Reyna Olaguez, who runs communications for Building Healthy Communities Kern, says she never thought Facebook posts could cost the nonprofit a $1.2 million grant with the county to provide COVID-19 outreach to at-risk groups.
“It’s just very disappointing that they’re really prioritizing politics over the health of the community,” she said.
Last Tuesday, the Kern County Board of Supervisors declined to approve the contract with Building Healthy Communities after one supervisor brought up Facebook posts from the non-profit. The posts called for defunding local police and increasing mental health services instead.
During last week’s meeting, Supervisor Zack Scrivner led the call for concerns.
“I think to myself of the hundreds and hundreds of law enforcement officers that have been injured throughout the country with all of the protests, the rioting, the billions of dollars in property that has been destroyed,” said Scrivner.“I think how our sheriff’s department, our deputies and our law enforcement throughout the county would feel if the county of Kern contracts with an organization that is calling for their defunding.”
Now, the county has to find a new partnership, which has led to delays in outreach. The Kern County Public Health Department says the effort to find a replacement has already begun. Public relations officer Michelle Corson says it will take at least two more weeks to find a new partnership that the board will approve.
“We’re starting to identify groups that have connections to these communities that we feel, from a public health perspective, would be an asset to this type of work,” Corson said. “Ultimately it will be up to our board of supervisors to decide how to screen for applicants, so we’ll be working with our board on that. Over the next week or two that will become very important.”
For now, it will continue to work with the Kern County Latino COVID-19 Task Force to increase mobile testing sites, targeting rural areas that are most in need.
Meanwhile Olaguez says the posts are still up on the non-profit’s Facebook page.
“We haven’t deleted them and don’t plan to. I think that the point here is about the pandemic and how it’s impacting communities of color at disproportionate rates.”
