Volume 60 | November 2019
Your monthly news & updates
This month we reflect on a few of many changes in Kern County that make us thankful for our partners who are working tirelessly Building Healthy Communities for the next generation.  
Thankful for Safe Places to Walk and Bike
On November 19th, the residents of Rexland Acres moved one step closer to a healthier and safer neighborhood when the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved the contract to install pedestrian paths.  

Resulting from a community-driven effort to institute non-existent infrastructure, the $5.6 million Caltrans grant will install miles of sidewalks, traffic signs, and crosswalks in the South Bakersfield area. Neighbors have youth and adults from their own neighborhood to thank for the impending improvements. They went door to door gathering signatures in support of the funding, and submitted the grant, which included drawings from elementary school students depicting the flooded and muddy unpaved shoulders they walk on to get to school when it rains.

In total, the project will include 4 miles of sidewalks, more than 5 miles of bike lanes, 66 curb ramps, 75 new traffics signs, 11 flashing stop signs, 10 crosswalks, 6 streetlights, and 3 new four-way stops. Installation is scheduled to begin in April 2020. Something to be thankful for indeed!


Thankful for the Brave
In the early 1990s, a man discovered his country had killed thousands of young men. The government made these men “disappear” in the 1980's and tried to cover up the murders.
This man went on to tell the story of what was happening to anyone who would listen, including the Canadian parliament. His determination and bravery brought global attention to the religious geocide that was taking place in his country. After his address to Canadian officials, he returned to India, where he was eventually abducted, tortured, and killed.
Jaswant Singh Khalra, a Sikh who served as an attorney in India, paid the ultimate sacrifice for exposing his country's annihilation of his fellow Sikhs.
Today, there is a effort in Bakersfield to rename Stonecreek Park in his honor. Read more about supporting this effort .
Thankful for Inclusion
At the end of November, the Kern Complete Count Committee launched its community-based census education outreach efforts at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center.
Originally, the committee planned to begin going door-to-door in early November; however, the launch was delayed due to poor weather conditions. Volunteers will soon be canvassing neighborhoods on weekends and talking with people about the importance of participating in the Census.
“We have been working super hard and diligently through the local Complete Count Committee to bring strategies and efforts to do really, really hard outreach in the next couple of months leading up to next year,” said Mai Thao of the State Census Office.

Learn why Census participation is important to one young Kern County resident .
Building Healthy Communities| 9000 Stockdale Hwy| Bakersfield| CA| 93309

We have the power to build healthy communities for the next generation! 
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