“We have to be a community to support each other and be transformative in out lives together,” said one of the interns, and another said, “Never be ashamed of where you come from.”

“Coming here in the civil rights movement where there was so much movement so much action folks really asserting their rights and their power to change their future. You know I was so happy to be part of that,” said Cynthia Bonta a member of the Board of Directors of Central Valley Empowerment Alliance.

The Trump administration has suspended family visa applications – and Trump has ordered an end to the census count three weeks early.

With a population of 2,500, you could say the Tulare County community of Poplar is so small that it could easily to be overlooked when it comes to government help in dealing with all the consequences of the current coronavirus pandemic.

That is why Mari Pérez-Ruíz and Arturo Rodríguez, both with the Central Valley Empowerment Alliance, are kept busy at the Larry Itliong Resource Center handing out food and needed supplies to the homeless and those on the verge of having no home. They also arrange for teachers to help students with at-distance learning for the upcoming school year.