California’s community colleges serve more than 2 million students annually, but mental health services are not widely available on many campuses. Even on campuses that do have mental health care, availability and services can vary widely.
The lack of access is especially concerning because, as a whole, the students who attend community colleges are at higher risk for mental health issues.
Every month, Bartolo Chavez goes to the Arvin Community Services District building to pay his water bill for the home he and his wife live in. But he doesn’t use that water for drinking or cooking. To drink, he buys bottled water. For cooking, also bottled water.
This is the way of life in Arvin, where the tap water has been in violation of state health standards for arsenic since 2006.
California’s agricultural system relies on migrant workers—the Central Valley alone produces a fourth of the nation’s food—but frequent moves can hamper migrant children’s education. The Mini-Corps program helps by turning the experiences that could have been a disadvantage growing up into an advantage for both its tutors, the students they serve and the schools they attend.
In a move cheered by advocates for environmental health, an independent state advisory board has unanimously voted to list the pesticide chlorpyrifos as a chemical that can cause developmental delays in children.
Since the 1970s, a state rule has required farmworkers to move at least 50 miles away from a migrant camp at the end of the season in order to continue to qualify for the housing. Now, advocates are trying to get California officials to change the 50-mile rule, which they say jeopardizes the educations of farmworker children, among other problems.
Maria Castro has worked in Kern County’s fields for 14 years, since her family moved to Delano from Mexico when she was 16 years old. She started working as a grape harvester two days after her arrival in the United States. She soon noticed a weird scent on her clothes that wouldn’t come off, even after washing.