♪ ♪ Scott: The term "safety net" is often used to describe organizations that provide much-needed assistance to underserved communities.

El Concilio provides the San Joaquin Central Valley with services ranging from job readiness to family wellness.

Its CEO, Jose Rodriguez, joins us today to share the stories of the people they have touched and the work yet to come.

Jose, how have the needs of the community, today, impacted El Concilio's growth from its original mission of helping migrant farmworkers?

Jose: Well, I think Uh, good... good morning Scott.

Thank you.

Um, the Concilio has really grown to I think, a lot to meet the needs of the community.

One of the things that we have learned is that, um, the community, uh, in the Central Valley has a lot of needs when it comes to childcare, access to, uh, quality health care, um, access to financial services, uh, access to a quality education.

There's just a lot of needs in the Central Valley.

I know that when people think of California, they think it's "The Golden State," but, uh, within The Golden State, we have families that are still struggling to be able to achieve the American dream.

And so, what we've been able to do is grow our services to be able to meet the needs of the community, um, as... as time has progressed.

Scott: And, obviously, that explosion has been huge because you touch so many different aspects of life within the Central Valley.

I'm curious though, uh, your work with farmworkers and... and migrants, uh, has that Have the issues changed there, or do those issues even still, uh, rise to the top of the priority list?

Jose: You know, I'd like to say that we have made some progress in... in terms of farmworkers and the way that their work conditions are.

Um, I know that the state is more cognizant about work periods, and the heat stroke, and things like that.

But, you know, as far as I'm concerned, um, the quality of the work environment has maybe improved just a little bit.

But, you know, many of the conditions that they have experienced when we were working in the fields still exist in terms of the quality of the pay, you know, the... the pesticides, and the things that farmworkers are exposed to.

So, while people are more cognizant and more sensitive to the needs of farmworkers, I would say that the progress that we've made in terms of their quality of work environment, the quality of their pay, the quality of their working conditions really hasn't improved all that much.

Scott: Expanding beyond that, who is it that El Concilio serves today?

Jose: You know, we, uh, started originally, as you mentioned, serving farmworkers and the immigrant community.

But one of the things that has, uh, transcended over the course of time is that we've grown to serve just about anyone who really is looking to improve their quality of life.

We understand that there are people who may not, for example, have the opportunity to finish high school, so we have a GED program.

We understand that there may have been people who did not have the opportunity to receive an education, so we have a literacy program to teach them to read and write.

We understand that there may be people who want to learn English, and so we have an ESL program.

There may be people who want vocational training, so we offer that.

Um, and right now, during the pandemic, we know that there's a lot of families that need emergency rental assistance, so we're providing rental assistance to the city of Stockton and the county of San Joaquin County.

So, we know that, um, there's a lot of needs in the community and we're just trying to serve them, um, over the course of time to really anyone who... who's willing to come through our door and ask for the services.

Scott: How... how is it that the people that you help typically find you?

Jose: Well, I would say the #1 way is word of mouth in the sense that if we're able to help somebody and we help them well, generally, they're... they're... they're bound to tell at least 10 other people that if they need help, they're welcome to come to, uh, El Concilio.

Uh, another way is through, um, this opportunity that I have to speak with you about the work that we're doing.

People will see it.

They'll refer their friends, families over to the agency, uh, through employers, uh, through government agencies, um, through, um, news media, social media, um, and... and, really, word of mouth is the biggest way that we hear.

But there... there's a lot of avenues from which people hear about us, depending on their need.

You know, for example, I...

I mentioned, we have a lot of different programs.

We have childcare.

Uh, we have a van transportation program.

And so, if someone uses one of those services and they had a really good experience, they're more than likely to tell 10 other people.

And that's generally how we get our referrals.

Scott: I...

I noticed that, um, one of the... the large areas of focus you have is related to immigration services.

At this moment, where is the greatest demand for immigration services, and what is it focused on?

Jose: You know, to me, the greatest demand that we're seeing, or the greatest need, is just providing people the correct information regarding the immigration process.

Because, uh, under the last administration, there was a lot of roadblocks that was placed on individuals going through the process so that they have to jump a lot more hoops.

And so, some of the opportunities for them to be able to get relief have been closed.

And what we try to do is provide them the correct information so that no one will take advantage of them and offer them a false hope.

For example, if someone has no avenue to be able to get the relief that they're looking for, we want them to know.

Because there's, unlikely, someone who's going to come to say, "For $3,000, $5,000, pay me, and I'll help you navigate that system," when the reality is... is there's nothing for them to navigate.

So, one of the things that we see is that we have to go out and provide people with the correct information regarding the immigration process, and letting them know what few avenues there are, right now, to be able to get relief.

And so, uh, that's, I see, the biggest need that we're able to provide, because as I mentioned, just, uh, the opportunities that folks had to get some type of relief through the immigration process have really been narrowed.

Scott: You're in a lot of the rooms where leadership decisions are made throughout the region and beyond.

And I'm curious, when you're in those rooms and you're talking about the issues related to immigration, especially given the work that you do, what are some of the biggest misconceptions that, many times, you have to puncture, or you've got to correct?

Jose: I think the... the biggest misconception is the to... to let people understand why we have immigration and... and... and the need for it.

A lot of folks have this impression, uh, that people come over to this country because they want to get, uh, receive social services, or they want to get, you know, on the welfare rolls, when that's just not the case.

Many of these folks, when they come over here, are not eligible for social services, any type of government help, and most of them just want to come here to work.

And we all know that during the pandemic, it was basically the essential workers who kept this economy going and... and... and, uh, immigrants make up the largest number of essential workers.

And so, for us, that's the biggest thing that we need to do is dispel a lot of those misconceptions, a lot of those myths or stereotypes that people have about the immigrant community.

You know, the people seem to think that they... they're coming over here because they're trying to take advantage of the government when, actually, that's the exact opposite.

Many of these folks want very little to do with the government.

They don't want the government to know that they're here.

They want to be able to pay their taxes, they just want to follow the law, and they just want to take advantage of the opportunities that this country has to offer.

They're not asking for any handouts.

They're just asking for the opportunity to be able to have an equal playing field, and they'll do the rest.

Scott: You know, your point a few moments ago about essential workers and how important they've been, particularly during the pandemic, in serving communities all throughout this country, and that there are a lot of people who are immigrants who take those positions and really provide that backbone.

In some ways, it's another safety net that... that really has served our country.

But I'm curious How have those communities been impacted by the pandemic, themselves?

Jose: Oh, they've been really, uh, I think, have been the hardest hit of all the communities in the United States because, unfortunately, a lot of the relief money that came from the government, they were ineligible for.

So, many of them did not receive any CARES money.

Many of them didn't receive any type of help from the government, except for what organizations like El Concilio was able to do privately, uh, for them.

You know, we were... were very fortunate that, through our efforts last year when the pandemic was the strongest and things were closed down, we were able to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to be able to help, uh, a lot of the immigrant community that didn't qualify for the federal assistance.

Many of them didn't qualify for don't qualify for any type of help.

So, they're really left to their own on how they... how they can get by.

And they were di sproportionately affected by the pandemic in terms of catching it.

You know, they Many of them got infected.

Um, many of them lost their jobs because they were in the hotel or service industry, which we know a lot of those industries closed their operations.

And so, they were They You know, as far as, um, we were able to see, they almost got hit, you know, almost three times as hard because they weren't able to access government aid, they got hit with a pandemic, and then their hours and, um, income got cut.

So, you know, uh, any way that you look at it, these folks, in our opinion, suffered the most.

And so, what That was one of the reasons that we quickly got involved in trying to find monies and relief efforts for the entire community because we recognized that, you know, the immigrant community, essential workers, need it.

Everybody needs it, but those were the people that we were concerned about the most.

Scott: Are there any gaps Despite the help that you and others have offered to those communities during the pandemic, are there any gaps where it is that there's a... a crying need for services and support, but the policymakers and the budget, uh, folks are not paying attention?

Jose: Well, I...

I...

I think there is, but, you know, I want to, uh, preface it by saying, you know, we have to remember that in our... our... our government, we have the federal government, and then we have the state government.

And, here in the California, we're very fortunate that our governor's legislature recognizes the role of essential workers.

They recognize the role that immigrants are playing in our economy.

I would say that that's not the same at the federal level, where, as I mentioned, a lot of these folks were cut out of the aids that were was made available.

Um, and you know, now in terms of quality to health care, you know, access to quality health care In California, for example, they're trying to change the Medi-Cal rules so that more undocumented folks are eligible for Medi-Cal, so that they're able to access health care services.

But at the federal level, you had the last administration that made the issue of public charge a big issue, where they reminded folks that if they signed up for some of these services, it was going to have a devastating impact on their ability to be able to become, um, legal, permanent residents in... in the United States.

Scott: Let me... let me just, uh, ask you a question on this.

You talk about expanding Medi-Cal for the undocumented.

You work with these populations on a daily basis in providing them critical services.

Make the business case, very quickly, to the skeptics out there who say, "Giving the undocument... undocumented access to Medi-Cal, that's just wrong.

That should be for citizens only."

Respond to that and make the business case.

Jose: Well, I would just say the pandemic doesn't discriminate.

You know, when people get sick, it doesn't care whether they're immigrants, U.S. citizens, you know, um, it... it doesn't discriminate.

So, if we really want to move our economy forward and we want to be able to prevent these type of pandemic outbreaks in the future, we need to make sure that people have access to preventative services.

You know, they say an ounce of prevention is worth a... a ton of... of, um You know, I forget how that expression going says goes, but you know I...

I...

I would say that for every dime that you spend on this immigrant, you're getting, like, a dollar back in investment in terms of prevention services.

And so, you know, from the... from the business community, you know, I think that it's much, um, more, uh, inexpensive to provide access to folks when they're not sick than to try to pay for it when they are sick.

So, you know, from the business community, I think it's a good investment and everyone should be in favor of people having access to quality health care, because as we're learning through the pandemic, you know, whether It doesn't matter whether I'm vaccinated.

If the guy next to me isn't vaccinated, I'm still at risk.

Scott: And when I say "business case," I assume, uh, inclusive in that is, it's the same case you would make to the taxpayer as well.

Right?

Jose: Yes, because I mean We have to recognize that these folks pay taxes as well.

Um, they pay sales tax.

They pay gas tax.

I mean, there's a lot of taxes that we all have to pay, you know, just during the course of our daily lives.

These folks pay them just as much and they should get the same benefit as everyone else.

Scott: Okay.

How are you Given the pandemic and all that we've... we've just discussed, how are you and the Concilio delivering programs to the populations that you serve, given the... the constantly changing conditions that we're facing at this moment?

Jose: Well, one of the things that we originally started doing when things started to close down is, because we offer a lot of essential services, is we started doing things through Zoom, through, um, you know, video, uh, is how we started delivering some of the services.

But one of the things that we found out is that that was only so effective.

So, we started going back out and meeting with folks, um, taking you know, meeting with them one-on-one.

We just took the precaution of making sure that we have hand sanitizer, that we have the PPE for the staff, and that the people who are coming into our office also, you know, sanitize their hands and are also using the PPP because, unfortunately, many of the folks that we're dealing with, um, you know, they... they need that extra hand-holding that we're able to provide, that you're only able to provide on a one-on-one basis.

So, despite the fact that businesses were closing down, and other nonprofits were closing down, we actually continue to stay open and began to offer more services, uh, such as, uh, we provided a... a food distribution.

We're providing cash distribution.

Uh, we started then holding clinics so that people can come get tested.

And right now, we're doing, uh, door-to-door outreach to remind people to get vaccinated, and we're doing vaccination clinics, um, in different locations throughout the community.

So, for example, on the weekends, we're at the flea market.

Yesterday, we had a "Tacos for Vaccines" event where we worked with a loc... local taco truck, where they were giving away free tacos to everyone who came and got vaccinated.

So, you know, one of the things that we realized is that we can't wait for people to come to us.

We need to go to them where they are, because despite the fact that, you know, um, we live in a community where there may be public transportation, we this is still pretty much a rural part of California where the public transportation isn't as readily available for folks.

Um, and sometimes, uh, families the main bread-earner takes the only vehicle that they have.

So, sometimes, families are very isolated, um, in, you know, certain pockets of the community.

So, we recognize that we need to go out to them.

And so that's what we've tried to do during the pandemic is meet them where they are, um, to deliver the services that we know that they desperately need.

And, you know, there's a lot of folks that, um, have suffered through the pandemic, but are, you know, putting a stiff upper lip and trying not to ask for help because, again, of the public charge issue where they feel that if they get some aid, someone is later going to use that against them.

And... and our job is to let them know that "No, that's not the case.

We're in this together.

Please accept this because, you know, we... we want you to have a better quality of life."

Scott: You... you said, "meet people where they are."

One of the areas that I know the organization focuses on is successful formerly incarcerated peoples' reentry into society.

What are the challenges to meeting these people who are getting out of the correctional system, meeting them where they are, in order for them to be successful in never going back?

Jose: Well, you know, part of the challenge for these folks is that when they come out of jail or prison, they're not necessarily being dropped off in the community that they're familiar with.

Um, you know, so they may be dropped off you know, maybe coming out of jail in Stockton, but they used to live, for example, in San Francisco or Los Angeles.

So, they don't know where to access services here.

They don't know where the support is.

And so, what... what we try to do is meet them as they're coming out of jail, literally.

You know, 20 days, 30 days before we know that they have a release date, we start working with them, reaching out to them, letting them know "We're here.

We're going to sign you up for these services so that now, so that when you get out, your Medi-Cal is already in place, and you don't have to wait 30 days to sign up for it after you get out."

So, we go to the We're actually going to the jails and meeting them there, letting them know that when they come out, this is where we are, and this is what we have to offer.

Um, and we have, as an organization, vans.

So, we have to pick them up, when they come out of jail, to bring them back to our office.

We do that.

And then, once they get here, we try to do an assessment of what is it they need.

Do they need housing?

Do they need support services?

Do they need a job?

Some of them come out and they don't have a driver's license.

How do you expect to get a job and be able to find housing if you don't even have a way to identify yourself?

So, the first thing that we do is get them a driver's license.

We'll pay the fee, sign them up, make an appointment, get them to DMV, get them the driver's license, and if they dont Scott: Jose Jose: Yeah.

Scott: Jose, where are we failing as California, as a society, in helping people to successfully transition?

Because when you say something like that, it seems so illogical not to have systems and practices in place to address that.

Jose: Right.

Scott: What the heck is going on there?

Jose: Well, it's... it's I think a lot of it is the... the mentality that people will come to us.

Put up the building and they'll come to you, rather than, again, you meeting them where they are.

And so, you know, and... and, as we're talking right now, something as basic as having an identification or driver's license You would think that's right, it's logical that every Most people think it's just logical that everyone would have one, not understanding that, sometimes, because of different circumstances, people don't.

They may have lost it.

They may have been homeless.

Someone may have stolen it.

The police may have taken it away because they, you know, for whatever reason, when they took away their possessions, it got lost.

But what we know is that, in order for them to be able to go forward, they're going to need it.

So, again, we... we do an assessment to try to figure out what it is they need and then try to meet those needs on a one-on-one basis.

Sometimes, it could be a toothbrush, it could be toiletries, it could be clothing that they need, you know, just to be able to sustain themselves until they're able to get the next service.

Scott: If you were sitting in front of Governor Newsom right now and right now he's pretty receptive to new ideas, okay?

and you were asking him, or you were tell or he asked you to share two or three things that would be make a meaningful difference in helping to reduce recidivism for people who are incarcerated transitioning back into society, what three directions would you give?

Jose: I think what the first one I would tell him is that, um, rather than expect government to be the one to meet these people and help them when they come out, they need to look at community-based organizations.

It's Community-based organizations have a lot more flexibility than government does.

We can do things a lot faster than government does.

And, many times, a community-based organization has much more of the trust and confidence of the people that we're helping than government does.

You know, when you When There used to be that joke that when people would say "I'm here from the government.

Here to help," people would panic.

Right?

Because that's not what we expect from government.

And that sentiment still somewhat exists today.

And the only way that we're able to overcome that, as we're demonstrating, like, with COVID, is by going to the trusted, um, community members that these folks trust and have faith in, in order to be able to deliver those services.

Scott: What would be the other two?

Jose: The other two would, uh, be to... to really, uh, put more money into the direct services that these folks need.

More money for clothing.

More money for housing.

More things for simple things that these folks need.

Because, let me tell you, what happens is anytime they make an allocation for, you know, supposedly, to help these individuals, the money stays with law enforcement.

Okay, because they give the money to the Sheriff's department or probation, and rather than them investing it back on the people that they're supposed to help, they use it to buy, like, a, um, gun detector so that when you go into their offices Although They'll modernize their equipment in the probation office, rather than spending it on the folks.

So, more of this money has to get down to that... that... that level.

And then, the third, uh, recommendation that I would give is to meet these folks in jail before they get out, rather than waiting when they come out.

Because some of them, like I said, don't have a place to go.

So, when they come out, they're lost.

They don't have an address, so you have no place to go find them if you're the... the agency that, or the organization, that wants to help them.

It's just, sometimes when they come out, tracking them is the challenge.

So, I...

I think that Scott: So, all of those Jose: I'm sorry?

Scott: All of those sound very, very, very reasonable, uh, ideas.

I...

I hope that he's watching.

But, to move But I...

I wanted to ask you one of the other areas that crosses not just people who are transitioning back into society from incarceration, but, uh, really affects the spectrum of people within society, has to do with, um, mental and behavioral health issues.

Jose: Yes.

Scott: You all have made a big focus on this, ranging every... everything from adult services to senior services.

What made you all make that such a focus of the organization?

Jose: Well, I have to tell you that when I first started at the organization about 25 years ago, one of the first things that we did is we noticed is that there are a lot of people, Hispanic, Spanish-speaking people, who had mental health issues, but did not know where to go, did not know where to access services.

So, one of the things that we did is we worked with the University of the Pacific to put together a survey so that we were able to go door-to-door, and we knocked on about 10,000 households in, uh, in South Stockton, which has a large Hispanic population, and we did a survey asking folks questions about, you know, about mental health how much they knew, if they knew where to access services, what do they do, you know, when they have these issues?

And what we found out is that there was a tremendous amount of need.

Most of them, these folks, had mental health issues, but they didn't know how to identify them and did not know where to go.

And so, then we were able to take that information to our county behavioral health, um, agency and say, "There's this need in this community that you're not meeting.

We're willing to partner with you to meet it, but you're going to have to work with us because they don't trust you coming to your government office.

They would much rather come to us."

And so, that was the beginning of a relationship with the county behavioral health office that has helped us be able to acquire the funds and establish the programs to be able to help them meet the needs of the community, focusing on the Spanish-speaking folks, the immigrant community, and basically those, uh, who are underserved.

Because it's not just the Hispanic community or immigrant community, but there's a lot of people.

People like you and I, who, because we have a behavioral health issue, we may not know where to go.

We may not have the insurance.

We may not have the money to pay for it.

Um, we're embarrassed because of the stigma.

So, it's We need somebody to come out and say, "It's okay, you're not alone.

You're not the only one going through this.

We're going to find you the help so that you can talk to someone and get these issues resolved."

Scott: You know, you have been there for 25 years, as you mentioned a few moments ago, and has and have presided over all of this growth.

I'm just curious, what part of your job has been the most satisfying for you?

Jose: To me, I, you know, I...

I...

I would say that every day, I'm satisfied just being able to see the, uh, help that we're able to provide the families because, you know, one of the things I...

I How I start my day off, every morning, is going to one of our preschools, uh, and... and looking at the children as they're being dropped off, and that always reminds me of why it is that we're doing this.

Because I was, once, one of those kids who came from a home who was monolingual Spanish, and because of the public education system, I'm now a licensed attorney.

You know, only in this country could you start from humble beginnings and be able to achieve something like that.

And so, I just want to make sure that, in what we do, we're able to create those opportunities for all those families and all those who trust us and bring their children to us.

And our... our early childhood education programs or preschool programs We have over 700 children that come to us on a yearly basis and, to me, I see them as future lawyers, future attorneys, future accountants.

These are people who are going to be contributing to this community.

And that's where I get my satisfaction, is knowing that we're helping these people, one family, at a time.

Scott: You talk about the future of these kids and being future lawyers, doctors.

Presidents?

Jose: Yes.

Scott: And governors?

Jose: Yes.

Yes.

Yes Scott: Okay.

CEOs?

What is the next big area that you're looking at, from a visionary standpoint, and you're seeking to make an impact?

Jose: Well, one of the things I would like to be able to do, um, is, because we have a early childhood education program and we stop providing care for these children, or services to them, once they reach kindergarten level, we'd like to be able to find a way to be able to continue that.

So, we're looking at the possibility of operating a charter school so that we're able to provide these children more help through their... their public education, um, system so that they're able to graduate, hopefully, from eighth grade, ready for high school, ready to go onto a university.

So, we want to be able to expand the role that we're playing in educating the children that come to us, to be able to even go beyond just the early childhood education and focus on the elementary school.

And then, we're also, uh, in the process of forming a 501(c)(4) that's going to be helping us with some advocacy work, because one of the things that we realized the during the pandemic, is that it exposed a lot of disparities and we can't when we go back to normalcy, we can't let those things be covered up, or not be addressed.

So, through this 501(c)(4), we hope to be able to do some advocacy, some community organizing, and work with legislators and policymakers to have them understand what the root of some of these problems are and how they can really solve them.

Because there is a lot of money coming down from the federal government and we have to take advantage of that to make sure that we eliminate some of these, um, gaps that we were, um, exposed by the COVID.

And so, we want to make sure that we don't go back to where we were before.

Now that we know that it's a problem, we need to fix it.

Scott: And, also, you know, with the... with the, uh, information that's just come out about the changing demographics of this country Just because demographics and populations have grown doesn't necessarily mean that the dollars follow that.

So, um Jose: That's correct.

Scott: Really exciting to hear about.

Look forward to hearing more about that.

And we... we will leave it right there.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Jose: Thank you so much for having me here today, Scott.

I really enjoyed the opportunity just to be able to talk a little bit about what we're doing at El Concilio, and hopefully get more people familiar with our work.

Scott: Wishing you much success.

Jose: Thank you so much.

Scott: And that's our show.

Thanks to our guest and thanks to you for watching Studio Sacramento.

I'm Scott Syphax.

See you next time right here on KVIE.

♪♪ ♪♪ Scott Syphax: All episodes of Studio Sacramento, along with other KVIE programs, are available to watch online at kvie.org/video.