Newsletter

Volume 20, Issue 2 July 2020

I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E

1 Message From The President

2 United Latino Activities

2 - 5 Articles

5 How to Join

Board of Directors

Ronald F. Jimenez President

Michael Orosco Vice President

Julio C. Gonzalez Financial Secretary

Angelica Quinonez Secretary

Esteban Almanza Treasurer

Arturo Aleman Parliamentarian

Arturo Aleman President Emeritus

Committee Chairs

Vince Valdez Health

Alexis Arriaga Legislative Liaison

Mary Cervantez Membership Director

Ronald F. Jimenez Community Leadership

Cristina Mora Education

Community Outreach

Hibbis Cannon, Yanira Molina

Event Coordinators

Arturo Aleman President Emeritus

President’s Message Ron Jimenez, President

2020 continues to be a stellar year for the United Latinos as we

capitalize on our continued momentum. There are new faces and

active members contributing to our current efforts. I would like to

welcome three key individuals that have committed to work with our

organization. I would like to welcome our new Secretary Angelica

Quinonez, Treasurer Esteban Almanza, Legislative Liaison Alexis

Arriaga and Education Committee Chair Cristina Mora. Our ex-

treasurer, Mary Cervantez, will become our Membership Director

and our new Event’s Coordinators are Hibbis Cannon and Yanira

Molina. I look forward in working with all of them and continue

working with the remaining board of directors, appointees and

committee chairs.

I understand this is a difficult time for us with the coronavirus but

numbers show Sacramento County is doing quite well. This is being

accomplished by listening and doing what is the correct and safe thing

to do. I know it’s difficult for a lot of us and our family and friends

but we must stay vigilant. WEAR YOUR MASKS AND GLOVES

and let’s beat this thing and get back to business. It will take some

time and our world is going to change a little with our health and the

economy. Please still support the small establishments because they

will be the ones who will have a tougher time getting back to

normalcy.

Our organization will survive and we will be stronger as this chapter

in ALL OF LIVES ends. Our future may be a little different as the

year ends but I would rather sacrifice now than pay a big price with

my and all of our health.

UNITED LATINOS 2020 ACTIVITIES

THE GOOD NEWS OF LAUDATO SI (Praised Be) By: Herman Barahona

When I met Ron Jimenez at St. Robert Catholic Church a few years ago, we found ourselves talking about the meaning of Laudato Si, after his friend Arturo Aleman had shared it with him. Ron courageously took its message to his Knights of Columbus Council. Vincent Valdez, another Knight, to this day, is fully committed to its message. It marked a tough beginning for us where we knew some people in the parish/community would not completely understand its prophetic message, and perhaps we are still not able to reflect deeply enough about it...One thing is certain: Dikaiosyni (Justice) compels us to seek to understand, strive for, and endure its ancient but worthy journey. We are deeply grateful, honored and humbly accept the grant awarded by the US Catholic Conference of Bishops-Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD). The members and allies of United Latinos are eager to expand the Health and Environmental Justice work within the Catholic Diocese in the years to come. With the help of our new funders like the California Endowment and the Sierra Health Foundation, and the 25 community coalition partners, we are heading in the right direction to build capacity and power for Latinos and the poor and marginalized. Here are some key highlights of the accomplishments of the last six months:

Received commitments from City council candidate Katie Valenzuela, and County Supervisor candidates Rich Desmond and Greg Fishman to work with United Latinos on Environmental Justice efforts.

Individual dues paying members have grown by 125% and growing

Institutional dues paying members (a new initiative) has raised $5,550 in 2020

We have secured coalition partnership with 20 organizations in Sacramento

The Sacramento AQMD Chair Eric Guerra has committed to expand the AB617 boundaries and is negotiating with UL on future EJ efforts

The Catholic Conference of Catholic Bishops has awarded UL $30,000 for environmental justice community organizing in Sacramento Catholic Churches

Finally, without the support of the United Latinos board, its new advisory committee, and new at large membership, none of this would be possible. Ron Jimenez, President and the members at United Latinos appreciate this honor and they look forward to show solidarity to the environmental justice community and Earth’s sacred ministry.

“This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.” -Pope Francis, Laudato Si

Articles:

1. SACRAMENTO LATINOS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE

By Arturo Aleman

LATINOS IN THE POLITICAL MILIEU

The Latino population of the Sacramento Region (Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area) is

approximately 600,000. In the city of Sacramento there are 400,000 Latinos. If you look around your

community you will see Latinos from all walks of life and political backgrounds. Like in any

community, it is the poor and marginalized that have to carry the burden of the excesses of our society.

United Latinos has dedicated itself to engaging Latinos in all facets of civic responsibility. To that

end we are dedicated to ensuring that the poor and marginalized Latinos have a voice in government,

especially when they are directly affected. Environmental problems have a more severe impact in

poor communities and because they are marginalized it is governments responsibility to take equitable

steps to fix those problems, it’s called Environmental Justice (EJ).

The County of Sacramento has identified four EJ sites and within those sites there are a

disproportionate number of poor Latinos, Blacks and South East Asians. This imbalance has to change

and it is not a zero sum game where there are winners and losers. By doing some basic things

Sacramento can change the natural environment so that everyone wins. For example, there are several

schools in the area that are faced with polluted air, this air could markedly improve just by planting

trees. Currently, the City of Sacramento has identified specific areas that are given tree services at the

expense of the entire community. The areas receiving this service also happen to be the richest part

of the city. Just by expanding this tree service to the entire City we could significantly change the

lives of everyone who lives in the city. We could easily bring down the incidence of asthma and other

respiratory illnesses just by planting trees in all neighborhood schools. Imagine that. Furthermore,

by planting trees in poor EJ areas we can bring the cost of medical treatment down and thus a big

savings to our tax dollars.

Measure U is a tax measure that has raised a significant amount of money for the City of Sacramento

coffers and it is money that is supposed to go to all corners of the city. So far, those funds have for

the most part not been allocated. One million of that money was allocated as pass through money to

Sierra Health Foundation to disburse to the POP programs throughout the city. These programs are to

keep the children entertained and off the streets during the summer months. In 1978 the State

Department of Forestry funded a small urban forestry project that had huge results on a short term and

long-term basis. DOF funded The East Los Angeles Community Union (TELACU) to head a project

to plant trees in City Terrace, a heavily Latino community. By working with many local neighbors,

service organizations and schools they planted more than 40,000 trees in and around local elementary

schools. It is possible to do the same and better in Sacramento. Why not use some of the measure U

money to hire and train high school kids to plant trees in the EJ areas of Sacramento just to begin with.

2. GAVIN NEWSOM, GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Governor's Press Office Monday, July 27, 2020 (916) 445-4571

In Stockton, Governor Newsom Announces Actions to Slow the Spread of COVID-19 in the Central Valley

Eight Central Valley counties – Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern – to receive $52 million for testing, contact tracing, isolation

and quarantine efforts

State will deploy three Unified Support Teams to the Central Valley to provide hands-on technical assistance

SACRAMENTO – Building on the state’s Friday announcement focusing new efforts to support California’s essential workforce, Governor Gavin Newsom today announced additional targeted actions to support the Central Valley – a region seeing concerning virus spread that is disproportionately impacting Latinos. The Governor announced $52 million for Central Valley counties – San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern – to help expand disease investigation, contact tracing and quarantine efforts. In addition, the state will deploy three Unified Support Teams to these counties, which are experiencing increased cases and hospitalizations.

Statewide, Latinos make up 38.9 percent of the population but comprise a disproportionate number of COVID-19 cases (56 percent) and deaths (45.7 percent). In the Central Valley, where between 41-65 percent of any given county is Latino, there are a disproportionate number of Latino deaths compared to population – for example, in Fresno County, Latinos comprise 52.6 percent of the population and 65 percent of COVID-19 deaths. We also know that of the cases where we have no race or ethnicity data, based on surnames, local public health officials estimate that roughly 70 percent appear Latino, thus the current case numbers likely underestimate the total number of Latinos who are impacted by the virus.

“The data is clear that COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting Latinos in California,” said Governor Newsom. “The rising community transmission rates we are seeing, particularly among Latinos in the Central Valley, are concerning. This is alarming and we are taking action. That’s why today we are making $52 million available to counties in the Central Valley to support local public health departments with additional

resources to stop the spread of the virus and reduce the number of hospitalizations related to COVID-19.”

In collaboration with local partners, the state will deploy Unified Support Teams into the eight Central Valley counties to support and boost on-the-ground efforts to reduce transmission rates. The teams will work side by side with local public health, emergency, medical, community and business organizations to evaluate on-the-ground needs and develop strategies and interventions to address them. These assessments could include an evaluation and improvement in testing, contact tracing, disease investigation, data management, public education and surge planning for local health care systems.

The teams will review data and look at outbreaks in factories and congregate setting such as long-term care facilities, high-density housing developments and agricultural workplaces where individuals may be exposed to COVID-19. The mission will be supported by various state agencies and departments including the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, Department of Public Health, Department of

Food and Agriculture, Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, Cal/OSHA and the Department of Social Services.

This mission is similar to the one carried out recently in Imperial County, which included the deployment of state and federal personnel to reduce transmission rates, augment surge capacity at local hospitals and operate an 80-bed alternate care site. That effort boosted public health support for disease investigation and contact tracing and helped manage outbreaks at workplaces and other congregate settings. Those efforts also dramatically reduced the number of COVID-19 patients being transferred out of the county for care. For context, in Imperial County the 14-day case rate dropped 63 percent, from 836 cases per 100,000 to 308 cases per 100,000 people.

The state’s targeted efforts are funded in part with a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has provided California $499 million to support the state’s response to COVID-19, of which $286 million is being made available to local governments in their efforts to fight COVID-19. Nearly $52 million of these funds will go to eight counties in the Central Valley – Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus and Tulare.

California is grateful to our federal partners for their continued support. Recently, and in coordination with the state, a federal COVID-19 Response Assistance Field Team was deployed to California to help us further assess local need and leverage all federal resources to stop the spread of the COVID-19 in Kern, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties.

Governor Gavin Newsom

State Capitol Building Sacramento, CA 95814

HOW TO JOIN US

United Latinos, Promoviendo Acción Cívica, is a nonprofit organization recognized as exempt under

Section 501.c.3 of the IRS Code. Joining us is considered a donation and may be recognized as an

exemption when submitting your annual taxes. There are three methods of making your donation:

1. By making a check out to United Latinos and sending it to: P.O. Box 22905, Sacramento, CA

95822.

2. Going to our website and joining through Pay Pal: www.unitedlatinos.org

3. Attending any meeting of United Latinos and paying in cash, this may require waiting for a

receipt.

For more information about United Latinos, Promoviendo Accion Civica, go to our web site at:

www.unitedlatinos.org or follow us on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=sacramento%20united%20latinos.

www.unitedlatinos.org