BHC South Kern e-Newsletter Vol. 23

Newsletter

May 2016

Live the Challenge 2016, a Success!

Thanks to everyone who joined us for this year's Live the Challenge 2016 5K Color Run. More than 300 residents participated in this fun color run in Arvin.

Thanks to our volunteers who provided a safe course for our runners and to everyone who helped make the run a success .

Click here to see more pictures. Listen to Radio Bilingue's coverage of Live the Challenge 2016 here .

#Health4All Niños, Medi-Cal Expansion for All Children

As of today, children under 19 years of age are eligible for full-scope Medi-Cal benefits regardless of immigration status, as long as they meet all other eligibility requirements.

Families can enroll their children through a local clinic, at a family resource center or by going to their local Human Services Center.

KEJC Launches Campaign to Encourage Community Participation in LCAP Process

On Tuesday, the Kern Education Justice Collaborative (KEJC) and Building Healthy Communities South Kern launched a campaign using radio, print, digital ads and billboards to raise public awareness about the importance of community involvement in the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) and to hold our elected school boards accountable.

The new school funding formula, enacted in 2013, gives more control to school districts. School districts must develop Local Control Accountability Plans (LCAP), a plan that connects the district's goals and actions to it's plan for spending the LCFF dollars. In developing the LCAP, school district's are required to include parent and youth input to budget priorities.

LCFF recognizes that students who have less may need more to achieve equity and includes additional funding for low income students, English language learners, and foster kids.

For the 2014-15 school year, the Kern High School District (KHSD) allocated 90 percent of funds aimed for high need students district-wide rather than target schools with large numbers of high need students.

The community is invited to participate in a workshop to learn strategies and skills for influencing school budgets. The workshop will be held Monday, May 16 at 6 p.m. at the Reider Education Center at 2000 K Street, Room 101 in Bakersfield. Dinner will be provided. Click here for more information.

[ Click here to read more from South Kern Sol's Randy Villegas in the Bakersfield Californian: Put Equity Before Equality in School Funding]

Arvin Union School District Joins 'California Thursdays' Network

Thursday's have become the favorite day of the week for many students in the Arvin Union School District (AUSD). That's because the school district is part of the 'California Thursdays' Network, a collaboration between the Center of Ecoliteracy and school districts across the State working to serve healthy meals made from California-grown food.

The AUSD is the only district in the county that's part of the network, and is working to educate other schools districts on how they too can serve freshly-prepared school meals. AUSD kicked-off 'California Thursdays' last month.

Why the State Must Include Suspension Rates as Measure of School Success

If you haven't already, take a few minutes to read a commentary by Dr. Robert Ross, The California Endowment's president and CEO, about why the State must include suspension rates as a measure of school success. Click here to read it on Ed Source.

On Wednesday, the California State Board of Education voted to include suspension rates, graduation rates, attendance and the rate of the progress of English language learners toward English language proficiency, in its new school ratings system.

Report: Pesticides Linked to Childhood Cancers and Neurological Harm

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) released a report early this week which backs up what environmental organizations have believed for decades; children living in rural communities are on the front lines of pesticide exposure and increasingly linked to childhood cancers and neurological disorders.

The Center on Race, Poverty and Environment (CRPE), Lamont Parent Partners, and El Quinto Sol teamed up to hold a press conference to give light to this alarming report.

"We are hoping that the Department of Pesticide Regulation will listen to what we are asking. We are asking for buffer zones for agricultural pesticide spraying around schools to be expanded to 1 mile," says Valerie Gorospe, community organizer with CRPE. "We are asking for no pesticides to be applied while kids are at school, and for parents to be notified when pesticides are going to be applied near their school."

The groups are also working to end "Telone Banking," a system which allows farmers to use more than the allotted 90,000 pounds per year if they did not use the full 90,000 pounds the prior year. Telone is a fumigant that is used in Kern County and a known carcinogen.

Take a look at the report here.

About Us

Building Healthy Communities is a comprehensive community initiative that is creating a revolution in how Californians think about and support health in their communities.

More than 2,500 residents, youth, businesses and organizations are leading the BHC-SK effort to improve 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: