Mission Statement: Comité Civico del Valle (CCV) is a private non-­profit providing comprehensive environmental services to underserved residents including migrant workers, immigrants, farm workers, adults, adolescents, parents and young adults experiencing environmental challenges that impact their health and quality of life in the geographic areas of Salton Sea and Imperial County.

Advancing Health and Wellness: CCV has over 25 years of experience working on the U.S./Mexico Border in California on matters that include environmental health and environmental justice. CCV works with the grassroots monolingual Spanish speaking communities on both sides. CCV collaborates on bi-national working groups such as those established by the Border 2012/2020 initiative. CCV has contributed to the development of statewide strategies and strategic plans that include the California Asthma Strategic Plan, Integrated Regional Water Management Plan and the New River Strategic Plan. CCV has also been a staunch advocate of air quality in order to meet attainment of the Federal Clean Air Act in Imperial County and has since been successful in the implementation of new policies that include traffic safety and agricultural burn notifications. CCV has experience working on a wide range of issues that include contaminated surface and ground water, toxic materials, natural disaster recovery and communicable diseases.

Description: CCV is located in Imperial County, California, and was established in 1987 to assist the farm working labor force with various social service and health needs.  The organization was officially determined in 1989 to serve the needs of the underserved residents of Imperial County. Like many organizations, Comité started out as a service provider by helping residents of Imperial County to gain citizenship through citizenship classes. Later, the organization began to widen its mission to include health and social service topics such as HIV education and testing, nutrition and asthma awareness.

Imperial County communities have traditionally been a target for heavy industrial projects and complacent agricultural behaviors such as field burning, municipal waste management and minimal mitigation enforcement.  They suffer from poor quality of life indicators that include high unemployment, apathetic voting behaviors and poor air quality.  This makes the community, especially the youth, extremely vulnerable to poverty, disadvantage and a whole host of negative psychosocial impacts.  Until recently, the political climate was such that public participation suffered from inadequate encouragement where invitations to engage in enforcement activities were non-existent and unattainable.  They are home to environmental impact studies or health risk assessments that are often “fast-tracked” through local planning departments giving new projects supremacy to weaken safeguards that protect our community from environmental hazards.

Through its work in asthma and pesticide awareness, the focus of Comité has evolved to include advocacy through resident education and participation in research studies. Comité is committed to continue its work in advocacy after the implementation of the first ever Grassroots Environmental Health Conference. The overall mission of Comité Civico del Valle, Inc. is to improve the living conditions of our communities through education, capacity building and civic participation. CCV’s vision is to live in healthy, prosperous and informed communities. Their motto is “Informed people create healthy communities.”

Contact Information: Luis Olmedo, Executive Director; Luis@ccvhealth.org; 760-351-8761 | www.ccvhealth.org | Facebook

CEO / ED Video

Mission Support Grant Application Video

https://youtu.be/0zriJArhabw?list=PL-CwI2rkvFSWO0JlqA3aiqQ5gl513v-6b

Media

• Notice of Public Comment Period for Department of Toxic Substances Control
• The Air is Dark and Asthma is Deadly Along the Mexico Border
• EPA Spring 2015 Newsletter
• AQMD Legislative Committee Meeting – 12/14/2012
• Talking Trash – 6/7/2012
• Inaugural EHLS 2013 – 2/23/2013
• Highline Flood 2012
• Feed Lot in Calexico, California
• CCV 3rd Annual Summit
• Agriculture Burn in Imperial County
• Environmental Justice Bus Tour – April 2012

Links

• Crowdsourcing helps tackle environmental injustice in California’s Imperial Valley
• AIR QUALITY: Smog-reducing proposals kept secret
• How Not To Get Sick in the Imperial Valley
• KernReport.org Newsroom
• Imperial County summit focuses on the environment
• The Sentinel funds wrap-up: Behind the back-patting, something extraordinary
• Imperial Valley Residents Must Fight for Right to Breathe Clean Air
• Enviro Justice From All Angles
• Illegal trash dumping impacts Eastern Coachella Valley residents
• iSun Investigation: Report Faults State For Stink In Mecca
• Assemblymember is driven by justice