After fifteen years, farmworkers' comfort station is a reality

A new structure will provide field workers with a comfort station in the unincorporated community of Mecca in the Eastern Coachella Valley. The county agreed to build the station after California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) filed complaints with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, alleging the county had tried to close down mobile home parks in the Eastern Coachella Valley based on the race of the residents who lived there. Riverside County agreed to provide migrant farmworkers with a permanent, safe station with restrooms, showers, laundry facilities and parking. This was in 2000. But it wasn’t until this month that construction on a permanent station began. The temporary station is a mile and a half outside of Mecca, lacks laundry facilities during certain periods, and had been broken into because of how remote it is. "It’s important for us because without it, the families go without taking a warm shower or washing their clothes until the weekend." Read the full story on Coachella Unincorporated.