Arvin set to follow Delano with own navigation center
Frequently, I’ve reported on the status of the Delano Navigation Center as it was a project initiated from our office and now successfully serves the community and the homeless of Delano. As Delano is Kern’s second largest city, it was satisfying to initiate this effort, to bring in the stakeholders, to find funding, to find an operator in Flood Ministries, and to see it move from an ideal to an actual operation. So it is with this kind of excitement over a mission accomplished that I get to report on the efforts underway in Arvin to develop their own navigation center for the homeless.
For those unfamiliar with the term, a navigation center is a place where the homeless of a community can get connected to services, get a meal, get some rest from the elements and get cleaned up. It is not permanent housing but simply a step toward getting these people back to some semblance of normalcy. In the jargon of state and federal agencies, it is an intermediate step toward housing the homeless and subsequently, eligible for state and federal grant funding for this purpose.
After our success in Delano over the last couple of years bringing this concept to fruition, my office organized the Arvin Homeless Collaborative, and we met several times to discuss how to replicate Delano’s success in Arvin. We had great support from Arvin’s mayor, Olivia Trujillo, other city staff, and several stakeholders like Blanqui Centeno who was already feeding Arvin’s homeless. After these meetings, the city began applying for some grant funds available for this purpose, and I am happy to report their efforts have borne fruit. Arvin has been notified it has received Community Development Block Grant funds and now has funding available to start their own navigation center that can serve the homeless of Arvin and hopefully Lamont as well.
Much work still needs to be done, but Arvin should be commended for making this effort to serve their homeless. Some communities try to ignore or deny their problem and pursue a path of moving them along. When you consider that the homeless of a community are people from their communities, this approach seems irresponsible. Arvin has a homeless problem, and by facing it, discussing it, and finding funding, it can begin to solve their problem and restore the lives of those Arvin residents back to some semblance of normalcy. I congratulate Arvin for their approach and am so happy that District 4 has been able to be a part of their success story.
Now we start working out the details of location, operator, additional funding, but most importantly how to best help the homeless regain their dignity and return to society. The county and the Bakersfield Kern Regional Homeless Collaborative have many resources available to assist Arvin so that the burden does not fall too heavily on Arvin but is shared by all. I can assure you that all county resources will be made available to assist Arvin in their efforts.
For those communities that might worry having a place for the homeless to go creates problems, I would suggest you take a look at the navigation centers in Taft and Delano, where “good neighbor” policies create an environment where the homeless don’t loiter but in fact clean up and serve in their communities. A well-run operation should be an improvement to the community, not a blight. I would encourage those communities that are passing on free money and ignoring their homeless problems to look at the examples of Arvin and Delano and utilize these funds to help solve their homeless problems and improve their communities.
Again, congratulations are in order for Arvin, for Mayor Trujillo and all the City Council, and especially to Christine Viterelli who wrote the grant that makes this all possible.
If you have any questions about this or any District 4 matter, don’t hesitate to contact us at district4@kerncounty.com or at 661-868-3680. Have a safe week.