Volume 44 | August 2018
Your monthly news & updates
Upcoming Event
The Community is Invited to Our Free Farmers Market in Arvin!

Building Healthy Communities Kern, the Kern County Library and Community Action Partnership of Kern have teamed up to host a free farmers market Wednesday, August 15 at 4 p.m. in the parking lot of the Arvin Branch Kern County Library, 201 Campus Dr. 

Join Building Healthy Communities Kern along with our community partners for this special vegetable and fruit distribution and enjoy a movie night with your family and friends.

Arvin Oil and Gas Ordinance
The City of Arvin passed an ordinance that imposes new regulations on future oil and gas facilities in the city of Arvin. The Center on Race Poverty and the Environment rallied community support and successfully garnered support from the City Council to update a 53-year old ordinance. Updates on the ordnance include: the prohibition of new oil and gas sites within the city’s residential, mixed-use, commercial and open space zones, new oil and gas sites will need to be more than 300 feet from certain areas like schools, homes, and parks, and the banning of expansion of existing uses in residential and other sensitive use areas. Please click here for more information.


Lamont Is Building A Better Future
The power of partnership is paying off for Lamont residents. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Comité Progresso de Lamont, youth from the Lamont Boys & Girls Club, local developers, the Kern County Housing Authority, Leadership Counsel, and community members, Lamont will receive $8.2 million from the State for a 40-unit multifamily apartment complex. The complex was approved on July 28 and will provide much needed affordable housing.
 
Designed to be an environmentally friendly development, the Mountain View Village project will include new transit stops, bicycle and pedestrian improvements connecting the complex to surrounding neighborhoods. Other amenities will include an electric vehicle charging station, a CalTrans rideshare program, a bicycle education program, and the purchase of bicycles for all households in Mountain View Village. The development builds off of a Caltrans grant that will construct 20 miles of bike lanes connecting Mountain View Village to the rest of the community.
Citizenship Question on the 2020 Census
Civil Rights Groups have launched a tool to facilitate participation in the public comment period on the questions proposed for the 2020 Census. The 60-day comment period, which ends on August 7, provides an opportunity to establish a strong, clear public record from a range of stakeholders who oppose the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Comments are being gathered at http://www.censuscounts.org.
 
Arvin High Students Learning
Life-saving Skills
Arvin High School students got some hands-on experience with Hall Ambulance Monday morning.

Students were walked through the average day of a paramedic as part of the Bridge Camp program. The program helps students explore career opportunities in healthcare.

Mark Corum with Hall Ambulance says it was important to teach them the life-saving skill.

"We taught them CPR and so they can see how providing CPR until EMS arrives on scene can save the life of a cardiac arrest victim," Corum said.

The students also got a look at tools of the trade, from medical equipment to emergency dispatchers. Corum says Bridge Camp visited Hall Ambulance last year as well and enjoyed the training.

See what John Means and Diane Baez, who are with the Kern Community College District, shared with In the 661 about the Healthcare College Pathways. 
Cementing Safer Neighborhoods
In 2015, BHC South Kern partners worked with local government to secure nearly $2 million to install sidewalks. The Lamont Pedestrian Improvement Project is now in full affect. The crew is in the beginning stages of building sidewalks, crosswalks, and curb ramps with the purpose of making Lamont residents feel safe to walk and bike throughout town.
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