It's the end of the year and we have a lot to look back on and celebrate.  We want to take this opportunity to highlight 

our major accomplishments of 2016 and give thanks to our residents, youth, and partners who continue to work to make health happen in South Kern. 

Thanks to all of you for your commitment to changing the odds  for our communities of color which are disproportionately impacted by health inequities. This year has surely brought us one step closer towards a healthy South Kern. 

Let's take a moment to celebrate our collective victories towards health and justice for all. Below are a few headlines from 2016.

Health Happens in 

Neighborhoods

• Youth leaders and residents collaborate with the Kern County Roads Department to bring $5.6 million in state funding to Rexland acres to build sidewalks, improve intersections and add more lights. Click here to read more.

• South Kern Sol youth leaders organize and hold Kern's first Youth Social Justice Revolution, a series of events shedding light on social justice impacting their communities, from immigration reform to LGBTQ rights.

Health Happens in Schools

 

• #BCinArvin, A $25 million college facility/center is coming to South Kern! Thanks to the Kern Community College District. A dream come true for students and families. 

Health Happens with Prevention

• According to Department of Health Services, out of 3,683 children enrolled in restricted Medi-Cal, 3,511 had transitioned to full-scope Medi-Cal by mid-July---that is over 95%!

• Congratulations to all of partners who worked hard to enroll individuals in a Medi-Cal. Kern Family Health Care's, enrolled 1,970 new enrollees in their Medi-Cal managed care health plan between May 2016 and August 2016.

• A Task Force of advocates, community members, and public agencies was established to strengthen ties with the indigenous community with the intent of identifying cost-effective interpreter solutions by pooling county resources.

A Message to the Building Healthy Communities Partners 

Lea la carta en Español  aquí. 

 

We are in what appear to be unprecedented times. Our recent electoral cycle brought to the surface an ugly and shameful strain of racism, misogyny, xenophobia and violence. As partners in the struggle for equity and justice for all, we stand firmly and resolutely against this vitriol and hate. It is unacceptable, intolerable and we must fight to purge it from our public discourse lest it destroy our democracy.

 

As the attached statement from The California Endowment Board of Directors attests, we stand in solidarity with our communities in an unwavering commitment to justice and inclusion. Inclusion means ALL OF US. That includes immigrants, especially the undocumented, Muslims, LGBTQ, women and girls, the formerly incarcerated, single mothers, the disabled, people of color, and struggling white working class families. The hostile and exclusionary rhetoric of this election has put a bullseye on the backs of so many vulnerable Americans but the truth is that our fates are inextricably intertwined and we must love and defend each other, particularly now in this critical moment.

 

Cornell West reminds us that justice is what love looks like in public. From our board on down, our organization is deeply concerned about so many of our friends, and our families who are feeling exposed and vulnerable.  We are in active conversations about how we can defend and support their safety and resistance in the short-term and will be reaching out to many of you to help guide us.  We are also discussing what this shift in the terrain means for what we've built together through Building Healthy Communities.  While there are still more questions than answers, please rest assured that as Californians, we don't follow - we lead.  And it is in that spirit that I commit to the following:

 

-  We will use our positions of power and influence to push back against narratives that exclude and divide.  We stand strong in our conviction that all people have a place in the American story - there is no compromise.  When racism, classism, bigotry, and misogyny are being used to divide, we will call it out while calling each other in to our full humanity and collective liberation.  

-  We will continue to invest in the leadership of low-income people, people of color, youth, LGBT communities, youth, women and girls, immigrants, Muslims, and all of the communities who have gone underrepresented in our democracy for too long.  We will not waiver in our ongoing support for organizing and will strive to find new ways to go deeper and support an even stronger movement for health and justice for all.  

-  We will work in partnership with you and our allies to protect and defend the gains we have made in equitable and just policy over many years through tireless advocacy and fervent community organizing. We will not retreat, we will not acquiesce.

 

Please let us take care of each other.  Together we have made astounding progress in the years leading up to the moment we are now in.  In addition to the 100+ policies you've advanced in the name of health equity in your communities, we have taken bold steps towards dismantling the school to prison pipeline, we secured essential funding for schools for discipline reform, we have forced multinational soda companies to pay to help enhance health opportunities for our children, and we have helped more than 5 million Californians get health insurance, including a quarter of a million undocumented children. Elected leaders in Arvin, Merced, Richmond, and so many more places are fighting for health equity. California is on the move! You are in the driver seat.

 

The struggle for equity and justice is an unending struggle, however as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said, "the moral arc of the universe bends towards justice."  The only way forward is together and together we will stand because our health depends on it. I am honored to stand with you.

 

Dr. Tony Iton, Senior Vice President, Healthy Communities, The California Endowment.

Statement from the Board of Directors of The California Endowment

Our national election has fostered an environment of uncertainty and concern about our progress toward a more equitable and inclusive democracy. Blatant expressions of racism and bigotry are especially troubling.

The Board of Directors of The California Endowment stands in solidarity with California communities in an unwavering commitment to justice and inclusion.

We hold firm to a vision of a healthy California, one where all communities have power and voice to build vibrant communities that ensure the health and safety of every person.  An attack on any community - especially the most vulnerable - is an attack on all of us.

In our work across California we have experienced the power of people - especially young people and people of color - taking leadership in charting the future of their communities and their lives.  We have repeatedly witnessed the central and fundamental importance of shared power, inclusion and diversity, in bringing hope and change to communities, from City Heights in San Diego to Fresno, East Oakland, and rural Del Norte County.

Inspired by what we have seen around this great state and nation, we are unshakable in our belief that all Californians will prosper when we draw upon the core strength of our diversity, and when we respect the rights and dignity of all.  To ensure the health, safety and equity of Californians, it is more urgent now than ever to dismantle systems of racism and oppression. We call upon our philanthropic partners to join us in taking bold and courageous stands, and in making the investments necessary to make a vision of health and justice for all a lived reality.

In solidarity,

Jane Garcia, Chair, Zac Guevara, Vice Chair, Robert K. Ross, President & CEO,  Stephen Bennett, Walter Buster, Bishop Minerva Carcaño,  Shan Cretin, Adrienne Crowe, Hector Flores,  Shawn Ginwright, Leslie Kautz, Christina Kazhe,  Kate Kendell, Marta McKenzie, Steve PonTell,  Karthick Ramakrishnan, Winston Wong