COACHELLA, Calif. — On a warm summer night the sound of shoes clacking on the floor radiated from the clubhouse at Las Palmeras Estates, a group of low-income housing units in Coachella. The sound was not coming from children running around relaxing during their summer break. This was the sound of young people from the group Sol Del Desierto practicing ballet folklorico.
Ballet folklorico are dances from Latin America that fuse local folk culture with ballet.
Parents looked on as their children perfected their choreography one step at a time. Glimmers of sweat slowly appearing on their faces. Although they were getting tired, they had many reasons to keep pushing.
“It allows you to express a love of dancing and when we compete it is like teaching people our culture and traditions,” said 10 year old Isabel Gomez.
Gomez kept a smile on her face even as her instructor Maribel De Leon asked her to repeat the steps a few times. She held her colorful skirt up, making sure it never made contact with the floor.
Students encouraged one another to do their best. De Leon’s students were doing more than just dancing. Through this program, funded by the Coachella Valley Housing Coalition, the students were able to preserve their cultural traditions while at the same time create a safe space where they all belong.
De Leon who has been dancing since she was seven said that some of her students are shy when they first start dancing but over time they begin to come out of their shells.
“The majority of the children I have were really shy at school, or if they’re starting school they don’t know how to interact with children or their own peers,” she said. “So this is an opportunity to help them grow out of it.”
Gustavo Sandoval, Folklorico instructor at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal points out similar benefits of folklorico especially for young people.
“One of the original forms of community is dancing,” he said. Dancing plays a role in all cultures. Dancing allows us to express our creativity without too many restrictive boundaries.”
“Folklorico often promotes and increases social and creative outlets” he said. “When people come together, it provides opportunities to socialize and share stories.”
Folklorico has provided Megan Richardson with the opportunity to engage in an enriching cultural exchange.
“So, I am the only person in the group that is white. I think it is a great way to learn about culture and learn Spanish, it is really fun,” she said. “I have made a lot of new friends and it is a great way to learn how both (American and Latino) cultures came together.
Megan’s mom, Michelle Richardson, said that folklorico has not only given her daughter to learn a dance that isn’t jazz or ballet but it has also increased both of their understandings of Mexican culture.
“This is by far the best opportunity we have had to learn about the music, all the different states in Mexico,” she said. “I mean we all think there’s Mexico and Baja, we don’t understand all about all the states in Mexico, we homeschool so it really is like a whole immersion program for us.”
Even those that are Mexican or that are familiar with the culture might not be aware of the full diversity that makes up Latin America’s largest country. Folklorico shines a spotlight on this rich diversity.
“There are 31 states and all have their unique style of dance and dress. To say that the Mexican hat dance represents all of folklorico is criminal and is trivializing the enormous contributions that have given Mexican Folklore its richness and flavor unique to itself,” said Sandoval.
“There was dance before the Europeans arrived and there was dance after they arrived. There is indigenous dances, and then there is dance that blend the European dances, indigenous dance and elements from other cultures such as the African culture.”
Back at Sol Del Desierto practice De Leon takes a break to check in with her students and their parents to make sure that none of them are falling behind on their studies.
“If they aren’t doing well in school then they can’t come to dance or practice,” she said. “It is important that they focus on school.”
Before parting she shares some final words.
“You have to dedicate yourself to it, it isn’t easy.”
About the Author:
Paulina Rojas is a native New Yorker, Paulina has spent the past two years reporting on the Eastern Coachella Valley. She joined Coachella Unincorporated in 2016. While it is different from the concrete jungle of Manhattan, she feels right at home in Coachella. In 2014 Paulinagraduated with a journalism degree from The University of Houston and is a member of The National Association of Hispanic Journalists. View her author page here.
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By: Amanda Flores
THERMAL, Calif. — Hundreds of eastern Coachella Valley students earned their cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) automated external defibrillator (AED) certification earlier this month at a health career event at Desert Mirage High School.
The event, hosted by the Heart2Heart Foundation, connected students with dozens of health career representatives and even featured a special rescue demonstration by Congressman Raul Ruiz (D-CA 36th District), who arrived at the event in an air ambulance helicopter.
Richard DeRose, executive director of the Heart2Heart Foundation, said he organized the health career fair and CPR training with the Coachella Valley School District in order to instill confidence in students through learning life saving skills, like CPR.
“It is the [Heart2Heart] foundation’s goal to create a greater awareness about careers in nursing, para-medicine, and firefighting,” DeRose said. “By training every high school student in CPR and AED prior to graduating, we are creating safer communities and saving more lives.”
Currently, twenty-seven states require high school students to earn their CPR certification before graduating, but California is not on that list. Still, DeRose, a former flight paramedic and active American Heart Association basic life support instructor, said he is determined to help all Coachella Valley students learn how to perform CPR and use an AED.
In order to earn their CPR and AED certification, students needed to complete a two-part program. Students were required to complete the first part of the program online through the American Heart Association’s Heartsaver CPR/AED training curriculum. Then, came the practical skills evaluation and testing phase. Yudith Torres, a senior at Desert Mirage, was one of the students to successfully earn her CPR and AED certification.
“I feel that learning these essential life saving skills will help me out in any situation in life, and you never know when someone needs you,” Torres said. “It was an amazing opportunity to have the chance to learn how to save someone’s life.”
Ruiz, a former emergency room physician, said the students earning their CPR and AED certifications were preparing to become leaders in their community.
“Learning these life saving skills shows leadership and it gives you self confidence,” Ruiz said. “The fact that you are now able to save a life means that you have the responsibility to use your education and your skills to improve the lives of people in this community.”
The Heart2Heart Foundation also works to connect students interested in health careers with scholarship and mentorship opportunities. DeRose said he has received support from the Desert Sands Unified School District and the Palm Springs Unified School District to bring similar CPR and AED training programs to more high schools throughout Coachella Valley.
“Not only are we better preparing our students to save a life, but also creating a higher caliber of healthcare providers in the Coachella Valley,” DeRose said.
For more information regarding the Heart2Heart Foundation contact Richard DeRose, at 760-895-0041 or [email protected].
About the author:
Amanda Flores, 15, is a lifelong Coachella resident. She joined Coachella Unincorporated last 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.
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Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of three reports on the DREAMer movement.
Part one can be read here and part two can be read here.
The Diary of Joaquín Magón Entry 29: The Dreamer Chronicles, Part 3
Approved for DACA, Mayté and Lamber Can Finally Pursue their Dreams
I first spoke to Mayté, 21, in December as she was finishing up her stay at College of the Desert (COD), the Coachella Valley’s community college. She was getting ready to transfer and was waiting for her Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) approval.
I sat down with her again over the summer, along with her brother, Lamber, 18, for a follow up interview. Mayte had been approved for DACA in January 2013 and Lamber was approved a few months after.
Lamber recently graduated from Desert Mirage High School in Thermal, and he plans to go to COD because, as he puts it, “I have no cash.” He wants to study liberal arts and become a teacher.
Our conversation is a mix between me asking questions about their experience and them asking me questions on what to expect for the DACA renewals and what to expect if S. 744 — or any other comprehensive immigration reform (CIR) bill — becomes law. I explain that if the bill passes in its current form, DACA recipients won’t have to go through another background check and would go through a 5-year waiting period to become a legal permanent resident. It’s all speculation, of course, but it makes for good conversation.
Mayté is getting ready to start her first semester in CSU San Bernardino, embarking on her new adventures in a new school and a new city. To say that DACA changed her life drastically would be undermine her immense ability to survive, her resourcefulness; she would have graduated from a university regardless because she wants it bad enough, but now that the playing field has been leveled a bit more it will be easier.
“The only thing that has come from DACA is that now I can work legally,” says Mayté. “Before I would feel kind of restrained, only because I didn’t have papers. I couldn’t work. Now it’s better. I can go to San Bernardino. I had postponed that because I didn’t have a work permit. I didn’t have papers, and I asked where am I going to work? How am I going to pay for my classes? And my mom wasn’t going to help me out because she can barely pay for this [apartment].”
Their mother is a farm worker. She works the season picking lettuce in the night shifts. When I spoke to them it was May, the heat of the desert was hitting well over 90 degrees and would slowly creep over 100 in the coming summer months.
To go outside for a walk is unbearable, to work at a fast pace is deadly. Many companies prefer to work by night going in at 4 p.m and coming out at 3 a.m. One can imagine the difficulties of such a task, in particular for parents that must leave their children home either with a babysitter or alone at those hours of the night as parents swipe and cut away. While the city dreams, she dreams of one day having her children graduate from college and be the platform for which they, as a family, can achieve the American dream. She navigates the night with a knife and a light bulb searching and cutting produce that will make its way into a sandwich somewhere that one of us will eat.
“Whenever [our mom] comes from the fields,” says Lamber, “I can see her veins, her blood vessels exploded…[she has] cuts everywhere, her skin is rough.”
Seeing the conditions that her mother has to go through, and the injustices that her mother suffers in the work place, Mayté decided to go to school to become a labor attorney. Lamber, having seen how difficult it is to navigate the school system that he, at such a young age has noticed does not welcome all students equally, has decided to become an English teacher because he believes “those are the ones you learn the most from.”
Like Mayté and Lamber, there are millions of students out there fighting for CIR. We can look at CIR, we can look at our communities and see how immigration is integrated into every single aspect, in every single atom of our lives. The undocumented, low-income populations are usually relegated to the less economically privileged part of town, usually the East — the Eastern Coachella Valley, East Salinas, East Los Angeles. What we are seeing more and more of today are young immigrants that look around, notice their parents, notice the walls of the buildings on their side of town, notice the paved streets on the other side of town, notice their hands, notice their dreams, and notice the barriers.
What we see is a crux. A point. A specific point in history where people see that they want to change the world and are beginning to grow and become the root cause of a change that will spread like vines intertwined on walls. Neither Alma, Mayte, nor Lamber want to become leaders of a large movement. They want to become a lawyer, a teacher, a marriage counselor. In other words, they want to become integrated into society and change society from within. But that change, that fight for CIR is not an end; it’s a means from which to attain the full rights of a voting citizen coupled with the power of an education, in order to return to their community and to make things better for both the generation before them – the parents that migrated, that worked in the hot, burning, fields, construction sites, cleaning the halls of a university, mowing the lawn of mansion – and for the next generation that will not have to bear witness to the pain of the past.
The Diary of Joaquín Magón is written by Jesús E. Valenzuela Félix, a reporter from Coachella living in Salinas and working for the United Farm Workers Foundation. He is a regular contributor to Coachella Unincorporated and New America Media.
Editor’s Note: This is the third in a series of three reports on the DREAMer movement.
Part one can be read here and part two can be read here.
MARIA GARCIA and KARLA RAMIREZ/Coachella Uninc
COACHELLA – Olive Crest Academy (OCA), a public charter high school, is making great strides toward a healthier student body through recent grants from The California Endowment (TCE) and Regional Access Project Foundation (RAPF).
TCE’s investment has made it possible for the school to participate in the Health Corps program founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz. The mission of the program is to implement innovative in-school activities that inspire teens to make healthier choices for themselves and their families.
OCA’s health coordinator position is funded by TCE to support the Building Healthy Communities initiative in the Eastern Coachella Valley. Coachella Valley High School and Desert Mirage High School also have TCE-funded Health Corps coordinators.
“I go into classrooms and I teach the students about nutrition, physical fitness and mental resilience,” says Anayeli Zavala, Health Corps coordinator. “Two things that I’m trying to implement right away are the wellness council and my cooking club.”
In an effort to fight childhood obesity, a new water station was unveiled earlier this week to encourage students to drink water instead of sugary beverages. Students learned that the average American consumes an average of 100 pounds of sugar annually. Choosing water is an easy way to reduce sugar intake.
Students can easily fill their environmentally friendly water bottles with filtered water from the water station and drink throughout the day. The water station is part of the Re-Think Your Drink campaign, made possible through a grant from TCE, RAPF and Riverside County Department of Health.
Zavala, who is assigned to OCA for two years, is hoping to make a lasting impact with activities including an after-school Teen Chef competition and an annual health fair.
“I expect that it would probably take some time for them [the students and staff] to warm up to Health Corps and get to know the crazy lady that walks around with all the posters to different classes and talking about health,” said Zavala, “but I hope that, in the end, people can get comfortable with Health Corps and view me as an ally and as a resource that can be used throughout the school.”
For more information, please visit the Health Corps website.
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JOHNNY FLORES JR/Coachella Uninc
THERMAL — After six years and $600,000 in contributions, the San Jose Community Learning Center has finally opened its doors in rural Eastern Coachella Valley.
Its mission: to provide a learning space for adults and youth living in the 41 surrounding mobile home parks.
“In the rural areas there aren’t any places for the students and families to meet or help each other out,” said Sister Gabi Williams, the driving force behind the project. “There aren’t any study places within the mobile homes. This is an opportunity for young people to have a place to do their homework.”
Funding for the center, located at 69455 Pierce Street, came primarily from fundraising events such as luncheons and golf tournaments.
The sizeable contributions allowed for the creation of two adjacent spaces. The Bea Main Learning Center, a space for middle and high school students, is fully equipped with laptops and desks for youth to complete assignments. In addition, coordinators will work hand in hand with nearby Desert Mirage High School (DMHS) and other local schools to help keep students on task and offer appropriate assistance with schoolwork.
The Ross Jarrett Community Center will offer health, safety, parenting and language arts classes for adults. Adult classes will begin next month.
Maria Mendez, a sophomore at DMHS, is already noticing the benefits of the new learning center.
“Well right now it’s benefiting me because I get to learn more about English. Before I didn’t know that (the letter) ‘I’ had to be capitalized in a sentence, and now I’m learning little things like this,” said Mendez. “We are writing stories and essays and I can ask for help here.”
Williams, who recently left the Diocese of San Bernardino’s Office of Social Concerns to serve as director of programs at the center, has long been an advocate for change in the rural communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley. This community center is just one part of her overall dream to bring much needed resources to residents in these areas.
“I hope these students finish high school and go on to college and obtain the profession they want,” said Williams. “They don’t have the opportunities out here. This facility helps bring out everything they need to achieve that.”
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THERMAL – Elementary school students from throughout Coachella Valley Unified School District will participate in the annual Red Hot Ballroom Dance Competition this Saturday, April 27, at Desert Mirage High School’s Gymnasium.
The competition begins at 9 a.m., with awards being distributed at 11:30 a.m.
The students, part of the after school ASES program, will compete as couples in waltz, tango, East Coast swing, rumba, cha-cha, and fox trot.
Red Hot Ballroom is a 501c(3) non-profit corporation established to bring ballroom dancing into schools. Ballroom dancing is used as a vehicle to teach the fourth, fifth and sixth grade students the social graces (confidence, self-esteem and respect for others) and good physical health over a 28 week program culminating in this dance competition.
For more information, please call (760)413-3593 or visit www.redhotdancing.org.
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KEENE, Calif. — On October 8, 2012, over 6,000 people descended upon Villa La Paz — the home, operational headquarters and final resting place of civil rights leader Cesar Chavez — for President Barack Obama’s dedication of the César Chávez National Monument. They came from throughout the country to see this 187-acre property in the foothills of the Tehachapi Mountains take its place among national monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and the Grand Canyon.
Although the dedication was celebratory in tone, many in attendance acknowledged that the dreams Chávez had for farm workers have not been entirely fulfilled.
By Coachella Unincorporated, youth media project of New America Media
Photography: Ivan Delgado, Aurora Saldivar, Johnny Flores
Digital Production: Ivan Delgado
Video by ALEJANDRA ALARCON/Coachella Unincorporated
THERMAL, Calif. — On February 23, 2013, approximately 200 empowered and concerned residents gathered to gain more awareness and continue taking on the environmental issues affecting the communities of the Eastern Coachella Valley.
According to Eduardo Guevara, associate director of Promotores Comunitarios del Desierto and an event organizer, “The [Inaugural Environmental Leadership Summit] is not only about the Salton Sea, it is also about residents closing the breach with the government agencies, so in the near future, they can be part of not only the discussion but the decision-making process.”
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FATIMA RAMIREZ/Coachella Unincorporated
THERMAL, Calif. — Eastern Coachella Valley residents will soon have the opportunity to learn more and receive information empowering them to take on the environmental issues affecting them daily.
The Inaugural Environmental Health Leadership Summit — taking place at Desert Mirage High School on February 23, 2013 – is geared toward providing residents with the tools they need to improve their environmental health.
According to Eduardo Guevara, associate director of Promotores Comunitarios del Desierto and an event organizer, “The summit is not only about the Salton Sea, it is also about residents closing the breach with the government agencies, so in the near future, they can be part of not only the discussion but the decision-making process.”
In addition to the Salton Sea, topics on the agenda include water quality, dumping, drainage, and the health effects arising from each of these.
The summit runs from 7:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., with a light breakfast and light lunch provided. Admission is free, but attendees must register in advance.
The summit will ensure that the public is well aware of the issues and gains the knowledge to report environmental problems.
“Another goal of the summit is that people get to know the agencies and the representatives they need to go to when they have problems. Directing your problem to the right agency or group not only saves time and energy, but also prevents the morale from going down when you avoid the unnecessary repeats of the same story until you get to the right people,” said Guevara.
This summit is also dedicated to acknowledging youth and ensuring that, as part of the community, they help pave the road for future implementation of similar events.
F.I.R.M.E, Esperanza Youth and Family Center, Desert Mirage High School’s Green Academy, CET, and Líderes por un Mecca Limpio, which are all almost entirely youth-based, are playing active roles in the summit. Coachella Unincorporated will also be participating on a panel.
“There is a term in environmental justice: cumulative impact,” Guevara stated. “This summit is the cumulative impact of several trips, discussions, victories and community engagement efforts all over the valley. It is also important because (the event) has no precedent.”
Scheduled speakers include Enrique Manzanilla, director of Environmental Protection Agency’s Southwest Pacific Region; Jose Bravo, executive director of the Just Transition Alliance; Simon Silva, an artist whose paintings depict field workers; Rep. Raul Ruiz, M.D. (D-36); and County Supervisor John J. Benoit.
Organizers hope these speakers, along with many others, will help raise awareness of the environmental problems facing the Eastern Coachella Valley and lead to possible solutions.
“People hopefully take home the notion that agencies are staffed with normal people that breathe our same (polluted) air and drink our same water,” said Guevara. “They also need to know that there are agencies out there that can help them, and will help them if they point them to a specific problem backing their concerns and claims with hard, specific data, and even proposing solutions.”
The Inaugural Environmental Health Leadership Summit is being organized by Promotores Comunitarios in partnership with IQ Air and Coachella Valley Unified School District’s ASES Program.
For more information and to register to attend, please visit:
]]>The event will feature a session by immigration lawyer Russell Jauregui, from noon to 2 p.m. He is providing his services free of charge.
A maximum of 70 students will be accepted.
Juaregui will be going over the application process with attendees. Under this program, eligible youth can file applications to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to avoid deportation and obtain the right to work. USCIS began accepting applications, available on its website, on August 15. The application fee is $465.
“Some people think Deferred Action is amnesty or the DREAM Act, but it’s nothing like that,” said Jose M. Chiquito, founder of Leaders of Tomorrow, made up of local college students. “This is for students with a clean record, those with a criminal background can not apply.”
“The lack of information affects our community greatly, especially in Thermal and Mecca where people don’t have Internet access,” said Chiquito. “Television commercials are telling people that amnesty is here and the DREAM Act has passed. The students who have been waiting so long for this can easily fall for it and get scammed.”
Although he is aware that many people are opposed to his point of view, Chiquito strongly believes that students who came to the United States as children, have a good record, and speak the English language deserve the opportunity to stay.
“If they are good citizens and have lived their lives here, there is no justification to make them leave,” he said.
To reserve a spot, contact Leaders of Tomorrow at [email protected] or (760) 335-6864.
Fore more information about Deferred Action program, visit www.uscis.gov/childhoodarrivals.
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