A series of events, called Block Parties, which has already begun to unfold throughout the Kern Valley, will be continuing for the next year or so, according to participants.
These are Neighbor-to-Neighbor events, which are in response to, and thanks for $500,000 in funding from the California Volunteers program, Office of the Governor.
Over the next couple of years Kern County, partnered with Kern River Valley Art Association (KRVAA,) Riverstone Wellness, Sierra Shared Spaces, and Hopester will be holding this series of resiliency activities to strengthen Kern Valley’s networking, social investment, and civic commitment and hopefully to help the community’s economic prosperity.
President of the KRVAA, Christopher Buffalo Folsom said, “Just as the county’s supporting us, we’re also supporting the county.”
Longtime resident Justin Powers, a former Whiskey Flat mayoral contender, and the founder of Sierra Shared Spaces, plans to participate with the season of community events held around the communities of the Kern River Valley. He said, “So the program is called Neighbor to Neighbor, which is a program of California volunteers, the department of the State of California. And they’ve chosen to invest in Kern County and specifically the Kern River Valley to hold community events around our communities with the goal of tackling this isolation crisis that we’re seeing as a society. Part of the reason for this is, last year the surgeon general named isolation as being the number one health concern in the country. Being lonely has the same impact on health outcomes as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
Powers explained that such isolation also impacts employee productivity, ones ability to connect with others, and be creative. Over the next 18 months the recipient organizations are hosting community events around the Kern River Valley specifically designed to connect people to each other. He said, “The Kick & Flip at the skate park is a kickoff event for this season of connection. And there’s several more events that you’re going to be seeing over the next 18 months.”
Following the Flip & Kick the next event in the series, for Sierra Shared Spaces is the International Co Working Day, August 9. Folks can register to become part of the connectedness online.
Chris Zuber of Hopester said because he has always put a calendar together for the community, he personally works on helping others to know these and other events are going on within the community. He said, “Sierra, Hopester, Riverstone and KRVAA applied for the Neighbor to Neighbor grant. Hopester is working to bring in county and state resources to connect.
The Neighbor to Neighbor grant is about rebuilding community connections after COVID.
Zuber said, “To me this just shows the investment in the community. The four different Neighbor to Neighbor grant recipient organizations will be providing different events the organizations would be hosting throughout the next several months through the end of 2025.”
Powers said that August 9 Sierra Shared Spaces would be holding its own Block Party type event because the grant is to bring the community together.
Kern County and eight other counties submitted to receive of the Neighbor to Neighbor grant from the State of California, and Kern County designated it to the Kern River Valley.
