Dolores Huerta Foundation staff members joined civic leaders and community members from Arvin, Lamont, and Weedpatch to express support for a long sought Bakersfield College Satellite Campus in Arvin, California.
“We strongly encourage the Kern Community College District Trustees to include 25$ million for the Arvin facility in the bond they are currently creating for the June ballot,” said Gerald Cantu, DHF Education Program Associate
These predominately farmworker communities with historically low education and income levels are in dire need of opportunities that a college education could provide. It would help address the high levels of unemployment Arvin and Lamont have chronically faced.
Poor infrastructure has left many local college students lacking public transportation options to get to the Bakersfield campus, nearly 30 miles away. These students would greatly benefit from a Bakersfield College facility in Arvin.
Since Bakersfield College began to offer general education courses in Arvin in 2010, there has been a 75% growth in the number of Arvin and Lamont students enrolled. (In 2010 there were 400 enrollments in Arvin and Lamont, which grew to 700 in 2014.) The addition of a Bakersfield College facility will give impetus to this tremendous growth and lead to future growth for South Kern, Bakersfield College, and Kern Community College District.
See article by South Kern Sol clicking on the following link Putting Higher Ed. Within Reach for South Kern Residents
