Forgotten Voices:
BACKGROUND: The unincorporated Tulare County communities CRPE works with are home to mostly Latino farmworkers, who help grow the food produced here and consumed throughout the world. But, these residents themselves do not have access to the food they produce nor do they have access to basic infrastructure, such as curbs, gutters, sewers, grocery stores, parks, and drinkable water leading to numerous health impacts, including obesity. The Forgotten Voices campaign focuses on Tulare County’s General Plan Update process. In California, counties update their general plans or development blueprints which serve as the county’s land use constitution every 25 years. Tulare County is well behind schedule. Tulare County’s current general plan was approved almost 40 years ago and contains a policy that denies these services to unincorporated communities. Tulare County’s Wastewater Element contains a policy which states: “Public resource commitments to communities with little or no authentic future should be carefully examined before final action is initiated.” The County expected that “[t]hese non-viable communities would, as a consequence of withholding major public facilities such as sewer and water systems, enter a process of long term, natural decline as residents depart for improved opportunities in nearby communities.” The County identified 15 “non-viable” communities, 13 of which remain today in a state of disrepair. As Tulare County updates its General Plan, CRPE is working with community members to ensure that their voices are heard and that the County no longer deliberately neglects their communities. We assist these communities develop a healthy sustainable vision for their future that involves access to healthy food, a clean environment, and open recreational space for children and families. Our policy objective for this campaign is to engage these 13 neglected communities, and identify policies which will help the communities protect public health through infrastructure development. Specifically, we aim to ensure the Tulare County General Plan contains: policies for providing necessary services in each community, such as water, transportation, parks, pesticide buffer zones, sewer systems, lights, sidewalks, paved roads and natural gas; policies that develop adequate infrastructure in each community, including access to nutritious foods, local stores, and community gardens; policies that improve local air quality; and policies that allow residents to participate and affect public policy through their local community councils, board of supervisors, redevelopment agency, and local area formation commission. CRPE Will provide Community Education and Public Policy Advocacy Trainings for Unincorporated Low-Income Communities of Color in Tulare County. For the Forgotten Voices Campaign CRPE will work with the following unincorporated communities: Tooleville, East Orosi, West Goshen, Plainview, Tonyville, Allensworth, Alpaugh, Delf Colony, Monson, Sultana, Yettam, Teviston, and Poplar Cotton Center. Tulare County is 56 percent Hispanic, and 37 percent of the population resides in unincorporated communities (U.S. Census, American Community Survey 2006-2008). The incorporated communities of Woodlake, Lindsay, Dinuba and Farmersville have Hispanic population ranges from 72-83 percent. 30 percent of Tulare County is employed in the agriculture industry, and 24 percent of the population lives below the poverty line (compared to the 12 percent state average). These U.S. Census statistics underestimate the population and employment realities we experience in Tulare County, and we suspect that a larger proportion of the County is employed in agriculture and residing in unincorporated communities. Given the importance and success of agriculture in Tulare County and the entire state of California’s economic wellbeing, the demographic picture of the residents of Tulare County depicts a neglected but vital population. In working with these target communities, CRPE has a “from the ground up approach” and believes firmly in the maxim that communities must “speak for themselves” in order to affect change and influence the general plan policies in a health protective way. In order to support community involvement in the General Plan process and create a lasting community vision for future development and improvement, CRPE will provide community trainings, 24 over a 36 month period on the general plan process civics, public speaking, infrastructure development, public transit, state and local budgets, joint use agreements which allow school facilities to be used for after school recreation, community garden development, and local food access. CRPE will also provide governance support for local community groups which organize around the General Plan Update to develop local leaders’ capacity for self governance in order to improve the community’s environment, access healthy food, and increase children’s recreational opportunities. By providing local residents with substantive and capacity building trainings and access to professional organizers and lawyers, we are sowing the seeds for lasting change in Tulare County and beyond. Primary Contact: |
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GOAL: Empower communities to hold public officials accountable for ensuring basic public services by Community Education and Public Policy Advocacy Trainings.