds us of all the possibilities out there, and it brings out hope that sometimes gets lost." said Chavez.
The youth joined about 15 youth from Merced's and Fresno's Building Healthy Communities sites. Other South Kern attendees included Annalisa Robles, Program Manager for The California Endowment, and Reyna Olaguez, South Kern Sol's Editor. All South Kern attendees were interviewed by Bakersfield's KGET, KERO, Telemundo, and Eyewitness News.
Disney's McFarland USA will be in theaters on Friday, February 20.
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Arvin Community Gathers to Discuss Language Barriers With Police
 By Marisa Christensen Lundin In late January, California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) and Committee for a Better Arvin (CBA) invited The Arvin Police Department to a public meeting to discuss language access issues faced by non-English speaking Arvin residents when interacting with the Arvin Police Department (PD).
Arvin residents voiced their concern that Spanish speaking callers often face unreasonably long wait times when calling Arvin PD if a Spanish speaking dispatcher is not available. At the meeting, Officer Calderon and Sergeant Gonzalez revealed that only three of the eight Arvin police officers currently speak Spanish. When asked how a monolingual English speaking officer communicates with exclusively Spanish speaking residents who have called for police assistance, the officers said that typically someone nearby speaks Spanish and can translate or, in a bind, they will call another Spanish speaking officer or an off-duty Spanish speaking police officer. In an example cited by the officers, police officers responding to a domestic disturbance call would use a minor child to translate statements from the parents involved in the domestic dispute if no other adults were around to translate. CBA members were surprised that so few officers speak Spanish, since the overwhelming majority of Arvin residents are Spanish speaking and communicated their desire to see more translation services provided to non-English speakers.
Members of the Mixtec community were also present and Fausto Sanchez, Community Worker from California Rural Legal Assistance, provided translation from English and Spanish into Mixtec. Mixtec is an indigenous language spoken by Native Mexicans that has no linguistic similarity to Spanish or English, which can create an incredible hardship for Mixtec speakers who are not provided with an interpreter. No officers in Arvin speak Mixtec and the officers told residents that the Arvin PD does not use any telephonic interpretation services.
CRLA was founded in 1966 and its mission is to fight for justice and individual rights alongside the most exploited communities of our society. Through a network of regional offices and cross-cutting programs, CRLA provides legal services to over 32,000 low-income people annually. Their work impacts farmworkers, individuals with disabilities, immigrant populations, LGBT communities, women, children and families in rural areas. The Community Equity Initiative is a special project within CRLA working in Kern County and is currently working with CBA to address Arvin PD's language access issues.
CRLA and CBA look forward to continuing to explore solutions to the language access barrier between the Police Department and non-English speaking residents of Arvin.
For more information about this story, please contact Marisa Christensen Lundin at [email protected] or (661) 375-7211.
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Agua for All - New Filling Stations Provide Clean Drinking Water
South Kern Sol, News Report, Alfredo Camacho
LAMONT, Calif. - Residents from Arvin and Lamont have complained for years about the lack of clean drinking water and the high levels of arsenic, a known carcinogen. But thanks to a new initiative launched last week, locals can now get clean drinking water at several filling stations.
"You may have noticed this water fountain which was installed earlier in the week," announced Bob Lerude at a press conference marking the launch of the #Agua4All initiative in Lamont Park last week.
Lerude is the director of Kern County's Parks and Recreation department, one of several partners present at the unveiling of new water dispensers installed at three locations around Lamont.
The initiative, a project of The California Endowment and other groups including the Rural Community Assistance Corporation and the Community Water Center, is opening 120 taps in two pilot locations (South Kern and Coachella Valley) to provide residents with access to clean drinking water. Three dispensers in Lamont and DiGiorgo Parks and two in Rexland Acres Park were the first to be installed.
Read the full story here.
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About Us
Building Healthy Communities is a comprehensive community initiative that is creating a revolution in the way Californians think about and support health in their communities. Residents are proving that they can make health happen in their neighborhoods, schools and with prevention-and in doing so, they are creating a brighter future for their children.
Over 2,000 residents, youth, businesses and organizations are leading the BHC-SK effort to positively change the health of our communities through a shared vision, goals and action plan. Residents in Arvin, Lamont, Weedpatch, and the unincorporated areas of Greenfield are proving that we have the power to make health happen in our communities.
BHC-SK is promoting healthy change in the areas of:
- Education: Improving education from pre-K through adult education
- Environment: Creating a healthy environment with clean air and water
- Health Access: Increasing access to a better health care system
- Recreation: Improving recreational activities, facilities and parks
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We have the power to build healthy communities for the next generation.
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