BURLEY - Many people take for granted having a safe, decent house to live in, enough food to eat, a warm winter coat and opportunities to better themselves through education.

The Community Council of Idaho has been stepping up since 1971 to fill those gaps for farm workers and other low-income residents.

Before the council formed, migrant and seasonal farm workers often lived in terrible housing, and the needs of many families went unmet.

"We came to Idaho because you couldn't get a good job in Texas," said Damian Rodriguez, who moved to Mini-Cassia in 1953 with his family. "We came here because it was better in Idaho even if there was discrimination."

But no decent, affordable housing was available, Rodriguez recalled.

"You had the Burley labor camp. It was just deplorable. Or you could stay in a house provided by a farmer that was barely livable and didn't have running water," he said.

In Idaho, though, the family prospered. Rodriguez's father, Honofre Rodriguez, went to work for Farmer's Equity for less than $1 an hour. He later became a foreman at the company. His mother, Frances, who worked in the farm fields when they first arrived, became a nurse. Rodriguez holds four college degrees and is a veteran of two wars.

As the largest nonprofit organization serving Latinos in the state, Community Council of Idaho now has a more prominent presence in Burley. A new building houses the Community Council Opportunity Center at 1300 Almo Ave. The council doesn't only serve Latinos; its programs are open to anyone who qualifies. The programs have differing guidelines but generally require a percentage of income to come from agricultural work or an income that falls below the poverty line.

The center has a multi-purpose room, classrooms, computer lab with 18 new computers, a conference room along with a kitchen and offices for the Emiliano Zapata Head Start, quartered next door.

"This is really nice. I've had five people in here helping me," said Anita Satterwhite, who was using the center's computers Dec. 10 to sign up for health care coverage through the state's insurance exchange.

Satterwhite does not have Internet access at home and sometimes uses computers at the library, which come with time restraints.

The council's services are available to everyone living in the surrounding communities through the National Farmworker Jobs Program and the High School Equivalency Program.

Participants can earn a GED, take job readiness classes, earn job-training certificates, prepare resumes, perform job searches or learn through on-the-job training with local businesses.

The center also has a food pantry and provides assistance with rent or utility payments along with help acquiring work clothing. The organization has an affordable housing complex in Heyburn, too, and two complexes are in Twin Falls along with others across the state.

The Burley office provides employment training to 80 people a year, and about 1,000 families receive its various services.

Statewide, the organization serves more than 16,000 people a year.

The council's mission is to improve the social and economic status of communities through workforce preparation, education, cultural awareness, civil rights advocacy and by offering well-being services, said Roy Villasenor, employment and training specialist regional manager.

"I would hope that our role in the community is to let individuals know that we have enough programs here if they want to increase their education, from getting a GED or learning English to secondary education, that they can increase their opportunities," said Villasenor

As an agency, he said, the staff acts as advocates in the community and works to make people's lives better.

New Coats Bring Squeals of Delight

Dozens of children from the Head Start program in Burley went to the center to receive new winter coats Dec. 10, courtesy of farmer Ryan Cranney and McCain Foods.

"They hold their new coats tightly to them, and they're so excited," said Becky Arteaga, instructional coach with Head Start.

Cranney said the daughter of one of his employees worked as a teacher at Head Start and contacted him years ago about the need. Since then he has made the donation an annual tradition. Last year, McCain Foods jumped in, and the two now split the costs.

"One little girl who was not a student came in while we were giving the coats out," Cranney said. "She was about 2? years old, and I asked her where her coat was. She said she didn't have one. So we gave her a little coat, and she came over and wrapped her arms around me. It just about tore my heart out."

It's a good opportunity, he said, to give something back.

Arteaga said the center plays "a huge role" in the community by providing many educational tools.

"I've heard so many great comments about the center in the community. They help people get their GEDs, they help with employment and other education," said Arteaga. "When I came to them just out of high school, they offered me the opportunity to further my education and to go to college."

Growing Pains from a Growing Clientele

Villasenor said the new building took 10 years of planning, a grant for just under $1 million and multiple partnerships to come to fruition.

The payoff was worth the wait, however. The staff is seeing a huge influx of new clients coming through the doors since it opened in November, especially in the food bank program.

The pantry operates through a partnership with the Idaho Food Bank.

"In the past month since we opened, the number of people visiting the pantry has doubled," Villasenor said. "That's one of the areas that I see having difficulties with in the future. We're already having trouble keeping the pantry filled."

The number of families coming in for food boxes jumped from 40 to 80 per month since the move.

Villasenor would like to expand even more programs - buying computer software to learn English, holding introductory computer classes and having more community groups use the kitchen and conference and multi-purpose rooms. The rooms are available for a small fee to cover the upkeep, and nonprofits receive a discount.

A Glance at the Past

Great strides have been made in the Magic Valley as more affordable housing was built and education programs unfolded for low-income workers, Villasenor said.

"Our whole focus with the National Farmworker Jobs Program is to get seasonal workers into full-time permanent positions with benefits," he said.

Fewer people have been migrating for seasonal farm work over the years due to disappearing jobs caused by technology, including use of pesticides, herbicides and irrigating pivots, Villasenor said.

"Technology has taken over, and a lot of the field work has decreased," he said.

Now the center sees more international migration with workers coming from Mexico to work through the growing season, then returning home.

While in elementary school, Villasenor said, his family traveled seasonally from Texas to Idaho, so he knows firsthand about the educational hardships those student endure.

"The biggest hardship, to be honest with you, was keeping up with the schoolwork," he said. Students also suffer socially as they leave behind friends every few months.

"A lot of the parents that we work with are placed in full-time jobs, and they want to keep their kids here year-round. They want them to go to college. That has changed from 10 years ago," Villasenor said. "A lot of the families didn't believe, especially for females, that they should go to college. But that is changing."

The notion that children didn't need college was partly cultural, especially for young women, who were encouraged to remain at home until they married.

Misconceptions Still Exist

The Community Council's name statewide shifted from the Idaho Migrant Council because many people thought it only served the migrant population or Latinos, Villasenor said.

That isn't true, but other misconceptions and biases still abound.

"Obviously, there is still bias, but I think it's different in everyone's mind. Some people say all farm workers have entered the country illegally, or they don't speak English. But without them, our main industry, agriculture, would not succeed," Villasenor said.

Cranney said it is easy for people to take agricultural workers for granted.

"We have been so blessed, and we can't do it without our workers. We are a team," the farmer said.

Work-authorization paperwork is needed to put anyone in the center's employment and training programs. Speaking English is also important, Villasenor said, because English speakers have more opportunities.

The key, he said, is to encourage people to keep moving in small steps, and that little push gives them the momentum to keep moving forward.

"I think our success stories speak the loudest to others in the community," Villasenor said.