Journalist | Author | Speaker

""/
Health, Health disparities

Controlled burns spark hope on Yurok reservation

by Suzanne Bohan
August 24, 2015
This photo, taken in Feb. 2013, shows the thick undergrowth that's blocking healthy growth of hazel on Yurok tribal lands in Northern California.

This photo, taken in Feb. 2013, shows the thick undergrowth that’s blocking healthy growth of hazel on Yurok tribal lands in Northern California.

The forests on the Yurok tribal lands in Northern California look like weed-choked, overgrown gardens, as one tribal member described it.1

After years of fire suppression – in an ecosystem that needs fire to regenerate – the forest is filled with underbrush that crowds out desirable plants used for basket making, medicines and food. And many of the vast meadows that once blanketed the hills are gone.

Before European contact, the Yurok’s forests were cleared of underbrush by periodic fires, allowing elk and other animals to move freely, and the Yurok used controlled burns to keep trees and bushes from encroaching into meadows, where important plants grew and animals grazed.

But over the past century timber companies began planting monocultures of conifers not only on clearcut forests but on former prairies.1 The rest of the meadowland was lost and the forests became overrun with undergrowth due to state and federal government fire suppression policies.

The result: A reduction in game and in many plants species critical to the preservation of Yurok culture.

But Del Norte County and its adjacent tribal lands in 2010 joined a statewide, $1 billion community transformation initiative funded by the California Endowment, which seeks to leave 14 California communities far healthier in 10 years. One key lever of change in this initiative is to ask community members what they most want to change, rather than the outside funder dictating terms. And then organizing members into a strong force for change.

Skip Lowry, whose mother is Yurok, led a nine-month “listening campaign” among Yuroks and non-Indians living in and around the tribal lands, which surround the Klamath and Trinity rivers. At the end, the community chose prescribed burns as the chief priority for restoring peoples’ health.

That’s not surprising to Dr. Susan Cameron, a Navajo/Hispanic scholar who works in the education department at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. She said Native Americans’ sense of well being is intrinsically linked to the preservation of their culture and community.

“Health can only be rooted in your community. There’s no other way it can be,” Cameron said. And much of what children need to learn to keep the Yurok culture alive, she noted, comes from a healthy forest.

“Since time immemorial the Yurok community honored and obeyed natural rights, true ‘laws of the land,’ which our culture depended on for the continuation of the blood of our people,” noted Lowry in a July 2012 article in Yurok Today. “And only within that culture will we find the balance and harmony once again.”  

The largest bushes are cut and hauled away in preparation for a controlled burn on five acres of Yurok tribal land.

The largest bushes are cut in preparation for a controlled burn on five acres of Yurok tribal land.

The organizing campaign, funded by the California Endowment, led to the creation of the Klamath-river Local Organizing Committee, or KLOC, in April 2012. In April 2013, the Yurok tribe will start a managed burn on five acres where overgrown

These hazel shoots are twisted and bent from too much nearby plant growth. They need to grow straight for basket making and many other uses. The controlled fire will clear out the unwanted bushes.

These hazel shoots are twisted and bent from too much nearby plant growth. They need to grow straight for basket making and many other uses. The controlled fire will clear out the unwanted bushes and allow the hazel shoots to grow unimpeded.

bushes have caused prized hazel plants to send out twisted and bent shoots in order to avoid other plants. The Yurok need straight shoots for a variety of ancient uses, including making baskets, baby rattles and eel traps.

In a few weeks, I’ll post photos of the burn in progress. Photos taken by Melissa Darnell, the lead community organizer for the initiative in Del Norte County and the Yurok tribal lands, in this post show the site before and after preparation for the burn.

TAKEAWAY: Native American cultures have always known that health is intrinsically linked to your community and surroundings, a reality gradually coming to light in Western cultures.

—

1. Community plan catches fire: KLOC, Tribe partner to come up with 10-year cultural burn program. Yurok Today, July 2012. www.yuroktribe.org/documents/2012_july.pdf

Blog

Why Timeliness Confers Power

by Suzanne Bohan
February 13, 2014
A community organizer leading a meeting.

A community organizer leading a meeting.

On Monday night I sat in on a community organizing action in Del Norte County in Northern California, as part of my reporting on a book project on community health. And organizing community members so they make their voices heard – effectively – is one sure way to improve a community’s well being, as collective voices have great power to bring about change.

One model for community organizing is called PICO (“People Improving Communities through Organizing”), and it’s active in Del Norte.

Without going into the details of how PICO works, I’ll share one rule it stresses that really struck me. The lead organizer explained to the assembled group why PICO-run organizing actions, which typically last an hour, ALWAYS start on time, and ALWAYS end on time. To set the scene of an action, in the audience are power brokers (i.e. elected officials, agency heads, executives, etc.) who are asked to publicly commit to supporting an action deemed critical by the organizers.

The mandate for on-time scheduling is rooted in respect, and the philosophy that “power respects power.”  When you start and end on time, you’re respecting other peoples’ time.

But there’s more to it than that, pointed out the leader of Monday’s action: Powerful people are often surprised when rabble-rousers (as they’re sometimes stereotyped) like community organizers are highly organized, and start precisely when promised – with all materials in order. And they’re just as impressed when an action ends when promised.

“Arriving prepared and on time shows you’re a team with power,” said Josh Norris, the lead organizer of a new organizing committee that’s formed in Klamath, Californa.

I’ve always viewed timeliness as a courtesy, but this adds a new dimension. It also confers power. That’s a new reason to follow that old rule of etiquette.

""/
Health, Health disparities

Another teen dream lifted up in Del Norte

by Suzanne Bohan
February 27, 2013
Benjamin Thomas stands with his mother, Michelle Thomas, along the coast in Crescent City, Calif.

Benjamin Thomas stands with his mother, Michelle Thomas, along the coast in Crescent City, Calif.

Benjamin Thomas, 18, once felt like most other Del Norte County youth: He wanted to exit the scenic but economically depressed county right after he graduated.

“The teenage dream is to get out of here as fast as possible,” the high school senior said.

But like Makenzy Williams, whose story is described here, Benjamin joined a youth project organized and funded by the California Endowment as part of a countywide initiative. And that completely changed his outlook.

The Los Angeles nonprofit in 2010 invited Del Norte County in Northern California to join a 10-year social experiment in community transformation, one that’s committed to leaving residents healthier and far more hopeful about the community’s future.

Del Norte was once an economically robust area, when the logging and fishing industry were strong. But those jobs have disappeared, and many now live at or near poverty and suffer more health problems than the average Californian.

The transformation initiative – called Building Healthy Communities – works on multiple fronts to forge lasting changes. And one of those fronts is community organizing – that is, getting citizens together to identify issues that need fixing, and then training them to professionally research and present a solution. Armed with those skills, the community organizers then invite those with the power to change the situation to a public meeting, where they present their research and their demand. And a yes or no answer to the demand is expected at the meeting.

In February 2012, Benjamin joined the Sunset Student Organizing Committee, which was guided by a community organizer working for the Building Healthy Communities initiative. Sunset High is an alternative school, with about 100 students. They then chose their top issue, and one that could be quickly remedied: The lousy lunches served at school.

The big day came on May 15, 2012. School district officials, including the superintendent, arrived at Sunset to hear the organizing committee. “I was extremely nervous,” said Benjamin, who as leader had to open the presentation.

But the jitters didn’t last long. He began to feel the conviction of his words.

“There was a really powerful sentence and I looked out at the crowd and they were looking at me,” Benjamin recalled. “And I was like, “They’re listening to me. They’re not here to listen to some principal. They’re here listening to me! Yeah.”

Other students described the school’s regular offerings of frozen processed burritos, corn dogs, pizza, hamburgers, and chicken nuggets. They only had a salad bar one day a week, and it often ran out and had just a few toppings. In comparison, the youth told the officials, at the larger high school, Del Norte, students every day had a fresh salad bar with many toppings, and multiple freshly-made hot entrees.

And 84 percent of the Sunset students qualify for free or reduced–priced lunches, as they come from low-income homes.  For some, students said, the school lunch may be the most nutritious meal they get all day.

At the end of the hour-long presentation – which starts and ends on time in respect for others’ schedules – the school officials said yes. Within a week Sunset lunches vastly improved.

After experience, Benjamin became more respectful toward authorities, and with his new skills talked to a school official directly about another issue and got a positive resolution. That wouldn’t have happened before, he said – he just would have vented and gotten frustrated. Benjamin also now has a zeal for improving Del Norte and Crescent City, the seat of the county. Because he knows he has the power to do so.

After college, he wants to return to Crescent City and become a community organizer, or take some other civic leadership role.

“Every time someone asked where I was born, I always wanted to say it was somewhere else,” Benjamin said. “And now I say ‘Here. I was born here.’”

“And now I see that I want to change Crescent City and make it a place that everyone can be proud of to be part of.“

 

""/
Health, Health disparities

Poor housing endangers health

by Suzanne Bohan
February 27, 2013

IMG_1197_1We had to laugh when we saw this offering on a mountain roadway in the Klamath Mountains in Del Norte County in Northern California. I was with Melissa Darnell, a community organizer working with a major privately-funded initiative to vastly improve the health of county residents over a decade.

This one is a serious fixer-upper that’s probably beyond a cost-effective restoration, but it’s emblematic. A couple of days earlier we’d visited a woman in another Del Norte community with major decay in the doublewide mobile home where she and her family lived. Holes in the floor were covered with plywood, and the home had other obvious signs of major damage.

Many live in mobile homes in the region. For that reason and others, unsafe, unhealthy housing is a significant issue. Annual rainfall is around 75 inches, and mold and fungi – both asthma triggers – grow readily in leaky homes.

In Del Norte County:

  • 26.8% of low-income residents report mold in the home1
  • 45% of children reported suffering an asthma attack2
  • 35.7% of adults reported suffering an asthma attack3

Another challenge in the region is there’s no homeless shelter for displaced individuals or families in this cold, wet climate, in part because of strong community resistance.

The initiative that Darnell is working for is on a quest to raise the health of Del Norte residents, especially children, by improving myriad social and living conditions. And housing is among them.

Among the solutions:

  • Creating a housing collaboration among public, private and nonprofit entities to offer financial literacy, credit counseling, pooling of resources and the assessment of policies that hinder home ownership.
  • Strengthening or developing offerings for home health assessments.
  • Promoting understanding about homelessness and alleviating fears about sheltering homeless families, with the aim of establishing a temporary shelter during inclement weather.

TAKEAWAY: Costly and common illnesses such as asthma are strongly linked to substandard housing.

—

  1. California Center for Rural Policy; “Rural Poverty and its Health Impacts: A Look at Poverty in the Redwood Coast Region.” Rural Health Information Survey, 2006
  2. California Department of Public Health; “Asthma in Children and Adolescents in California Counties, 2003”
  3. California Department of Public Health; “Asthma in Adults in California Counties, 2003”
""/
Health, Health disparities

Youth outlooks brighten in Del Norte County

by Suzanne Bohan
February 26, 2013
Makenzy Williams inside the Youth News Network studio in Crescent City. The program changes her thinking about the challenged community.

Makenzy Williams inside the Youth News Network studio in Crescent City. The program changes her thinking about the challenged community.

Makenzy Williams, 17, felt like many youth in scenic but economically depressed Del Norte County.

“I wanted to get out and stay out,” she said of the Northern California county, which includes Crescent City.

The Triplicate, the local paper, even recently mentioned the common sentiment. “. . . Del Norte youth carry a common motif of not liking Crescent City and wanting to move away — ASAP,” a July 30, 2012 article stated, quoting a camp counselor at a new youth leadership academy aimed at turning around that mindset.

The Klamath River flows through Del Norte County.

The Klamath River flows through Del Norte County.

Roosevelt Elk rest on a coastal bluff in Del Norte County.

Roosevelt elk rest on a coastal bluff in Del Norte County.

Del Norte, which borders Oregon, is stunning country. Pristine rivers crisscross the land, lakes abound, and its western edge faces the Pacific Ocean. It’s filled with towering redwood and fir forests, many of them now state and federal parks. The area draws many sports fishers as well as kayakers, campers, hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts.

But job opportunities are now few — although several decades ago the once-thriving logging and fishing industries promised good-paying, lifetime work for able-bodied workers. Currently, a job at the unionized Safeway is among the better positions around, one local said.

“It is sad how much it lacks in opportunity for those who live here,” Makenzy wrote in a recent email. “There are a lot of extremely talented young people here, but they have no way to express it.”

Del Norte had been heading on a downward trend since the sharp decline in timber and fishing industry jobs — with youth fleeing and the economy struggling and along with its schools. Substance abuse is a major issue, and many disease rates are higher than average for California, as is depression. Unemployment is also above average.

The county leaders for years have worked hard to reverse the tide. So they were thrilled when they learned that the California Endowment, a Los Angeles nonprofit, decided to invite them to join an ambitious, 10-year, $1 billion initiative to transform ailing communities into ones headed toward a far better, healthier future. (The initiative is described in here.)

A poster describing the youth leadership and news training programs.

A poster describing the youth leadership and news training programs.

Cultivating youth leadership is essential to its success, as they’re the ones with the energy, enthusiasm and long-term stakes to push for lasting change. So the Endowment largely funded a two-week Y.O.U.T.H. Academy in Del Norte last summer, with contributions from several other organizations as well. And the Endowment fully funded the subsequent 8-week Youth News Network program, which taught youth news-production skills such as interviewing, videotaping and editing. Participants also earned an $800 stipend.

Teaching communication skills was a key goal of the news production training, in addition to instructing them in practical skills that could expand job options while creating also important stories about the community.

“If you can’t communicate effectively, you’re not part of the decision-making process,” said Ron Gastineau, a newly-elected city councilman in Crescent City who oversaw the youth leadership and news production programs. “That’s what happened to a lot of them. It opened up their eyes and increased their confidence.”

It changed Makenzy’s life, and did develop her confidence in taking a leadership role. “By the end of the summer, I found myself directing my group, making decisions, and seeing them come to me for guidance,” she said. “That is something I had never thought I’d be capable of doing, but I loved it.

“I also learned that nothing is impossible,” Makenzy said. “With work, and sometimes it can be a lot of work, anything can be accomplished.

Last summer, when I first met her while she was in the program, she also said, “It’s good to meet people who are serious about what they’re doing, people who want to make a difference in their community. I thought they just didn’t care.”

She’s not the only one inspired by the changes the initiative is bringing. Other youth expressed similar sentiments.

Makenzy has decided to pursue a military career, and in June hopes to leave for the United States Air Force Academy. Part of her would like to stay, though, and help develop a youth center, something modeled after the acclaimed Youth Uprising center in Oakland which she visited during the summer program.

“I love Crescent City, I really do,” Makenzy said. “But I also think leaving and coming back is the best thing to do for myself, and perhaps I can bring back my new experiences and ideas to the community.”

TAKEWAY: In economically distressed areas, quality youth leadership training is key to creating a new future.

Recent Posts
Categories
Archives