Board of Supervisors — 2023-12-12

Good morning. I will call to order the December 12th, 2023 meeting of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors. Madam Clerk please call the roll.

Move approval.

Second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's unanimous. CEO's report.

Good morning chair and board members this morning I'm happy to present to you the kickoff of our annual Toys for Tots drive The county is sponsoring the Unity Shop and Marine Corps Toys for Tots drive. County employees and the public may donate new unwrapped toys. Collection bins are located in the county administration building, in Santa Barbara and in Santa Maria through December 15th. Collection boxes are also located at fire county stations. All these toys will go to low income children in our community.

And Angela Miller-Bevan from Unity Shop is joining us today If the board would please, if you want to make mention of your toys and then come down and officially top off the box. Any comments on your toys this year? Supervisors?

Of course. But why don't we go, anybody want to go first? Sure. I'll lead off. Mr. Lavinino. Thank

you. So while many of you think this is a classic toy, this is being repackaged now. So this is like a United States congressional toy. This has the red trying to knock their head off with blue and used to be called Rock'em Sock'em Robot. So this was one of my favorite toys growing up so I'll be donating this one.

Mr. Nelson?

Yes. Fourth district wouldn't be complete without having something agricultural related. So we actually have a John Deere Lego set here, including some John Deere toys. I want to thank Calculus Machinery, one of our local tractor dealers for helping to get this for us together so thank you.

All right. Ms. Caps?

Yeah this toy is from a beloved part of our second district, Chaucer's. Which is good place to patron these days local shop and it's a toy that I would have loved to have had as a kid as I tried to play vet my puppies back then. It's an actual vet set for fostering kids in their love animals.

Ms.

Hartman? My gifts foretell some upcoming policy issues we're going to deal with. This is the Ag Enterprise Ordinance and this is a farm stand that ordinance is designed to promote more economic opportunities for those on agricultural land, and then this is the Recreation Master Plan. This is a camper so more to come!

Apparently Ms. Hartman and myself always think about this in terms of policy things, so we have Chicken Little from Chicken Little a little toy store just a block away local store but I hope people from Public Works and Marburg are watching because this is the county's first non-fossil fuel recycling truck so It's recycled materials, of course. And you know, we, Kate put a little EV sticker on it just so that we can make sure we model the future of greenhouse gas emission reduction for Santa Barbara County.

Was that made in China or? No, I'm just kidding.

If you could please come down and top off your boxes with Angela

Bob opened his toy nice.

Doubled. So we're seeing double the amount of children and families coming through our doors and We're looking at giving out thousands of gifts this year, so this is very helpful. And I want to say thank you for shopping at Chicken Little and Chowsers because Chowser's has actually been very great for us. They help us to get the word out about our Messiah Sing Along which is this evening at First Presbyterian Church.

So thank you so much and please keep giving toys!

Madam Clerk, are there any announcements or changes to our agenda today?

Chair Williams and members of the board. I do have a couple quick announcements this morning. I have a quick announcement to make on administrative item number 11. Administrative Item Number 11 is from the County Executive Office. It is to consider recommendations regarding the appointment of Metta Richardson as the Child Support Services Department Director. And prior to Board action on administrative item number 11 in accordance with government code section 54953 subdivision C3 The Child Support Services Department Director salary information shall be summarized verbally. Effective January 8th, 2024 Metta-Richardson's biweekly salary will be approximately $7,273.

And lastly for the Board of Supervisors methods of public participation and to provide public comment on general public comment or an item on the board's agenda please see page two of the agenda Individuals that would like to provide verbal public comment may do so via zoom by registering in advance via the link available on page 2 If you have any comments, please contact questions. Please contact the clerk of the board's office at area code 8 0 5 5 6 8 2 2 4 0 again That number is eight zero five five six eight two two four zero and that concludes my announcements for today

Thank you. I also have two items pulled by the public, A33 and A44. A44 can only speak to the setting of the hearing not the item itself. I just want to remind members of the public. And can I get a motion on the balance of the agenda including A11.

So moved.

Second is a motion by Hartman's second by Labanino all those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? It's unanimous. A33

Chair Williams and members of the board, administrative item number 33 is from the Public Works Department. It is to consider recommendations regarding a Mission Canyon Trailhead Improvements funding agreement with Southern California Edison and this is in the first district. And we have one request to speak from the public on this item and we are going to Zoom with Ray Pock. Ray?

Thank you for being here today, Ray. Mr. Pock?

And Ray, we have unmuted you. Oh, there you go.

Hi, I was only requesting to participate if they're to respond to any public comments. I don't have any comments on the item. Thank you.

And that concludes public comment on this item.

So I'll just give it brief explanation of that this item. Mr Park is from Southern California Edison and as mitigation There's a mitigation agreement with the neighborhood that includes improvements to the egress at tunnel, the elimination of a couple parking spots but the addition of more parking spots which I thought was a productive direction by the neighborhood in Southern California Edison. There's small portion of this that's in the city.

And it will be well-received by the neighborhood. Can I get a motion on A33? Move to approve.

Second.

All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes. A44 again is a setting of the agenda so please keep your comments to the setting of the agenda.

Chair Williams and members of the board, administrative item number 44 Is a set hearing for January 9th, 2024 to consider recommendations regarding an ordinance amending chapter seven animals and foul article one and adding Article nine roosters to regulate and to limit the number of roosters by personal size that may be kept on a single premise in Santa Barbara County. And this is from the public health department. We have two requests to speak on this item and we are going to zoom to begin with Lee Heller to be followed by Susan Ashbrook Lee.

Chair William and member of the board. I will be brief because this is just a set hearing item, but I want to express my appreciation and support for moving forward with this to address the neighborhood noise concerns that rooster operations represent as well as the animal welfare issues. So I appreciate what you're doing and I plan to be there on January 9th. Thank you.

Thank you.

And

we will now go to Susan Ashbrook. Susan? Hi, I want to. Can everyone hear me? Yes we can please proceed.

Okay thank you. I want to thank you for allowing me to speak for a few minutes today. I think it's very important for this rooster ordinance to go through. It impacts me and my neighbors in Sabata Canyon who live next door are close to a rooster facility. If you're not already aware, roosters make noise 24-7 and we've already seen two neighbors sell and move because they live next door to a rooster operation.

One neighbor said he had to wear noise canceling headsets to step outside his home. 20 roosters as proposed is 19 too many. No one eats roosters They live in cages and cockfighting is a cruel and an illegal game. I invite any of you that are interested to see how they live, to my home. They live behind black mesh fences or under enclosures under oak trees making it difficult to count 20 or the 160 that animal services are telling me live in one of these facilities now.

Living in a residential ag and EDRN community, I think one rooster is more attuned to family use. At most four could be considered reasonable family use in an EDRN Ag One neighborhood. Thank you so much for considering this proposal.

Thank you, can I get a motion on A44 which again is just to set the hearing?

So moved.

Is there a second?

Second.

All those in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries. Okay now let's go to item 47.

Chair Williams and members of the board, administrative item number 47 is sponsored by Supervisor Labanino. It is to adopt a resolution of commendation honoring Maria Salud Rodriguez de Martinez as the longest living Latina in Santa Maria and wishes her continued health for years to come. And joining us in person today we have Maria Salud Rodriguez de Martinez, Griselda Gomez, her ninth daughter, Alma Rosa Gamez, her 10th daughter Montse Norris and Diana Norris.

And if you can please join us all at the podium, I'll go ahead and read the resolution into the record. Whereas Maria Salud Rodríguez de Martínez was born on December 8th, 1920 in Quidoga, Michigan. And whereas Maria had 10 children and adopted 5 more. And whereas Maria has 34 grandchildren, 85 great-grandchildren and 48 great-great-grandchildren. And whereas Maria has survived many hardships including being widowed at 1979 and surgery at the age of 95.

And whereas at 103 years old, Maria is now the longest living Latina in Santa Maria. Now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors honors Maria Salud Rodriguez de Martinez as the longest living Latina in Santa Maria and wishes her continued health for years to come. Passed and adopted today

Thank you. Item 48.

Let's go to item

48.

Chair Williams and members of the board, Administrative Item number 48 is sponsored by Supervisor Hartman. It is to adopt a resolution of accommodation honoring Alicia Hawkins upon her retirement from the Planning and Development Department after over 25 years of faithful and distinguished service to the citizens of Santa Barbara County. And joining us in person today we have Alicia Hawkins And our planning and development department director, Lisa Plotman.

And I'll go ahead and read the resolution, whereas Alicia Hawkins retired on December 10th, 2023 following more than 25 years of dedicated service with the Santa Barbara County Planning and Development Department's Building and Safety Division. And whereas Alicia began her career with building and safety in 1998 As extra help in the Buelton office working as a building permit technician. She was hired full time in late 1998, working in Buelton until joining the Santa Barbara office in 2010. Throughout her career she has trained many employees and been a guiding force that has helped build several successful careers at Santa Barbara County and has been a constant source of knowledge wisdom and support for co-workers and applicants alike.

And whereas during her career Alicia has issued a countless number of building and film permits throughout Santa Barbara County Has provided guidance and support to applicants, including those attempting to rebuild in the aftermath of the January 9th 2018 debris flow. And she continued to demonstrate her commitment to the public by providing in person counter service at building and safety throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

And whereas the planning and development department will miss this caring and helpful office moms legendary office decorating skills during the holidays and her contagious laughter that quite often finishes with a snort. And whereas Alicia Hawkins, who is known for her consummate service customer service depth and breadth of knowledge. And above all, her kindness has retired and is looking forward to attending Los Angeles Angels baseball games, spending time with her daughters Shaina and Risa and her granddaughter Reagan and working on home improvement projects with their husband Mark now therefore be it hereby ordered and resolved that this Board of Supervisors of Santa Barbara County does hereby acknowledge Alicia Hawkins For her longtime commitment to the citizens of Santa Barbara County, passed and adopted today.

I just wanted to acknowledge Alicia. She is the consummate problem solver, no matter what people bring a problem to her and she works on it quickly and efficiently. She's managed all kinds of difficult situations and been an incredible asset to the department, and we're really going to miss her and her cheerful spirit. And we're very excited for her to enjoy her retirement with her family. Thank you.

I just want to thank you, to the board, Planning and Development Department, and pretty specifically the awesome building and safety team that I've worked with for so long. Thank you.

Now is the time for general public comment, time for the public to speak on items that are not on the agenda. Madam Clerk, are there any requests to speak?

Chair Williams and members of the board, yes we have three requests to speak in general public comment today. We're going to begin here in Santa Barbara with Mary Folsom to be followed by James Silva. Mary?

Good morning members of the board. I attended last week's meeting and I heard Supervisor Williams inform the audience of your very wisely made rule that applause is limited. that applause is limited to ceremonial procedures. I also watched the video of your November 7th meeting, and especially the applause on the adoption of your resolution in reference to Israel. Clearly you considered this a ceremonial resolution.

But ceremonial resolutions should not result in the exacerbation of strained relations between cultural segments of the community. Ceremonial resolutions Should not cause pain to a segment of the community who are grieving over tragic losses being suffered by their relatives and friends. Ceremonial resolutions should not result in supporters of an ethnic cleansing operation congratulating you for your courage.

There have been many opinion posts in media on this topic. Even those who had no position on Gaza posted opinions that you'd better serve your constituents by not venturing into this issue. When a ceremonial resolution results in such unintended consequences, the only right thing to do is rescind it. I can understand a large temptation to hope it doesn't just blow away but I urge you not to leave this black mark on the record and do the right thing. Thank you for your time.

We will remain in Santa Barbara and go to James Silva, to be followed by Karen Hauenstein who is our final speaker and general public comment. James?

Good morning. I'm here to Talk about the resolution, not necessarily the resolution per se but about the Israel-Palestine situation. I noticed that your resolution stated that it supported Israel's efforts for peace but that was when there was about 10,000 dead and now there is 20. Not counting the ones under the rubble. At the time of your resolution, it was about 70% women and children.

They say 50% now. So I wonder how that could happen? And I just think well at one point in time, I used to think that Israel was the victim surrounded by a bunch of crazy brown Arabs who just wanted to destroy them. And Jews have been persecuted in Europe Eastern Europe, Russia. They wanted a homeland so that they could escape that as far as the Zionist movement goes.

But it's important to know that there are other people who are Jews who aren't Zionists and who may not approve of taking another people's land so that they can have a home. And so I would like to hold up these maps for you First of all, I'd like to say that I used to think that Israel was a victim because I was just a victim myself of the America's propaganda and what we get in our media.

But what I've learned from almost everything I've learned about Israel is from Jews. Blumenthal, Halper, Chomsky. One thing that affected me and kind of helped me out was to see that in 1946, before the UN established the state of Israel and gave most of the land to the Israelis, actually the Jews owned 6% of the land at that time. And they owned, and there were 3% of the population before the British brought in more Jews to settle in Palestine because they wanted to control that area. Because they actually between India and Egypt, they needed to control that area. And they thought if they bring in a European We will now go to Karen Hauenstein, who is our final speaker.

Good morning.

Karen with an eye. I'm here in front of you today speaking instead of being at work because I've been thrust into a situation in this county that has been dictated by corruption. That's why I'm here today and I'm sorry that I'm here to complain about it, but it's the only thing I can do is use my voice. When my parents accepted commercial cannabis tenants on their rural land in Sabata Canyon, we didn't know what we were about to get into.

In this county everything that happened to us regulatory wise was controlled by Dennis Buzanich He made claims on this dais to our entire county about how things would be run and how things would be treated, and how people would be treated, and how landowners would be treated. And I'm sorry but it's probably visible that I am traumatized by the experience I've been put through The sheriff's office and the district attorney's office has evidence concerning the trauma that I have been put through by people who have false reported and borne false witness to felonious proportions.

I'm sorry, but I'm getting a headache because I'm standing up here talking to you about this because it does affect me so personally. Joyce Dudley back in 2020 did not perform any due diligence, she didn't perform any effective due diligence when she sued me personally in civil court. In case number 20CV02746. She bankrupted me and made it so it's very difficult for me to help my elderly parents who are currently being targeted by those cannabis tenants.

They formed a pass-through organization with the state of California called Le Fuque LLC. It's spelled L E P H U Q U E. That's what they named it.

Thank you, that is your time. And that concludes general public comment.

Thank you. We will go to departmental item number one.

Chair Williams and members of the board, departmental item number one is from the social services department. It is a hearing to consider recommendations regarding the farm worker resource center project update

Good morning Chair Williams and Supervisors. Daniel Nielsen with the Department of Social Services, and we are here to give you a presentation on the Farmworker Resource Center program from its inception after the grant was awarded up until the current time. I do want to note that we will be back before your board in March of next year for another presentation at which time we will be looking at the future of the program Giving you recommendations regarding what the scope of the program should look like as it moves forward beyond the initial grant period, and addressing whatever other information we have at that time regarding funding from outside sources to support the ongoing nature of the program. With me today to make the presentation is our Workforce Development Board Executive Director Luis Servine and Cesar Guerrero who is the Program Coordinator for the Farmworker Resource Center Program.

Good morning, Chair Williams and Supervisors. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to provide this update on our Farm Worker Resource Center. We have prepared a, I promise, a short presentation for you today. Today's presentation will cover the following. First we'll provide some background information on the project, an overview of the project design and structure, and an update on the implementation activities and services provided as of now.

To provide some context, the Farm Worker Resource Center also known as Proyecto Campesino in Spanish is funded primarily by a state grant established through AB 941. This bill aimed to establish farm worker resource centers. The funding was made available through a competitive grant awarded by the State of California Department of Community Services and Development. We were one of three counties that received this funding.

The funding includes $833,000 through this competitive grant and a 25% local funding match of general funds in the amount of $208,000. The Department of Social Services and the Workforce Development Board are overseeing this project which began five months ago in July and will come to an end May 2024. The Department of Social Services and the Workforce Development Board in partnership with the Public Health Department conducted a needs assessment. The needs assessment was done to gather actionable information about the resources, needs of farm workers and their families. How to best structure that farm worker resource centers and impact of social factors within the farm worker population?

That this assessment consisted of the following, data collection gathered through over 2,000 surveys received from farm workers and family members. Focus groups conducted with representatives from community-based organizations, education providers, health and human service agencies, employers, and healthcare providers. And one on one key informant interviews performed with community based organizations and employers.

Working within the allowable activities of the grant, the recommendations gathered through the deeds assessment process created a foundation for our project and how our services are delivered. These were included as part of a project implementation plan document in which we identified and operationalized those recommendations to meet the needs of community members.

Much of the success of the program thus far has contributed to ongoing feedback and recommendations provided by a newly established community advisory workgroup. The group provides strategic guidance to staff as to the best approach to deliver services. The current members include Jennifer Camacho from the California Farm Worker Foundation, Jose Chang, Santa Barbara Ag Commissioner.

Holly Chavez from the Community College South Central Coast Regional Consortium. Jose Clemente, Division Chief for the Department of Social Services. Kerry Jordan, HR Director for Bay Farms and local employer. Thomas Lamica, a Dean from Alan Hancock College and a member of the Workforce Development Board Executive Committee. And Claire Weinman, President of the Growers and Shippers Association.

Secondly, we will not be able to do our work without the support of our community partners. The objective of the Farm Worker Resource Center is to offer farm workers and their families information and a wide range of services provided by community-based organizations, other government agencies and county departments. This slide includes some of the organizations we work with. So, we currently collaborate with over 40 partners that are working on a daily basis servicing our farm workers and their family members.

These are our staff. So the staff assigned to the project consists of our coordinator Cesar Guerrero and two staff Ramon Ramirez and Leticia Santiago. All of our staff are fluent in Spanish, with one being trilingual in Spanish, English and Mixteco. I'll have passed professional and personal connection to the ag industry. Our mission and vision statements were created based on grant requirements and needs assessment recommendations.

Both have in mind building trust and enhancing accessibility of services for farm workers, their families, and our ag employers. Our vision, for example, is to provide access to services and programs that address the needs of farm workers, their families, and employers throughout the county of Santa Barbara. Some of the project goals as mandated by the grant and recommendations established in its assessment include to serve as a liaison for farm workers, employers and other representatives in the ag community.

To conduct countywide outreach, serving as a one-stop shop while providing information on available resources and services to farm workers and their families. To build trust and relationships with farm workers, community partners, and employers. To foster collaboration with ag employers to effectively support and respond to their needs. And to promote and enhance the reputation of the ag industry in Santa Barbara County.

Lastly, as required by the grant, the Farm Workers Resource Center staff provide referrals to six main domains. These include number one employment assistance. The services part of employment assistance include resources on job readiness training, job referrals training needs. Number two, it's education access and support which includes school supplies, information on computer literacy classes, English and Spanish language education, GED and high school diploma acquisition.

Number three is rental assistance, including information on financial literacy and financial management classes. Number four is emergency support services and referrals which includes access to rental and deposit assistance, temporary housing assistance, utility assistance, food and clothing, and citizenship and immigration legal services. is the Health and Human Services, which includes mental health services and childcare assistance. And lastly number six is the Labor and Employment Rights and Legal Services, which includes referrals to address wage and hour claims, tenant rights and homelessness prevention, occupational health safety and safety issues, and assistance with a completion of forms and documents.

This next slide provides an update on our progress during the first five months of the project At the bottom of this slide show the three levels of engagements we are currently tracking. On the bottom left-hand corner is a number of farm workers engaged. This number, 3,578 represents the number of farm workers who our staff have interacted with and having provided information about our project through the various outreach events.

The second level of engagement is the number of farm workers registered on our system. This means that farm workers are provided, farm workers provided with their basic contact information. Now this is optional but once registered a farm workers are able to receive information about services, special events or information and an event of an emergency. At number three, this number is required by our grant is the number of services requested by farm workers. Depending on the service that farm worker is connected has a warm handoff to one of our community partners.

Once that worker is connected or referred to an agency Farm Worker Resource Center staff are subsequently conducting follow-up calls to ensure that the workers receive So as of November 1,000 farm workers have been connected and served These services are broken down in the pie chart. As you can see, the majority have been in education access and support, specifically requests for school supplies and emergency services which includes primarily requests for food, clothing, rent assistance, and immigration legal services.

These two domains represent over half of our referrals thus far. This next slide provides an update on our outreach activities since the launch of our project. I wanted to point out that all the pictures that you see in this presentation are actual pictures of farm workers and local employers, and our staff. So there are three primary methods we're currently using to reach our farm workers. Number one, by participating in community outreach events.

Number two, through events coordinated in partnership with our local employers and number four by offering remote office hours. So this slide shows the community outreach events during the first few months of the project. We have participated We are extremely thankful to the community organizations who are supporting our farm workers and who are inviting us to these various community events.

The second and most successful strategy used to connect with our farm workers has been by collaborating with our ag employers. We are especially thankful to our ag employers and growers for their support. As of November, we have collaborated on 11 special events with employers. These events take place at the employer's worksite and are customized to the needs of the employers and their workers.

This slide contains the names and logos of various employers who have supported our project as of now. The third method we use to reach our farm workers is by providing remote mobile office hours in different locations throughout the county. This allows us the opportunity to reach farm workers in remote locations. On the screen, it's our current schedule. I mentioned that this schedule is fluid as the needs of our community members are ever changing and we have adapted our program design and delivery or services with our established capacity to meet those needs.

This slide shows our mobile center. This vehicle provides the opportunity for our team to be able to travel throughout our county and reach our farm worker community. The mobile center is equipped with all the necessary tools and technology for tasks such as printing, copying, electronic communication with other agencies and employers. Now this streamlines the referral process while also providing a convenient space for in-person meetings including one on one and small group interactions and trainings.

In addition to providing in-person services, we have launched a website. We are active on social media. We utilize platforms that our farm workers and employers frequent including Facebook and Instagram. On average our posts have over 500 views. In the trust of our community thus far, we are discovering and evolving our approach to better meet those needs. We are very appreciative of the support and engagement received by our Board of Supervisors, community based organizations, members of our Community Advisory Board Group and employers.

To conclude that Department of Social Services and the Workforce Development Board are honored to be able to lead these efforts. Now this concludes our presentation and we are happy to take your questions.

Questions from the board? I will let Ms. Hartman go first because I think she clicked her thing first, even though I'm not seeing this yet. Go ahead.

Well, first of all, thank you. I've seen you out and about in many different places in the community and there's lines people are really using it. There's a lot of excitement about it. And I think that the level of expertise you can bring out into the field is really extraordinary. I had a question about slide 11, the education access. That was the pie chart and you mentioned that school supplies. I just wonder if you could elaborate a little? It surprised me that there was that much interest or desire so I just wondered if you would unpack that a little bit more.

And I can start and I'll pass it over to Cesar. So part of our outreach activities when we go out and interact with the farm workers, we do provide the option for them to be able to get school backpacks so we did that at the beginning of the project before this, the beginning of the school year during our kickoff event. So we had backpacks for farm workers that will bring their kids to our events then we will provide a backpack with supplies. Cesar you want to talk about it a little bit more?

Good morning. So what we do is basically obviously with school supplies when our farm workers come to our mobile unit, they obviously school supplies don't last forever. So one of the things they always ask is like, Do you have any school supplies for my children? Things like that so we will connect them with backpacks, school supply kits if there's any type of specific need that they need specifically for school then we'll be able to provide that service for them at a later date that they can be able to then receive.

Okay, so it's not that they're wanting to learn English or they're being put out of jobs by robots but really just for their children. Yeah well that's interesting to know and I think I know public health had a fair and gave out school supplies and that was very successful maybe we need to do more in that area. Geographically, do you have a sense of maybe next time a pie chart to give us a sense of where your I don't know how we would divide up farm worker communities in absolute numbers and then how many are availing themselves but that would be interesting information to have.

Yes, Supervisor Hartman to the chair. So we do track the demographics of the farm workers that we serve. So for our next presentation will be happy to bring a breakdown of where they live or where they work.

Terrific, and I'd also be interested in knowing how many are single and how many are family members. That I think goes to the kinds of services that we provide. So my last question is just what has surprised you most since you've started working and been there since the beginning?

Yeah, and I guess I'll start and I'll pass it over to Cesar. He's the one in the field with our staff doing a lot of the work but I think one of the items that surprises even though it's not shocking is really the level of need in the community and each individual needs A lot of our farm workers struggle, for example, completing basic forms for services. And I'm talking about forms that might be in English or Spanish. So what we're finding is that we're having to spend a lot of time with individual farm workers helping them and walking them, for example, through the process of applying for any.

All right, thank you. Yeah so that's one thing that is not surprising but we I guess we were not expecting that our staff were going to be dedicating that much time with the individual farm worker.

Supervisor Mendoza, through the chair. So one of the biggest things that we experience is obviously with the language barrier, obviously with the Mixtec community. One of the benefits that we provide is that we have an actual staff member who does speak Mixteco and so that seems to attract the farm workers do kind of relate to her on that aspect. But that has to be one of the biggest challenges, just being able to complete the forms which actually has been very beneficial to our program because they do need assistance with just a basic application when it comes to just even CalFresh applications, Medi-Cal, any type of programs you know government forms things like that. So that's probably one of the biggest things that we've seen where they just need more help with completion of forms

So one final comment, you'll be coming back in March with recommendations for us about what we should be doing going forward. But you had a really impressive list of partners there and I wonder if they can be engaged as well to meet some of these needs?

Supervisor Hartman, through the Chair. Yes and they are in terms of our growing together at this time coming to a joint understanding of what the needs are and how they can best be met so when we come back in March our perspective about what the future of the program could look like in addition to what funding we've been able to find will also include an articulation Who all is going to be involved moving forward if the program moves forward in supplying these services and partnering?

Mr. Nelson,

yes thanks Chair Williams. To expand on that comment about the forms that you guys are talking about I think it would be helpful for my colleagues to kind of hear some of the stories that you guys have experienced. It's not only There's this help that's needed for forms, but there's been a cottage industry of people who fill out forms for farm workers because they can't do it themselves. So they have often charged exorbitant amounts of dollars to just fill out a governmental form and so that's something that it's a barrier for many families and so if you know Oscar would you or would you Cesar sorry would you continue with that?

That's correct. So one of the things when it comes, when we have farm workers come into our office or our mobile unit is that they're experiencing people or agencies charging X amount of dollars just to complete a simple form. One of the things that we discovered was basically when it comes to just doing a set up an appointment with the Mexican consulate. People don't realize that they can actually use their smartphone Through the WhatsApp app and be able to set up an appointment for free, but that they go to other agencies who charge them an X amount of dollars just to set up an appointment that they may or may not even get an appointment with. So what we offer is we were not just only provide that service to them, but we also educate him on how they can actually do it on their own time so that they're able to do that whenever they are available to you know, set up that appointment with the Mexican consulate.

So simple forms when it comes for example Since we work for the Department of Social Services, Medi-Cal, CalFresh applications. Obviously the forms themselves can be a little bit complicated so they do come to us and we're able to be there right there at the Workforce Resource Center where we are able to provide that immediate service for them and be able to connect that service automatically and be able to submit it at the same time. So we're able to streamline the process with not just the forms but with any type of verifications in relation to not just the Department of Social Services but with any other partner agencies.