BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Transformative Climate Communities Plan (TCC) is receiving a grant through the Strategic Growth Council. The Southeast Stakeholders Council is pushing for that money to help develop outside of just downtown and into the Southeast side of town because it is underprivileged.
The Southeast Stakeholders council is filled with community members and advocates who work together to advocate and make sure people understand the process of what’s happening and how to submit project proposals.
Emma De La Rosa with the Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability said the communities that must deal with smog and lack of investment should be the ones being thought about.
“The program was developed to support communities burdened by pollution,” said De La Rosa. “The communities south of California avenue that have to deal with the smog coming from the vehicles on the 58. The smog coming from the train going through Edison on a consistent basis.”
Besides the smog, Genora Mcclanahan with the Southeast Stakeholders said a reason for the money to go into an underprivileged community is the lack of recourses and poverty.
“Because the people are in need. Poverty is high there and again there's people that live in the Southeast that you know, can’t get to the grocery store. They can’t get to the clinics to go to the doctor. They can’t get on the bus and just go where they need to go all the time,” said Mcclanahan.
Both Mcclanahan and De La Rosa encourage the community to speak about where they would like to see the money go.
“I encourage residents to submit project ideas and take ownership of this process. I know the name Revitalizing Downtown can be a little misleading because the project area extends outside of downtown,” said De La Rosa.
Friday the 26 all project proposals are due so the Southeast Stakeholders are hosting an open zoom at 11 am to help the community with any questions they may have about the process. The zoom information is ID: 978 175 3764 and passcode: CAC they encourage anyone with questions to hop on.
