City of Jurupa Valley, California

Seated at the crossroads of major trade and transport arteries in Southern California, Jurupa Valley is also a nexus of local organizing and leadership development.

It is a multicultural beating heart for what it means to collectively build both community health and community power. Following years of local advocacy and organizing, Jurupa Valley communities were officially incorporated into one city in 2011. With that designation came the resident-led representative power to roll back decades of unregulated industrial pollution and environmental destruction. This new future—one where residents have a say in public policy and everyone has what they need to provide for their family and stay healthy—is being cultivated across Jurupa Valley every day.

Once listed as the most contaminated site in California, Jurupa Valley is now a leader in revitalizing healthy food systems, developing new community leadership, promoting cross-sector partnership, and facilitating dozens of bilingual community engagement sessions to align city resources with the community’s evolving health needs. Jurupa Valley may be one of California’s newest cities, but its dedication to building a healthy, safe, and thriving community is generations in the making. Key highlights of their work include:

• Healthy Jurupa Valley, a resident-led community health initiative established at the same time as the city's incorporation, has become one of the longest-lasting and most effective healthy city initiatives in California.
• Advocacy efforts and policies enacted by the city and the Healthy Jurupa Valley coalition of over 100 local partners have changed what community health looks like. Successes include revitalizing regional agriculture, planting school and community gardens, establishing farmers markets and little free libraries, and funding public artwork and murals.
• Over the past decade, the city has passed crucial laws that safeguard public health and wellbeing, including the Health City Resolution in 2018 and Smoke-Free Multi-Unit Housing Ordinance in 2022, the first of its kind in Riverside county.
• Local coalition partners successfully worked to embed health in the City General Plan, officially prioritizing land use and community design, healthy transportation systems, arts and culture, social capital, parks, trails and open space, access to healthy foods and nutrition, healthcare and mental health care, and environmental health.
• Restorative justice policies have been implemented across the city’s public schools and the local coalition is developing a comprehensive set of violence prevention and intervention strategies to promote wellbeing and social justice with community-focused input.