Volume 59 | October 2019
Your monthly news & updates
Link Between Civil Rights and A Complete Census Count
Kern County residents heard from a number of immigrant rights advocates Wednesday at the Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance’s second annual Immigrant Civil Rights Conference held at Hodel’s Country Dining.

Elected officials, attorneys, U.S. Census Bureau staff, and law enforcement officers all spoke about immigrant rights and how they impact the safety and well-being of Kern County. A consistent theme throughout the conference was that many people living in Kern County and throughout the country are fearful of personal information they share with the Census being released to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We have Title 13 and Title 26 that protects everyone’s information,” said U.S. Census Bureau, Central California Lead Partnership Specialist Benita Duran, in reference to the 2020 Census.

Duran, along with a panel of speakers from Kern County’s Complete Count Committee (KCCC), spoke about the security around Census data. Duran said people give more information when shopping online or when downloading an app on their phone than they will on the census form.

“You matter. You are important, and you need to help us,” said Dee Slade, the Executive Director of the African American Network of Kern and member of KCCC. “Tell me what your needs are. Tell me how we can help you. Tell me how the Census, in your viewpoint, can help you.”

Read more about the conference .
A Healthier California in 2020
On October 9th, the California Environmental Protection Agency announced that all sales of the pesticide chlorpyrifos will be discontinued after February 6th, 2020.

The decision follows an agreement between the Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) and pesticide manufacturers to withdraw products with the toxin known to impair the brain and neurological development of children.

“For years, environmental justice advocates have fought to get the harmful pesticide chlorpyrifos out of our communities,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “Thanks to their tenacity and the work of countless others, this will now occur faster than originally envisioned. This is a big win for children, workers and public health in California.”

Chlorpyrifos has been used to control pests on a variety of crops, including alfalfa, almonds, citrus, cotton, grapes, and walnuts. Use of chlorpyrifos dropped more than 50 percent from two million pounds in 2005 to just over 900,000 pounds in 2017, according to DPR.

Read more about the story here .
Delano Youth Put Climate Health Front and Center
Last month, Delano youth and other community members gathered together to march in solidarity with the rest of the world to demand environmental justice.
The Delano Environmental Strike was organized by Ecolution, an environmental conservation club at Cesar E. Chavez High School, and was largely inspired by the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led political group with the goal of making the identification of climate change solutions a priority in the United States.
Participants met on a Friday evening at the Delano International Community sign on High Street and marched to Delano’s City Hall, where students shared their testimonies and demanded sustainable solutions for the growing climate crisis. 
Delano wasn’t the only city to make a statement. They were joined by an estimated 4 million young people from across the globe who marched and organized that day, bringing awareness to the planet's condition.

Read more about the event from the perspective of one of the participants.
Young People in Need of Support
Despite outreach and education, there is still a lot more work to do when it comes to addressing fear and violence directed toward the LGBTQ+ community and their allies.

Read the commentary about what one Bakersfield youth experienced after attending a Gay-Straight Alliance meeting held on her high school's campus.
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