From Crisis to Action: Mobilizing for Equity, Resilience, and Recovery in Rural and Farmworker Communities

In the last six months, thirteen atmospheric river events hit California, bringing extreme rainfall, dangerous winds, and record setting snow to rural and farmworker communities across the state. The storms resulted in catastrophic flooding along the Central Coast in towns like Pajaro, across the Central Valley in communities like Planada, and in the Tulare Basin as Tulare Lake continues to re-emerge with spring snowmelt.

These climate change fueled storms come on the heels of historic drought, record extreme heat events, and catastrophic wildfire seasons. This climate whiplash is being felt disproportionality by rural communities that have suffered historic disinvestment, those who are purposefully excluded from government safety net programs based on their immigration status, and regions where racialized violence and a lack of worker protections have resulted in generational economic insecurity, resource extraction and extra pollution burdens.

There is an urgent need for the philanthropic sector to coordinate – and act – in response to these storms, uplifting community power-building and resilience strategies in rural, and farmworker communities. These are certainly not the first storms the State has experienced, and they will not be the last as we continue to live with the consequences of unabated climate chaos. This virtual funder’s briefing is moderated by the Latino Community Foundation, featuring speakers that have responded to flood events during the last six months. Following this briefing, you will have the opportunity to join the UC Merced Community and Labor Center for an in-person Central Valley tour in the Tulare Basin on July 13th.

Goals of this series:

1. Move resources to communities recovering from climate change-fueled storms across the State
2. Build a deeper understanding of the historic importance of the Central Valley, including the many intersectional issues in need of resourcing (climate & disaster resilience, public health, workers’ rights, immigration reform, food security & nutrition, democracy, etc.)
3. Explore options for immediate action/collaboration

Target Audience

This program is open to members of Catalyst, Northern California Grantmakers, and Southern California Grantmakers.

A two-part event series, the second of which will include in-person tour of flood affected communities in the Central Valley, including Tulare Lake. We strongly recommend funders attend both sessions, as in-person connections with communities and with other funders are critical at this time.