For 33 years, Hector Cortes lived in his homeland of Colombia, attending school, raising a family and working in the radio business. He is now a political refugee. Hector was forced to move his family from his war-torn country to Boise almost five years ago when ELN guerillas threatened their lives after he used the airwaves to condemn a rash of kidnappings and other terrorist atrocities.

After a tumultuous and painful transition, he has begun adjust to life in America, along with his wife, Luz, and their three boys. They appreciate their newfound safety as they weave themselves into the fabric of the community cleaning hotel rooms and driving delivery trucks.

Each week, Hector honors the roots of his culture and maintains his enthusiasm for broadcasting by hosting a program on Boise Community Radio.

"Latin Refuge" is a place for the community to celebrate cultural and musical diversity. His program features music from Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, and of course Colombia. Hector's natural radio talent is obvious during breaks in his playlist, his thick accent rolling through the studio as he announces events and information intended to educate refugees and the Latin population at large. 

"I know what kind of problems and needs we have as refugees," Hector says, hinting at a newfound sense of democracy and justice he had wished for in the homeland he left. "RadioBoise is a bridge between the refugee community and Idaho. We can understand what is happening, we can find jobs, rules, rights and many more things - it is our language - it is our voice. We (can) hear about our culture, our families, our new life, our music, so thank you for helping us."

"Latin Refuge" can be heard Tuesday and Thursday afternoons at www.RadioBoise.org.

With food at the center of the curriculum, BUGS uniquely integrates growing, harvesting, preparation, cooking and selling of our agricultural products. BUGS fills a growing need and is one of only a handful of local resources available to schools and neighborhoods wishing to develop urban gardens and reconnect our youth and community to Idaho’s agricultural history. By doing so we can ensure that human and environmental health play an important role in our children’s education. 

Sam’s mom: “Sam has also become more aware of what we buy at the grocery store and where it comes from, both packaged foods and produce.  He got up early most Saturday mornings to make sure we went to the Capitol City Market to buy locally.  He really took ownership of the food that came into our house and into our mouths.”

We believe that our garden, kitchen and classrooms will continue to inspire students and adults to make changes in their own behaviors in regard to diet, health, the environment, and personal responsibility. We address larger environmental issues related to food in a personal, meaningful context and help students find tools to make positive choices that contribute to the development of a sustainable world.

The Battle of the Big Sky CAFO

A fourth generation farmer who raises row crops, farms for a local dairy, and does custom silage work for local dairies, Dean suddenly found himself collecting neighbors’ signatures opposing the project, as well as having to prepare a comprehensive written response to a lengthy and technical CAFO application.

As close as it was to the Minidoka Internment National Monument, the “Big Sky Farms” (or “Hunt Camp”) CAFO proposal was controversial from the start. Various national stakeholders, including the National Park Service, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the Japanese American Citizens’ League, took an immediate interest in the project and worked closely with the Dimonds and their neighbors organizing opposition to it.

The Dimonds rapidly discovered that some county officials either didn’t know or care about their own rules about the CAFO public hearing process. Several “by- the- seat –of- the- pants” decisions by the Jerome Planning and Zoning administrator were serious enough to cause the public hearing to be delayed several times.

Part way through the process, Dean went to Boise to testify at an Idaho Senate legislative hearing on a bill that would have eliminated the “one mile limit” rule. That rule, which allows a county to arbitrarily limit testimony on CAFOs to those who are “primary residents” living within one mile of a proposed CAFO, was in force in Jerome County and applicable to the Big Sky case. The rule prevented Dean’s parents, Harold and Carolyn Dimond, from testifying at the hearing even though their three hundred acre farm is immediately adjacent to Big Sky’s proposed corrals. The rule would also exclude testimony at the Big Sky CAFO hearing from other adjacent landowners who were not deemed “primary residents.”

After hearing  Dean describe the affects Jerome County’s “one-mile” limit rule had on his family, the bill sailed through the Senate Committee, and passed by an overwhelming majority in the full Senate.

Unfortunately, the chairperson of the House Committee to which the bill was referred would not even give the bill a hearing. Who knows why a legislative committee chair would oppose a bill giving affected landowners a right to testify at a CAFO hearing? In any event, the bill will be reintroduced in the 2008 legislature and the bad press the rule generated nudged the Jerome County Commissioners in the direction of changing the rule, very slightly, before the hearing.

Knowing that a hearing date in late September would make it impossible for the Dimonds or their attorney to attend, the Jerome County Commissioners held the hearing it at that time, about nine months and three or four false starts after it was originally scheduled. Thankfully, the outcome of the hearing was a 2-1 vote by the Board of Commissioners denying the permit.

In short order Big Sky Farms challenged the denial with a Petition for Judicial Review in District Court. Their main claim: Big Sky’s application was complete, leaving the Board no alternative but to have approved it. In due course, the Dimond’s filed their own cross-petition for review that supports the decision but seeks to beef up some of the reasons behind it. The first volley of briefs from Big Sky was due in early February 2008. There have been reports that the Big Sky property is about to be sold to a big dairy family who have hinted that they have no interest in pursuing a CAFO on the property.

Inspired by Mujeres Unidas de Idaho

My name is Graciela Fonseca, president of Mujeres Unidas de Idaho (MUI), the Latina woman’s non-profit serving Idaho. Having strong, beautiful Latina women as mentors through MUI inspired me to go back to college to attain my business administration degree. My goal is to obtain my Masters in Social Work; I am, after all, a social worker at heart (well…except for the paperwork!) 

I was able to attend annual trainings given by CSTI/Western States Center thanks to Fund for Idaho’s support of MUI. These trainings have educated me as a woman of color on issues of social justice for women. I have become more aware of how politics shapes our communities in America. I used to think I hated politics, but now I find it fascinating and sometimes frustrating.

I have learned so much about myself: that the compassion and love for people that I feel comes from the injustices that poverty, lack of education and opportunity places on our community, especially on women of color. For too long, women have carried the burden of unjust laws, internalized and institutionalized racism and sexism that exists in of our workplaces. We also face the mixed blessing and burden of being the perfect mother, daughter, wife and sister in the Latino world! I finally realized that I have always spoken up for the underdog…about the needs and vulnerability of Latinas here in Idaho, especially the non-English speaking women. It came as a surprise to me to realize that this is, in fact, the mission of my life. I cannot stop myself from defending, protecting and arguing for my sisters.

Friends have told me that I pushed them to do what they knew they should be doing. Latina women are powerful! We are ferocious defenders of our children and devout protectors of our parents. We embody the icons of motherhood represented by the Virgin de Guadalupe and La Llorona, who feels deeply the pain of losing her children to a society’s grip of gangs, drugs and poverty. Mothers are the most important mentors we Latinas can have. Faced with struggles and barriers, somehow, our amazing mothers overcame them. Many raised their children alone and now they support and push us to do the same for our children. We may have resented them as teenagers, but love them deeply as adults.

I have come to realize that I am already doing the work I should be doing… from the Stay-in-School Quinceañera Program Director to MUI president to Dame Alas Latino Arts & Cultural events; to the work I do for the Department of Health & Welfare as a Case Manager (Navigator) in the most highly populated Latino community, Region 3. My life has unfolded quite naturally, not planned, but by mistake, by stumbling, by detouring and falling down… a lot. But as wise people might say “there is no such thing as a mistake.” I finally understand what that really means. It means that the twists and turns of my life are my true “self” coming back to do what I am called to do: to continue the struggle and fight and defend the rights of women and their children to be validated and heard.

Idaho Community Action Network (ICAN) is part of a coalition of groups sponsoring ads at bus stops to remind Idahoans about our heritage and reduce the climate of fear for immigrants. They are also leading a series of conversations in homes to help people figure out how to talk about this issue in a way that connects to individuals and values. Here are two of the messages.