Imperial Valley Residents Unveil Community-Led Roadmap for Future Growth

-Editorial 

The Latino Community Foundation and community leaders unveiled its Community Visioning Process: A Community-Led Roadmap for a Strong, Inclusive Economic Future for All on Sept. 1 at the Old Eucalyptus Schoolhouse in El Centro as part of Activate Imperial, a community-centered regional initiative.

More than 80 Imperial Valley residents and representatives of community-based organizations, educational institutions, businesses, public agencies, and civic and community groups participated in the visioning process from April through July.

The initiative is intended to establish community priorities before major development and investment decisions are made and to provide a framework for discussions among residents, government agencies, businesses, and philanthropic organizations.

The Activate Imperial Steering Committee included Imperial Valley Equity & Justice, Comité Cívico del Valle, The Becoming Project, Unwind & Design, Ashley Contreras, and Michael Morales.

The roadmap identifies six areas as priorities: financial stability, public health and safety, infrastructure, lifelong learning, environmental sustainability, and arts and culture.

Financial stability was identified as a major concern amid seasonal employment, stagnant wages, and rising costs. Public health and safety priorities include shortages of specialists, long travel distances for medical care, and difficulties navigating services.

Infrastructure priorities include affordable housing, transportation, broadband access, and public spaces. The lifelong learning section calls for education and career pathways that better align with local industries.

Environmental priorities include concerns involving the Salton Sea, air quality, extreme heat and water resources. The roadmap also identifies arts and culture as part of the region’s quality of life.

Julian Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, said the organization wants future economic growth to benefit residents as well as businesses. Castro previously served as Mayor of San Antonio and served as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama.

“The Imperial Valley is so important for the residents who live here to make sure that they have great opportunity, good jobs, and also a great quality of life,” Castro said. 

Castro said the region’s natural resources and potential lithium development could play a role in California’s and the nation’s economic future. He said the foundation’s goal is to support a process in which residents help establish priorities for economic development, environmental quality and quality-of-life improvements.

The community visioning process brought together residents from throughout the Imperial Valley, Castro said. He said the resulting roadmap could serve as a guide for policymakers and private-sector organizations considering future investments.

The priorities identified by residents include private-sector investment in employment and clean-energy jobs as well as public investments in parks, libraries, streets and other infrastructure, Castro said.

“This by no means is an end,” Castro said. “This is the very beginning of that.”

Daniela Flores, co-founder and executive director of Imperial Valley Equity & Justice, said the partnership with the Latino Community Foundation began in 2020, when the foundation sought ways to support the community during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Flores said the current initiative builds on that relationship by focusing on economic opportunity, transportation, living-wage jobs, arts and other factors affecting quality of life.

She said the steering committee was formed to help guide the community engagement process and ensure participation from communities throughout the Imperial Valley.

“The thread has been clear, and that the brownest county in California should be able to thrive, and you know the pandemic in many ways was a reality check for us. And being able to be here six years later and seeing the continued investment that LCF has had, this initiative takes that to the next level,” Flores said. 

Flores said the initial steering committee could expand as the initiative moves forward. She said the committee is expected to help guide investments over the next five years using the roadmap developed through the visioning process.

“We deserve to also be included,” Flores said, referring to the need for investment in the region. “We deserve to be invested in in all the different ways that we haven’t received investment and I just I’m excited that today is a moment where not only do we get to see what we all collectively said was part of the vision, but also to be able to celebrate here today with one of the definitely one of the biggest investors in the community, like civic infrastructure of the area.,” 

William Cooper, executive director of The Becoming Project in Calipatria, said serving on the steering committee carries responsibility because members are representing community priorities.

“We are entrusted with the community’s hopes, dreams, and ambitions,” Cooper said.

Cooper said he expects the initiative to move from gathering information to implementing projects and investments based on the community’s priorities.

“There are a lot of investments in Imperial County, but it usually goes to the establishment,” Cooper said. “This is the first time to try to give the people a voice that we can invest in and build on top of.”

Luis Olmedo of Comité Cívico del Valle said the region’s natural resources, including land, minerals, water and air, should be considered in discussions about economic development and resource allocation.

Olmedo described the effort as part of a broader pursuit of economic and inclusive justice and greater civic participation.

Michael Morales, another member of the steering committee, said the initiative is intended to create a process in which residents can participate directly in shaping the region’s future.

“The invitation to have a seat at the table will never come. So what do we do? We create our own ground table,” Morales said.

Morales said the group’s vision includes improving quality of life, expanding opportunities and financial support for people seeking to start businesses, creating jobs that provide career opportunities, and promoting development that protects public health, the environment and natural resources.

The roadmap comes as the Imperial Valley considers and debates several large-scale economic development proposals and projects involving energy, lithium, data centers and infrastructure.

Castro said the community-led process is intended to help ensure that residents have a role in determining how the region develops.

“This is a very special community, and it’s a community whose future should be determined by the residents who live here,” Castro said.