Helping the unhoused as heat, ICE threaten

Imperial Valley service group faces a harsher environment

- BY MARCOS MAGAÑA

RUBÉN PARTIDA of Comité de Acción del Valle hands out cold drinks on a hot June day in Brawley, Calif.

Temperatures were fast approaching 116 degrees as Rubén Partida loaded his dusty Nissan Frontier truck with two coolers of water and Gatorades blanketed in ice. As his neighbors prepared to shelter during the hottest part of the day on June 30, Partida began his outreach efforts to members of the unhoused community in Brawley, a city of about 25,000 in the heart of California's agricultural Imperial Valley.

This has been his reality every weekday from 2 to 4 p.m. since June, when temperatures began regularly exceeding 100.

In line with broader state and national trends, Imperial County has seen a steady increase in unhoused people, rising from 1,057 in 2022 to 1,303 in 2023 and to 1,508 in 2024. The county's increase from 2023 to 2024 far outpaces that of the state: 15.7% in Imperial County and 3% in California. And in the summer, the growing population of unhoused people in the region battles life-threatening heat with little to no resources and support.

Partida is the founder and chief executive of Comité de Accién del Valle (Valley Action Committee), a nonprofit aiming to “educate the community about climate change and the environment of [Imperial] Valley,” according to its website. He started the organization after surviving colon cancer, which his doctors told him was caused by decades of exposure to harmful chemicals and conditions while working in the area’s extensive agricultural sector.

That led to his dedication to educate locals and others about environmental dangers in the Imperial Valley and empower them to speak up. The organization focuses on farmworkers most of the year, but during the summer, it redirects its attention to the unhoused community.