County awards $50,000 to IV Social Justice Committee

EL CENTRO — The Imperial County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday awarded the Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee $50,000 to first look into issues certain segments of the population have been experiencing and then find ways to resolve them.

Imperial Valley Social Justice Committee Project Coordinator and Chairwoman Marlene Thomas at the request of the supervisors included women as a group that is marginalized.

Thomas said the concerns are not limited to one nationality or race.

She pointed out that even though Imperial County is more than 90 percent Hispanic, the Spanish culture here is still being affected socially and economically, and it is not being addressed.

“We want to find out why,” she said.

The project will be split into seven areas, including the purpose of the research, areas of focus, the process, analysis, an action plan, the final report and the implementation plan.

Of the $50,000, $30,000 will go toward salaries and benefits.

The project award the supervisors approved Tuesday will provide the committee with enough resources to conduct a needs assessment of county policies and practices regarding African-Americans and other disenfranchised communities and the development of a sustainability roadmap.

Specific areas to be looked into include community engagement and representation, housing, law enforcement, judicial services and economic opportunities, among others.

Attention will be paid to all disenfranchised communities, with a focus on the African American community in order to provide for in-depth analysis of one subgroup in order to inform future work.

Based on the report analysis, conversations with project partners and county departments, an action plan will be developed.

Because the committee wants to take two years to look into and implement a plan of action, Supervisor Chairman Luis Plancarte said the $50,000 should be divided over two budgets.

“This straddles a few years, so we need to allow the budgeting being left to the CEO to be spent over two years,” Plancarte said.

Thomas on Wednesday said what makes this project more significant is the assistance it is receiving from the University of San Diego and San Diego State University-Imperial Valley.

“We see the county as a partner in this endeavor,” she said.

Thomas reiterated what she said more than two weeks ago about large numbers of the African-American community who are continuing to move to other regions for better opportunities.

“Of course, definitely (they are) moving,” she said, adding people in the African-American community are giving up and losing hope.

“I think the board agrees with us, and that was refreshing,” Thomas said a day after the vote. “To me, what is so important is this project is being done by local people who want us to be better.”

Thomas said she realizes there are a lot of studies that have been done in the county that did not result in any significant change.

“Ours will be unique because it’s local people who know other local people,” she said. “It’s going to be about everyone and to make things better for everyone. It’s absolutely phenomenal.”

She said all age groups are working toward one purpose on Imperial County social justice issues.

“We do have university students who will be participating in the research,” she said.