SAN BERNARDINO, Calif., Weeping as she narrated her story, Lupé (not her real name) an undocumented immigrant living in the Inland Empire, said she began feeling helpless and scared when her young son began having convulsions a few years ago. Like her, he had no health insurance.

Luckily for her, the nearby SAC Health System (SACHS), a federally qualified health clinic that does not turn uninsured patients away, enrolled the boy as a patient. The medications the clinic provided kept the boy’s convulsions under check.

Last May, when California launched its Health for All Kids program, SACHS helped enroll Lupé’s son in full-scope Medi-Cal, California’s name for the government program for poor people known as Medicaid in the rest of the nation.

Designed to provide health insurance for undocumented children who were left out of the Affordable Care Act because of their immigration status, the Health for All Kids is largely (71 percent) funded by the state, with the rest paid out of federal funds for emergency coverage.

Lupé’s son is among an estimated 250,000 children in California who have so far benefited from the program, said Dr. Jason Lohr, a family medicine practitioner at SACHS.

Lohr was a panelist at a February 7 round table ethnic media briefing here co-sponsored by New America Media and SACHS. Some 51 stakeholders, advocacy groups and media participated.

Discussions largely focused on how the program is attempting to close the gap in oral and mental health care coverage for low-income children. Paying for dental and mental health care is too expensive for uninsured families. Having full-scope Medi-Cal gives children access to dentists and behavioral health care providers at little or no cost.

Federally-funded health clinics like SACHS have been a boon for the Inland Empire’s low-income children. According to the Calfornia Healthcare Foundation, between 10,000 and 12,000 children in the Inland Empire transitioned from Emergency Medi-Cal to full-scope Medi-Cal when the Health Care for All Kids program launched, noted Lizbeth Bayardo, project manager of the Community Clinic Association of San Bernardino County.

Between May through December of last year, there were approximately 1,800 children that were newly enrolled into Medi-Cal in San Bernardino County and 2,800 children in Riverside County newly enrolled.

Maryellen Westerberg, who oversees the Behavioral Health Department at SACHS, pointed out that there was an acute shortage of mental health care providers in San Bernardino County: eight for every 100,000 mental health patients.

She said that anxiety and depression are the most common mental health issues that affect youth. Stigma surrounding mental health keeps many families from seeking help, she said.

But at SACHS, “We have come up with a much more creative way to intervene into families in their appointments when they are here for medical care,” she said.

When patients come in for a visit with their primary care provider, and if the physician diagnosis the patient has a mental health care issue, therapists and counselors come into the physician’s room to help the patient.

One such therapist is Sara Saenz- Pavon.

“By us coming to them and offering them those services while they are in the clinic setting and then we do follow ups, we continue to see them and offer those services to them in the clinic setting,” Saenz- Pavon said.

Panelists Dr. Gregory Mitchell, executive director of dental services at SACHS, spoke to the widespread prevalence of tooth decay among the Inland Empire’s like children in the rest of the nation.

“Tooth decay is the most common chronic disease among children in the United States and sadly it is almost entirely preventable” said Mitchell..

Mitchell, citing from statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that more than 25 percent of children between the ages of 2 and 5 have decay and 50 percent of children age 12 – 15 have had one or more cavities.

He said that when Health for All Kids launched, he was expecting to see a larger increase in the number of young patients coming into his clinic.

“I was expecting a bigger bump of children coming in under this program than what we actually have seen so far,” he said.

Mitchell attributed this to a lack of information, as well as the fear among undocumented immigrants of accessing public programs.

Oftentimes children miss school due to oral pain, causing them to fall behind in their studies and in some cases even drop out.

“This is something that is a really serious problem” he said.

National Immigration Law Center attorney Mayra Joachin told the gathering that it was understandable that in the current “difficult” political climate, undocumented people are afraid to enroll in public programs because they worry that the information they provide on their application forms could be used to deport them.

“But I want to remind everyone that there are several state and federal laws to protect that information,” Joachin said. “As of right now, information provided will remain protected.”

She said California currently has pending legislation that will strengthen those protections. Under that, free legal help will be provided to undocumented immigrants during deportation proceedings, more assistance will be offered in criminal court and local law enforcement will be further limited in cooperating with federal immigration agents.

With additional reporting by NAM health editor Viji Sundaram.

About the author:

Paulina Rojas joined Coachella Uninc. as a beat reporter in February 2016 after working as a city reporter in the eastern Coachella Valley for more than a year. Although born and raised in New York City, Paulina feels right at home in the eastern Coachella Valley. She loves the warmth of the people and buying fresh bread from her favorite bakery in downtown Coachella. Paulina is a graduate of the University of Houston, and her work has appeared in The Las Vegas Review – Journal, The Houston Chronicle, HelloGiggles and Vivala. View her author page here.

Editor’s Note: Raices Cultura, a local arts and culture nonprofit, recently teamed up with lawyers, Megan Beaman, from Beaman Law, and Russell Jauregui, from the Law Offices of Russell Jauregui, to host a ‘Know Your Rights’ workshop on immigration issues in the new year. Coachella Uninc. asked Jauregui to list the top five things community members should do if they are worried about their immigration status in 2017.

1. Get the Facts

“With all the things that Trump and his supporters have been saying about deporting everybody, people should know their rights. People still have constitutional rights and they should know what they are. People still may have certain defenses to deportation, they still may have ways to immigrate so they need to know those things, they need to know their rights and know what their options are.”

2. Find a Trusted Lawyer

“Stay away from bad layers and ‘notarios’ who do not know the law. People go to them and get ripped off, so go to workshops where there is free information from lawyers who are here because they want to do this. Try to go to community events where you can get the right information for free.”

3. Find out if Citizenship is an Option

“Find out if you can become a citizen or if you are a legal permanent resident. At times, there are workshops that you can attend for free and there will probably be lawyers there that will volunteer to help you for free.”

4. Participate and Get Organized

“Don’t be intimidated by Trump and his supporters. We have constitutional rights. Especially in communities like Coachella where there are fewer resources, the community has to defend itself. So work with good community based organizations.”

5. Defend Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

“If DACA is ended, then we must fight for an alternative to protect those who have DACA. The reason we have deferred action is because of the students, because they were active and because they got involved and pushed Obama to do it. Those that have the (DACA) status have been working and going to school, so we need to keep them with some kind of status.”

About the author: 

Olivia Rodriguez is from Thermal, Calif. She graduated from Desert Mirage High School in 2011 and earned her bachelor’s degree in Integrative Biology from UC Berkeley in 2015. Olivia joined Coachella Uninc. in 2015 and one day she hopes to be a health leader and work alongside other community leaders in the eastern Coachella Valley to address health Inequalities in her community.

By Amanda Flores

Military aircrafts from wars past flew across Veterans’ Memorial Park in Coachella marking the start of the dedication ceremony for the newly renovated space. Flags surrounded the park honoring Coachella residents who served in the U.S. Armed Forces as hundreds of families sat gathered to hear city officials and honored guests speak from the park’s new amphitheater.

“Our job as community members is to pay homage to those who have sacrificed themselves and those that have given their lives so that we never forget the cost of freedom,” Mayor Steven Hernandez said. “Freedom is not free, it is fought for.”

The park was first inaugurated in 1906 and was later named Vietnam Memorial Park. However, in 2003 the city decided to change the name of the park to Veterans Memorial Park to honor all veterans. As the park began to deteriorate, the city sought to renovate certain areas to make it more inviting to the community.

The project, which took six months to complete, cost  $4.2 million. City council members, the Veterans Committee, and city engineers, including Jonathan Hoy, were some of the key contributors to the park’s renovation. The newly renovated park consists of three main areas: the amphitheater, a picnic area, and a date palm and rose garden.

Local veterans were among the hundreds in attendance during the ceremony. Santos P. Castillo, 69, is a resident of Coachella who served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force from 1967-1971, including tours in Vietnam. “The park was in desperate need of the renovation for many years. It will offer visitors a place to reflect on the contributions of our local heroes,” said Castillo, who was honored at the event.

The park features a “Hero Walk” where inscriptions from famous veterans and officials are displayed. In addition, the names of local veterans are engraved on granite  tiles. Also, a Supreme Sacrifice Monument honors those who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Another local veteran,  Alonzo Solis Jimenez, 70,  served as a specialist in the U.S. Army from 1967-1968, also during the Vietnam War. “It’s about time we get some close to home recognition. When we came home from Vietnam, there were no parades or no celebrations, we were just ignored. But now, I feel truly honored to be recognized and part of this new Hero Walk.”

Residents felt it was important to renovate the park so that they can gather to remember the active service members and veterans in the community.

Other parts of the city are expected to undergo renovations in the near future, including the library and local buildings. The city’s goal is to bring new life into downtown Coachella so that residents can enjoy the community they call home.

About the author:

Amanda Flores, 15, is a lifelong Coachella resident. She joined Coachella Unincorporated earlier this year and has already written several articles on community health and farmworker services. After high school, Amanda said she wants to study law or medicine. View Amanda‘s author page here.

By Paulina Rojas

OASIS, Calif. — Many of those who call the Eastern Coachella Valley home depend on public transportation. Even on days when temperatures exceed 100 degrees people can be seen standing at bus stops, many which lack shelters to protect riders from the sun and rain.

But there is a group of community-based organizations working to make this issue a thing of the past.

“Valley wide, there are a lot of areas without shade structures at all,” said Bill Schinsky, director of the Coachella Valley Art Center, “which is very surprising considering where we live.” The Coachella Valley sees some of the hottest temperatures in the state.

CVAC along with organizations that include Building Healthy Communities (BHC), the SCRAP Gallery, the Land Use Planning Awareness (LUPA) Project and the Women’s Policy Institute are part of the B.U.S SHELTERS collaboration.

In August, the group held a demonstration in Oasis where community members were surveyed on the need for shelters and were given a glimpse of a temporary bus shelter prototype built by Schinsky.

“Since I have the space and we were talking about what we wanted to see happen, it all boiled down to the fact that we would have to build a prototype,” Schinsky said. “I realized that I had materials here that I could use, so why not use it and see what happens.”

Schinsky constructed the prototype out of lumber, window and solar screen, which, provides protection against the sun.

“That was my mindset, we’re not here to build a structure, we’re here to get a point across and I think it was very successful,” he said.

Miguel Vazquez, Healthy Communities Urban Regional Planner for Riverside University Health System agrees that the demonstration was a success.

“The demonstration was a way to get a feel for the need of these structures in the east valley,” he said.

Vasquez also mentioned that during the demonstration over 50 community members stopped by to check out the prototype, which was on par with his expectations.

The Women’s Policy Institute was at the demonstration collecting community input on bus shelters and bus ridership.

While the project is still in it’s initial phase, the next steps in the process will be to set up meetings with the local public transit agency, Sunline, to discuss options and what can be done to bring the bus shelters to the Eastern Coachella Valley.

The idea for the project was partly inspired by young people on the BHC Youth Council, who two years earlier noticed the lack of bus shelters in their community and began speaking out about the issue. Vazquez believes that the Bus Shelters project could also set a precedent for involving youth in future endeavors.

“It is especially important for youth to see that their ideas led to community transformation that brought people together,” he said.

Another component that makes the bus shelter project unique is the incorporation of art.

“It was important to bring creativity to the process. To come up with infrastructure … that is able to become part of the fabric of the community,” Vazques said. “We do want to incorporate a cultural element into the design of the bus shelters.”

This is something Schinsky can get on board with.

“There is no reason why a bus shelter cannot be creative, colorful, stimulating, besides also being practical and providing a necessity, especially in the desert,” he said.

About the author:

Paulina Rojas joined Coachella Uninc. as a beat reporter in February 2016 after working as a city reporter in the eastern Coachella Valley for more than a year. Although born and raised in New York City, Paulina feels right at home in the eastern Coachella Valley. She loves the warmth of the people and buying fresh bread from her favorite bakery in downtown Coachella. Paulina is a graduate of the University of Houston, and her work has appeared in The Las Vegas Review – Journal, The Houston Chronicle, HelloGiggles and Vivala. View her author page here.

By Paulina Rojas

COACHELLA, Calif. — A new study shows one in ten youth surveyed in the eastern Coachella Valley identify as LGBTQ.

The study, conducted by the Building Health Communities Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) group, collected data on LGBTQ youth issues in the eastern Coachella Valley earlier this year.

The group of students from Desert Mirage High School and Coachella Valley High School originally hoped to collect 200 survey responses from young people, ages 14-24, living in the eastern Coachella Valley but by second day, the group had already received 350 responses. By the end of the two-week survey period, the group received more than 600 responses.

Sahara Huazano, a YPAR coordinator, said she and the group of YPAR scholars strategized to get the survey in front of as many young people as possible.  

“[The survey] was being passed through social media and email,” Huazano said.

Huazano also said the young people focused much of their outreach efforts on DMHS and CVHS, where some teachers encouraged their students to fill out the survey.

On Saturday, the YPAR scholars hosted the second of two community forums at Coachella Valley High School to discuss the survey results and make a call to action for an LGBTQ youth center in the east valley. More than 30 community members and partners showed up at the event.

The first forum was held at CVHS on May 25 and focused on sharing the survey results with young people at the high school.

During the YPAR4Change community forum, east valley LGBTQ activist, Alex Portillo shared her coming out story. Portillo, a communications student at College of the Desert, described what it felt like to date men although she was interested in women.

“I started to think that this what relationships were like and then I got to the point where I was honest with myself and admitted I am attracted to women,” Portillo said.

YPAR scholars also said the survey revealed that a majority of LGBTQ youth in the eastern Coachella Valley feel most comfortable at school, though LGBTQ students say they still face harassment and bullying.

Having this data will help bring more resources for LGBTQ youth to the east valley, according to Huazano.

“One of the action items would be to bring a LGBTQ center to our community,” Huazano said.

The center would offer resources such as counseling and educational materials on LGBT issues to the entire east valley.

The YPAR group plans to continue engaging in conversations with local leaders, nonprofits and elected officials about the LGBTQ center in the east valley and hopes to have the center up and running in a year.

“People that represent the community should try to help us with getting the LGBTQ center because it gives you more support and it shows that you are a people person,” YPAR scholar, Alejandro Mesa Aguilar said.  “It will get more people to vote for you and apart from that, it shows that you care about the community.”

About the author:

Paulina Rojas joined Coachella Uninc. as a beat reporter in February 2016 after working as a city reporter in the eastern Coachella Valley for more than a year. Although born and raised in New York City, Paulina feels right at home in the eastern Coachella Valley. She loves the warmth of the people and buying fresh bread from her favorite bakery in downtown Coachella. Paulina is a graduate of the University of Houston, and her work has appeared in The Las Vegas Review – Journal, The Houston Chronicle, HelloGiggles and Vivala. View her author page here.

Building Healthy Communities Eastern Coachella Valley (BHC ECV), a coalition of community organizations and east valley residents, partnered with the Coachella Valley Teachers Association (CVTA) to advocate for transparency in the funding process and to give input on funding priorities for CVUSD schools.

Prior to the LCFF hearing, BHC’s Schools Action Team asked to present a Restorative Justice Resolution at the board meeting but were not approved by the school board. Still, team members, parents and students waited more than two hours to give public comment at the hearing.

The resolution asked the CVUSD school board to adopt a comprehensive school climate policy for all CVUSD schools that included Restorative Justice practices, discipline practices that emphasize restorative ideologies over expulsions and suspensions. The Schools Action Team is currently piloting a Restorative Justice program at Bobby Duke Middle School with support from the school’s principal,vice principal, dean and several teachers.

Coachella Unincorporated spoke to people at the LCFF hearing Tuesday night to ask how they believe the LCFF funding should be invested. Read their responses here:

Read more about Restorative Justice:

Parents Push for Restorative Justice

Mother of Four Helping Transform Education in the ECV

By: Paulina Rojas

MECCA, Calif. — On Saturday, residents from all over the eastern Coachella Valley gathered at the Mecca Community Park to celebrate art, music and culture at the Fifth Annual The HUE Music and Arts Festival.

The event was planned entirely by the Youth Organizing Council (YOC) of Building Healthy Communities Eastern Coachella Valley (BHC ECV). Planning The HUE was a way for the young people be civically engaged, according to Victor Gonzalez, civic engagement manager and youth coordinator for the YOC.

“We try to make sure that we do it with an art component, art can be used as activism, so that’s what The HUE is about,” said Gonzalez.

Although it was a windy day, festival-goers were treated to live music on two stages, art displays by ECV youth and food provided by North Shore residents. In the Crisalida trailer, people viewed paintings and poems created by students at Toro Canyon Middle School, and there was a photo sideshow celebrating community ‘changemakers’ that was created by youth from the YOC and Coachella Uninc. reporters.

At it’s core, The HUE represents something much bigger than just a concert, according to Juliana Tabuada, a freshman at Desert Mirage High School who was also part of the YOC.

“I think events like this bring the community together, it shows unity that we have and that’s really important,” said Tabuada. “I hope [The HUE] is something that becomes something as big as ‘Coachella,’ where anyone from the valley can come and just enjoy and be a part of this.”

More than 11 community organizations, like Clinicas de Salud del Pueblo and TODEC Legal Center, were also at the event to help connect festival-goers with local resources and programs. Helping the people of the eastern Coachella Valley get more involved in their community is the true mission of the festival.

“The HUE is a place where we try to learn about our culture and embrace it, but it’s also about how do we make it better,” Gonzalez said.  “That’s why we have all of these organizations here to make sure people know what is going on in their community.”

About the author:

Paulina Rojas joined Coachella Uninc. as a beat reporter in February 2016 after working as a city reporter in the eastern Coachella Valley for more than a year. Although born and raised in New York City, Paulina feels right at home in the eastern Coachella Valley. She loves the warmth of the people and buying fresh bread from her favorite bakery in downtown Coachella. Paulina is a graduate of the University of Houston, and her work has appeared in The Las Vegas Review – Journal, The Houston Chronicle, HelloGiggles and Vivala. View her author page here.

INDIO, Calif. — A group of young artists from the eastern Coachella Valley recently showcased their art installation, ‘Pyramid of Teotihuacan’ at the 2016 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

This isn’t the first year artists from Raices Cultura, a nonprofit art and cultural expression program based in the eastern Coachella Valley, have been invited to showcase their work at the annual music and arts festival, but this year, designing the art piece had more meaning according to Jacqueline Aguilar, an artist with Raices Cultura.

“The theme is pyramids because we wanted to focus on the rising importance of black and brown unity,” Aguilar said. “Which is why one of the pyramids resembles a Teotihuacan shape and the other [pyramid] looks a more like the pyramid of Giza.”

Both pyramid structures were displayed during weekend one and weekend two near the camping area.

Artists from Raices Cultura hope to display the pyramids again at the fifth annual ‘The Hue Music and Arts Festival,’ an event planned by the Building Healthy Communities Youth Organizing Council, on Saturday, April 30 in Mecca, Calif.

More information about The Hue Music and Arts Festival:

Date:                     Saturday, April 30th 2015
Time:                    12:30pm-9:30pm.
Location:             Mecca Community Park, Mecca CA 92254

For more information on The Hue Music and Arts Festival, please contact Victor Gonzalez 760-989-7188

About the author: 

Luis Lua is currently a senior at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal, Calif. Luis joined Coachella Uninc. in September and enjoys learning about video production. He said, “I personally think journalism is a way to exercise our rights,to express ourselves and to help change the way people view our community.”