Title
Receive a preliminary analysis report in response to Board Referral No. 2021.19 seeking to create a Farmworker Resource Center in the community of Greenfield CA.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Board of Supervisors:
a. Receive a preliminary analysis report in response to Board Referral No. 2021.19 and:
1) Direct that staff proceed with completion of referral based on description in this report; or,
2) Direct that staff:
i. Proceed with completion of referral based on modifications by the Board; or,
ii. Return to Board with a more comprehensive analysis of referral and anticipated effort for completion; or,
iii. Rescind referral.
b. Provide further direction, as appropriate.
PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS:
Background & Summary:
Board Referral No. 2021.19 (Lopez) requests the Agricultural Commissioner's Office to research options and feasibility for locating a Farmworker Resource Center in the city of Greenfield as community members lack access to County services due, in part, to transportation barriers. A recently signed Assembly Bill (AB) 941 (Bennett) provides a leverage opportunity of matching dollars at a 3:1 ratio to establish farmworker centers that provide farmworkers and their families information and access to services related to, among other things, labor and unemployment rights, education, housing, immigration, and health and human services. AB 941 would also require convening a workgroup to help inform the establishment and administration of the grant program and encouraged to provide services in additional languages other than English or Spanish that would be accommodated by the center.
Further, this referral asks to include a recommendation of what services should be provided at this location as well as the potential to shift existing staff that may provide services elsewhere in the County, to the Greenfield location.
The Department is currently working in cooperation, partnership and consultation with Monterey County Dep...
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