Es el fin del año y tenemos mucho por celebrar. Deseamos aprovechar esta oportunidad para destacar nuestros principales logros durante el año 2016 y darle gracias a nuestros residentes, jóvenes y colaboradores que continúan trabajando para hacer que la salud ocurra en el Sur de Kern.

Gracias a todos por su compromiso de cambiar las probabilidades para nuestras comunidades de color que se ven afectadas de manera desproporcionada por las inequidades de salud. Este año sin duda nos ha llevado un paso más cerca hacia un sur de Kern saludable.

Tomemos un momento para celebrar nuestras victorias colectivas hacia la salud y justicia para todos. A continuación se encuentran algunos titulares de 2016.

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La salud ocurre en la comunidad

Jóvenes líderes y residentes colaboran con el Departamento de Carreteras del Condado de Kern para traer $ 5,6 millones en fondos estatales a Rexland Acres para construir aceras, mejorar las intersecciones y añadir más farolas. Haga clic aquí para leer más.

Los jóvenes líderes de South Kern Sol organizan y celebran la primera Revolución de Justicia de los Jóvenes de Kern, una serie de eventos que arrojan luz sobre la justicia social que afecta a sus comunidades, desde la reforma migratoria hasta los derechos LGBTQ.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9fEQNO8L4mA%3Frel%3D0%2520frameborder%3D0%2520allowfullscreen

La organización comunitaria y la promoción en combinación con una Evaluación de Impacto de la Salud (HIA, por sus siglas en inglés) fueron fundamentales para obtener $2 millones para 4 millas de nuevas aceras y cunetas en la comunidad de Lamont. Haga clic aquí para leer el artículo.

# Agua4all ha proporcionado a los estudiantes de Arvin y a los residentes de la comunidad más de 100.000 galones de agua libre de arsénico desde que se instalaron filtros de punto de uso y estaciones de agua rellenables en 2015.

El condado de Kern se convierte en uno de los primeros condados en incorporar un elemento de Comunidades Saludables como parte de la próxima actualización del Plan General. El elemento incluye metas, objetivos y medidas de implementación enfocadas en construir vecindarios saludables y vibrantes.

Los residentes de Lamont abogaron exitosamente para que el condado pavimentara adecuadamente las calles Hope Lane y Tatum Lane cerca de la escuela primaria Myrtle Elementary School para permitir que familias y niños caminen con seguridad a la escuela.

Líderes de la comunidad de Arvin lograron que la ciudad aprobara un Elemento de Vivienda solido que prioriza el desarrollo de vivienda asequible.

Nuestros colaboradores obtuvieron una asignación de $2 millones en fondos estatales para asistencia técnica para comunidades desfavorecidas para un mejor acceso a los fondos de gases de efecto invernadero. Las comunidades del sur de Kern serán elegibles para acceder a estos fondos para identificar, desarrollar e implementar proyectos fuertes liderados por las comunidades.

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La salud ocurre en las escuelas

#BCinArvin, ¡Un centro universitario de $25 millones vendrá al sur de Kern! Gracias al Kern Community College District. Un sueño hecho realidad para estudiantes y familias.

El Distrito Escolar de Arvin toma la audaz y valiente postura de emitir una proclamación para establecer un “Distrito Santuario”, para proteger a todos los estudiantes. Haga clic aquí para leer más.

El Centro de Justicia Social de la Universidad Estatal de California en Bakersfield, el Congresista Rudy Salas y los colaboradores comunitarios de CCS-SK, fueron anfitriones del Comité Selectivo de la Asamblea de California sobre el Estado de los Niños y Hombres de Color, resaltando el perfil del papel que la salud desempeña en el logro de resultados positivos para los niños y hombres de color en el condado de Kern. Haga clic aquí para leer más.

Colaboradores locales proporcionaron intervenciones informadas por el trauma y sanación a 65 niños y hombres de color en las preparatorias Arvin High School, Golden Vally High School y Mira Monte High School, de los cuales 40 participan de manera activa en actividades de orientación y enriquecimiento de Hijos y Hermanos.

CCS-SK, en colaboración con la Red Nacional de Compadres, trae la capacitación La Cultura Cura a colaboradores locales. La capacitación se centró en los enfoques basados en el trauma, incluyendo guardianes de círculos de sanación. Leer más aquí.

El Distrito Escolar de Arvin está abriendo el camino en el bienestar escolar. A través de su compromiso con el bienestar escolar, el distrito logró reducir el Índice de Masa Corporal de sus estudiantes en hasta un 20 por ciento desde el año escolar 2011-12.

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La salud ocurre con prevención

Según el Departamento de Servicios de Salud, de 3.683 niños inscritos en Medi-Cal restringido, 3.511 habían hecho la transición a Medi-Cal completo para mediados de julio, ¡eso es más del 95%!

Felicitaciones a todos los socios que trabajaron duro para inscribir a las personas en Medi-Cal. Kern Family Health Care, inscribió a 1.970 nuevos beneficiarios en su plan de salud administrado por Medi-Cal entre mayo de 2016 y agosto de 2016.

Se estableció un grupo de trabajo de defensores, miembros de la comunidad y agencias públicas para fortalecer los lazos con la comunidad indígena con la intención de identificar soluciones de interpretación rentables mediante la unificación de los recursos del condado.

The Kern High School District voted to allow more guns on campus.

More guns on campus will not create more graduates, but they will create more fear and distrust.

Tell the district to pursue policies that will help our students. We can’t afford the risk of putting our students, teachers, and staff in danger. The district needs to repeal the vote and allow more voices to be heard.

Sign this petition and call the district at (661) 827-3100 and let them know.

South Kern Sol, News Report, Chris Romo

At a recent session of the Kern High School District Board of Trustees, members decided in a 2-3 vote to allow teachers and staff to carry concealed firearms on district property.

The meeting, held last Thursday, comes just months after the board voted to allow non-district employees who have a concealed weapons permit to carry firearms on campus.

Opponents of the move, including a number of local advocacy groups, say it will only put students and staff at more risk.

“This decision … is going to put teachers and kids lives in danger,” said Tom Russell, a retired police officer and former teacher. “We should not let just any untrained person go running around with a gun living some ‘cowboy save the day’ fantasy. There are actual lives on the line and I’m not sure the board really understands that.”

Russell was among some 60 residents who attended the Thursday meeting to protest the decision. They were joined by the Kern Education Justice Collaborative, Faith in the Valley Kern, and the Dolores Huerta Foundation, which helped organize the group despite the short 24-hour notice given by the board prior to the meeting.

At an earlier press conference held before the board meeting and organized by the Kern Education Justice Collaborative and the Dolores Huerta Foundation, Russell presented graphic images of a young person who was shot and asked if any teacher would really be able to do this to their student.

“Teachers have enough to worry about in teaching their students,” he said, “now they have to worry about their co-workers having a gun or if they have a gun they have to worry about having to kill a child, and one they know.”

The decision by the board makes KHSD the largest school district in California to allow staff members to carry weapons on campus. Despite the state’s restrictive gun control laws, licensed individuals are permitted to carry weapons on school campuses with permission from the superintendent.

Barbara Kilman, who was one of the few parents able to attend the early afternoon board meeting and whose daughter attends East Bakersfield High School, criticized the timing of the special session, which made it all but impossible for most parents to attend. She called it “ridiculous,” adding, “some on the board … don’t care about what happens because they won’t be here to clean up the mess when it gets bad.”

Kilman said the board should have postponed the vote to allow more input from the community. “This is not fair to the parents, the kids and even the teachers,” she said, “and it’s hard to see this happen.”

The board decision elicited a wave of emotion from the crowd.

Bernita Jenkins, a former board member of the Greenfield Union School District, says she fears for students.

“We already have far too many students on our campuses who are afraid of going to school. Now, what this proposal is going to do, is give guns to people who are not quite ready,” she said.

As a former member of the Human Relations Commision, which is tasked with advising the Kern County Board of Supervisors on programs to eliminate prejudice and safeguard all residents, Jenkins said she heard countless stories of how some teachers would mistreat students.

“I was very surprised [to hear] how students were treated and how they felt targeted. That is why we need to be very careful with who we allow” to carry a weapon on campus, she said.

Jenkins also said concerned residents “need to seriously advocate to make sure our students are legitimately safe. We need everyone to show up and be a part of the discussion to make sure decisions like this do not happen.”

Today the Kern High School District (KHSD) Trustees scheduled a special meeting tomorrow at 2 p.m. to intend to vote on a provision allowing CCW holding teachers to carry firearms on campus with the Superintendent’s permission.

Please join Building Healthy Communities South Kern’s partners in telling the district’s Trustees to table this agenda item and move it to a regular meeting where community members will be able to comment.

Come and have your voice heard about the need to keep our schools safe and gun free tomorrow at 2 p.m. at the EOC Administrative Building, Kern High School District, 5801 Sundale Avenue.

Clinica Sierra Vista will host an open enrollment event for 2016-2017 health insurance coverage in partnership with Covered California Statewide Tour on Nov. 16 from 10:00  to 11:30 a.m. at the East Bakersfield Community Health Center located at 815 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd. in Bakersfield.

Certified enrollment counselors will be at the event to provide assistance with the application. Open enrollment for the 2016-2017 year will end next year on January 31.

For more information call Ana Velasquez at (661) 328-4245 or Pritika Ram at (661) 635-3050.

We are proud to share this video which features BHC-SK partners and highlights how a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) was instrumental in bringing $2 million dollars for sidewalks in Lamont.

“The assessment helped ensure that the concerns of rural communities were incorporated into the county’s final plan, and residents worked with the county to ensure that recommendations translated into action,” recounts in the video, Veronica Garibay with Leadership Counsel.

The HIA was completed with support from the Health Impact Project and The California Endowment. Click here for more information.