On February 5, the California Strategic Growth Council and CAPK held a town hall meeting in Shafter to discuss the planning for the development of the community resilience center. This is the second town hall this year, providing them with a few months before the final proposal. Attendees were provided with important updates, announcements, ideas, and initiatives to bring this project to fruition.
The proposed Shafter Community Resilience Center will serve as a shelter and provide resources all year long for residents who need extra assistance and in the event of an emergency.
Currently, Shafter is the fifth fastest growing city throughout the state and County with new amenities, infrastructure, and housing developments on the rise. With a 4.7% growth rate in its population, a resilience center would be an additional benefit for the residents.
Angie Nelson, Program Manager with the Shafter Youth Center, led the meeting by introducing the community partners: Richland Family Resource Center, Building Healthy Communities, Listen to Shafter, and Kern Community College District. Field representative for Dr. Bains’ office, Claribel Gutierrez, was also in attendance providing feedback.
Through the community resilience center, residents will be able adapt to challenges, whether they’re economic issues or health-related problems. The center will serve as a designated area serving and providing a multitude of resources.
Nelson presented preliminary survey results conducted after the previous town hall meeting. The survey was initially evaluated by the consulting company Health Assessment and Research for Communities (HARC), after they went around Shafter collecting responses from community members.
However, Nelson pointed out that though the research is done, there is still work to be completed in the next few months. She also explained that the demographic of individuals who answered the survey was unknown, and the questions represented in the survey were vague.
“We have a lot of work on the back to do, which is what’s going to take us for a study. So we’ll move forward. We will dive deeper in the community resilience itself and how we are actively engaged with local partners to address and assess our community,” said Nelson.
One of the first questions posed to survey takers was if the community holds enough resources for children with disabilities, but as Nelson points out, the questions are vague.
“These preliminary survey results give me the idea of how I can turn these community and town hall meetings more informative for the community. So with this, I’m going to start looking for resources in town and see who has services available to present them to the community,” explained Nelson.
Shafter already has many recreational amenities made available to youth through sports teams associated with the elementary and high school, alongside the additional outside leagues. However, despite this, many are unaware of these services, while others express how it is not cost-efficient for many families.
Rosa Romero, who was in attendance, shared that there needs to be a way to make these amenities free of cost, “the cost to participate in these things are high, they’re expensive,” she said.
Nelson agreed with Romero, acknowledging that expenses are high to participate in, but also noted that some of these services and resources are still unknown to residents. She also provided a possible solution to help with fees for these programs, such as searching for grants or agencies that can help alleviate these costs.
Nelson further went on to explain one of the other questions used on the survey to record health-related issues. 51% of individuals identified that they have been affected by dust from fields migrating to their homes, schools, etc. 42% answered that they were affected by pesticides from fields, and 37% answered that they were impacted by extreme weather conditions.
Local partners shared that because of the data presented, the resilience center will be an extremely important asset in Shafter to combat these issues and others like them. They discussed the possibilities of hopefully having a health care clinic, food accessibility, accessible transportation, assistance with job fairs, food handlers’ licenses, and recreational supplies.
According to Nelson, the final report will be made public between June and July of this year. Through HARC’s data and concise report that they will submit, will help guide the grant process, ensuring that these resources will be used efficiently and effectively for this project.
