Month: May 2020

For months, many organizations have been promoting the Census, saying that it affects our everyday lives, but how do the outcomes affect you and on what scale? The Census determines each state’s apportionment of seats in Congress, how our districts are shaped, and the amount of federal funding for local health and social services that support our Beloved Community’s families in need. The Census also influences:

• Where factories and their retail stores are built
• Which types of products stores carry and in what quantities
• Where bus stops and routes are placed
• Where new homes are built and neighborhoods will go
• Whether to fix roads and bridges
• The availability of public benefits, including food stamps and health insurance
• The number of teachers at each school
• The number and placement of stoplights and streetlights, including in which communities

These examples are everyday things that will be shaped by your responses to the Census. That is why getting a complete count matters. Every 10 years, people across the country, including in Washington State, complete the Census to calculate an accurate count of all people in the United States.

Filling out the Census is easier than ever before, and it can be done in ten or fewer minutes. Simply go to https://my2020census.gov/ and select one of the 13 languages to fill out the Census. If you or someone you love needs help completing the Census, reach out to us at 206-957-4605.

Por varios meces, muchas organizaciones han estado promoviendo el censo, y han dicho que el censo afecta nuestras vidas cada día, pero ¿cómo te afectan los resultados y en que escala? El censo determina el número de representantes en cada estado para el congreso, determina como cada distrito o ciudades en los estados son formados, y la cantidad de fondos federales que están localizados para cosas como servicios sociales y para servicios de salud que ayudan nuestros familias y comunidades con necesidades.  El Censo también tiene influencia sobre:

• Donde fábricas y sus tiendas están construidas
• Que tipos de productos cargan y cuantas cantidades
• Donde las paradas del autobús y rutas están localizados
• Donde nuevas casas están construidas y en cuales vecindades se ponen
• Cuales calles o puentes que arreglar
• Disponibilidad de beneficios públicos, incluyendo estampías de comida o seguranza de salud
• El número de maestras en cada escuela
• El número y colocación de luces de tráfico y luces de la calle y en cuales comunidades se ponen

Estos ejemplos son cosas que pueden estar modelas por sus respuestas al censo. Por eso es muy importante de contar cada persona. Cada diez años, personas en todo el país completan el censo para calcular precisamente toda la gente en los Estados Unidos.

Llenando el censo es fácil y puede estar completado en menos de diez minutos. Simplemente visite el sitio https://my2020census.gov/ y seleccioné uno de los 13 idiomas para llenar el censo. Si tu o alguien que usted quiere necesita ayuda llenando el censo llámenos a el número 206-957-4605.

The pandemic is not dishing out its damage equally. Across Washington State, including King County, not all workers have the luxury or privilege to work from home. While working from home during the West Coast’s worst outbreak, farmworkers in Yakima Valley are getting pushed back to the frontlines to maintain our country’s food supply. We are ordered to protect ourselves and prevent the spread of COVID-19 by social distancing and self-isolation, yet the working conditions for farmworkers make those measures nearly impossible.

Farmworkers in the Yakima Valley are concerned about their employers’ weak enforcement of social distancing and sanitation procedures. As essential workers, they are requesting basic protections for all farmworkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeing no progress or promise in sight, farmworkers across six fruit processing plants in the Yakima Valley are peacefully striking back against substandard working conditions. They are asking for the minimum protections:

• Specific measures to guarantee their health and safety
• To stop employer retaliation if a worker complains about safety measures not being enforced
• Hazard pay to reflect the risks they are taking as essential workers, and a permanent hourly wage increase to a just wage that extends beyond the timeframe of the pandemic

Before COVID-19’s onset, farmworkers’ work was characterized by low wages and no benefits, short terms of laborious employment, poor sanitation, and inadequate housing. Today, farmworkers are feeding our communities during a pandemic. They are not expendable and never have been. Yet, during COVID-19, they have to advocate for proper enforcement of protocols to protect fellow essential workers. You can do something to help farmworkers protect their livelihood amidst the COVID-19 crisis:

1. Take one minute today to tell Governor Inslee to take immediate action to protect Washington State’s farmworkers
2. Contacting the plant sites and urging them to negotiate with their workers, rather than retaliating against them for striking:
   – Allan Bros. Fruit in Naches, WA | (509) 653-2625
   – Hansen Fruit in Yakima, WA | (509) 457-4153
   – Jack Frost Fruit Co. in Yakima, WA | (509) 248-5231
   – Matson Fruit Co. in Selah, WA | (509) 697-7100
   – Monson Fruit Co. in Selah, WA | (509) 697-9175
   – Columbia Reach in Yakima, WA | (509) 457-8001
3. Donating to farmworkers’ cause whether through their general GoFundMe page or individual pages by specific sites:
   – General GoFundMe
   – Matson Fruit
   – Monson Fruit
   – Jack Frost

Yakima County is the new epicenter of the global pandemic on the West Coast. We are not on the road to recovery until each community receives the assistance they need to make it through the COVID-19 crisis. As Governor Inslee begins our state’s economic recovery efforts, we must not forget the people in our communities that call Washington home. Please join us in taking action.