The UC Merced Community and Labor Center collaborated with the Dolores Huerta Foundation to conduct a community needs assessment in the South Central Valley, covering Kern, Kings, Tulare, and Fresno counties. On Wednesday, they presented key findings of the report and hosted two panel discussions. They surveyed 20 communities and had nearly 4,000 responses to the survey.
Jennifer Cossyleon, an associate professor at the UC Merced Community and Labor Center, explained that the study provides policymakers with a guide to make informed decisions based on community needs.
“The South Central Valley Community Needs Assessment is the most comprehensive study done in a rural region,” said Cossyleon. “It essentially provides a blueprint, an agenda, the people’s agenda for investment in the region.”
A few topics the survey inquires about include employment, household size, civic engagement, unions, and healthcare. Some of the key findings from the demographics of the respondents included that 56% were immigrants and 39% noncitizens. Among the noncitizens, 58% were legal residents and indicated having barriers to becoming a U.S. citizen.
During the presentation of the key findings, it was stated that 28% of households had at least one person who was not covered by health insurance, and workers paid a median of $140 a month for employer-sponsored health insurance. The findings also revealed that 39% of undocumented respondents did not know that, in California, low-income residents were eligible for Medi-Cal.
To further discuss these findings and the others presented, there were two panels with community leaders to discuss how their work is connected to the findings and what changes they believe need to be made.
Sandy Redding, a registered nurse who is also the President of the Nurses Association, Vice President of the National Nurses United, and Vice President of the California Labor Federation, spoke about the healthcare needs in the Central Valley.
Due to the reconciliation bill, cutting Medicaid funds earlier this year, Redding stated that there are several hospitals at risk of closing. Some of the areas impacted are Tehachapi and Lake Isabella.
“So if a woman’s going to have to deliver a baby, she’s going to have to drive hours. If somebody has an emergency, they’ll probably die,” said Redding, adding that this is why the community has to fight back.
Kelly Lowery, Program Administrator for the CAPK Food Bank, was on the first panel, and he spoke to food insecurity within the community. He stated that the food bank helps fill in the gap between what people make for a living on a monthly basis and what their needs are.
“The cost of living outpacing wages is something that we hear from our neighbors every single day,” said Lowery.
According to Lowery, the CAPK Food Bank has seen an increase in the need since 2023, when the study started. In January 2023, they had 92,000 engagements of people receiving emergency food access, and now, they are over 200,000 times a month.
The second panel focused on the Intersection of Climate and Jobs in the South Central Valley and the need to increase labor standards for community resiliency. According to the findings from the survey, the median annual income is $30,000, and only 20% of workers indicated being in a union contract; however, 85% of workers favored unions. Within farmworkers, specifically, only 11% were covered by a union.
Dillon Savory, Executive Director of the Central Labor Council, spoke about what he is seeing regarding unionization.
“In labor, a lot of what we’re trying to promote is new worker organizing,” said Savory. “We need more industries that are unionized, and we need to unionize some of the most exploitative industries that we already exist in. But that’s easier said than done.”
He stated that even the industries that are unionized in the South Central Valley are a part of unions where the main office is in Sacramento, Los Angeles, or San Jose.
“So we even get the bottom of the attention when it comes to our own worker organizations,” said Savory.
In the community needs assessment, respondents indicated that they wanted improved infrastructure, and it was very important to them that tax dollar investments went towards creating quality jobs for the community as well. Caroline Farrell, associate professor and director of the Law and Justice Clinic at Golden State University, spoke about her experience seeing investment in infrastructure lead to creating jobs.
She explained that there is an opportunity to do this in a holistic way without burdening the community.
“I think California, in terms of its climate change and environmental policy, has really been moving in a trend where it’s not just about the outcome, but how the outcome happens,” said Farrell. “Like our climate policy isn’t only about producing greenhouse gases, but also how you do it. And there are usually health outcomes ensuring that you’re not disproportionately impacting overburdened communities, and there is some labor piece to that environmental policy.”
Farrell noted that it is important to remember that the community members are the workers and vice versa. She mentioned an experience when she was working with the Center on Race, Poverty, and Environment, and one of their projects in the San Joaquin Valley highlighted the need for local and culturally competent contractors.
“A lot of the contractors were coming from outside the valley, didn’t speak Spanish, didn’t have an understanding of the rural infrastructure, or very much sensitivity towards people’s housing needs,” said Farell.
Focusing on having a local contractor is where the holistic approach happens, according to Farrell.
“You’re getting the environmental benefit of transitions to a healthier energy source, but you’re also developing a workforce pipeline. You’re also creating job opportunities, potentially union jobs as well,” said Farell.
When creating a plan for how a project will benefit the community, Farell stated the importance of a community benefits agreement, where it is explained how the community will be benefited and what work was done to ensure the community is on board with the plan. While the plan may look different for every community based on their need, it should be clear how it will impact the community.
While she said a successful plan is in the eye of the beholder, a few things she stated measure success are how the project will impact pollution for the community and whether the community economically benefits from the project.
“Whether that be because they offer not just job opportunities but actually job commitments. Is that job unionized? Does it have benefits? Is it paying more than the community resident would otherwise get?
Now that the study is over and the results are published, Cossyleon stated that the next step is for the community to speak to elected officials.
“Call your elected officials, 97% of people who took the survey said they would be willing to attend a community meeting to make policy change. So, organize those community meetings, talk to community members, talk to your neighbors. Build coalitions with one another and hold elected officials accountable for the changes you want to see,” said Cossyleon.
Cossyleon stated that she hopes community members who see the survey know that they are heard.
“I hope that the community knows we hear you, we see you, and we’re here alongside this fight to make the South Central valley the greatest it’s ever been,” said Cossyleon.
The full study can be found here.
