Local labor unions, educational institutions, and community-based organizations have formed the Kern High Road Coalition to bring good jobs to Kern County while reducing carbon emission and improving community health.
Right now, more than one in three Kern households subsist on less than a living wage. This means that on-third of our residents experience consistent and severe housing and food insecurity, which is the fourth highest in California and the second highest in the United States for any county with more than 800,000 residents.
At the same time, Kern County residents experience severe heat, wildfire, droughts, extremely poor air quality, widespread groundwater contamination, and other environmental challenges. We can build a better future for Kern County by working collectively to decrease our carbon emissions, clean our environment, and create quality jobs. The environmental landscape in Kern County presents opportunities to invest in our future by putting people to work I ways that improve the local environment and the lives of the people who live here.
The Kern High Road Coalition sets out to accomplish a renewable energy infrastructure transition using a framework established by the California Workforce Development Board, which is focused on promoting equity and mobility for workers, skills and competitiveness for high road employers, and long-term sustainability and climate resilience.
For an overview of the High Road Framework, visit the California Workforce Development Board’s website.
We hope imagining a High Road Kern gets you excited and ready to engage with the work of the coalition. We need your help to build a brighter future for Kern.
Kern HRC Partners
