Forum for farmworkers and low-income families

Pueblo Unido CDC, a nonprofit that advocates on behalf of farmworkers and low-income families, will hold a forum tomorrow about improving living conditions in the eastern Coachella Valley.
The Rural Forum on Sustainable Communities is scheduled to begin at 5p.m. at Desert Mirage High School in Thermal, at 86-150 66th Ave.
The agricultural labor force in the eastern Coachella Valley has generated more than $430 million a year in agricultural revenue for the last decade, but the communities where many workers live are the “largest disfranchised and environmentally at-risk population in Riverside County,” according to Pueblo Unido Executive Director Sergio Carranza.
Workers contend with a lack of affordable housing and infrastructure,
which includes sanitary sewer collection systems, domestic potable water and
flood control, and illegal toxic dumpsites are a concern, he said.
“The forum is a comprehensive approach that empowers residents to be
civically engaged in addressing infrastructure and environmental health issues.
It will establish collaborative efforts among nonprofit organizations, public
entities and elected officials to protect the public health and improve the
quality of life of our rural communities,” Carranza said.