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Status of women and girls highlighted in community report released today

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The Kern Community Foundation, in partnership with California State University, Bakersfield, announced the release of their 2009 Report on the Status of Women and Girls in Kern County at the CSUB campus today. The report highlights the needs of Kern’s women and girls and is intended as the basis for grantmaking from the Women’s and Girls’ Fund.

 “The Report on the Status of Women and Girls is fundamental to our own grantmaking,” explained Kern Community Foundation Chairperson, Judi McCarthy. “But it should also inspire the work of Kern non profits and elected officials.”

The 2009 status report was authored by Janet Armentor-Cota,  professor of sociology at CSUB and Monique Ferranto-Joyner, research assistant. It is the first report of its kind and compiles multi-faceted data on population demographics, basic needs, work stability, education and training, health care, physical, sexual and domestic safety issues from a variety of sources. The report provides information on both Kern County and California.

The most significant issues faced by women and girls in Kern County today, as noted by the report, are domestic violence, substance abuse and self-esteem. The report states that since 2007, Kern County has had a higher number of reported incidents of domestic violence in comparison to California.

The community partnership between CSUB and the Kern Community Foundation helped to make the report possible.

“We applaud the culture of community engagement that Dr. Horace Mitchell has championed at CSUB,” McCarthy said. “This facilitated an easy working relationship between the Women’s and Girls’ Fund and CSUB faculty who made this report possible.”

The full report will be available on the Kern Community Foundation website at www.kernfoundation.org.