Mojave Trails Outreach & Food Pantry facilitates the distribution of the USDA Commodities Food Distribution for the Newberry Springs Community Service District. We offer our Fresh Food Distribution Program to the Newberry Springs, Daggett, and Yermo communities. These communities are located in the rural desert east of Barstow, between I-15 and I-40.

Our community covers 217 square miles with Daggett being 26 square miles, Newberry Springs at 117 square miles, and Yermo with 74 square miles.. Comparatively, Barstow is 41 square miles, Victorville is 74 square miles, and Bakersfield is 143 square miles.

This means the area we serve is bigger than many of the larger cities near us. We are more than five times bigger than Barstow, three times bigger than Victorville, and 50% bigger than Bakersfield. But our service area is only part of the story.

Our rural desert community is very small, but spread across a vast area. An optimized route to deliver commodities to 12 qualified recipients in our service area is over 60 miles long across many unpaved roads. Other organizations in cities serve larger populations of people over smaller geographic areas. Some of our residents make a 30 mile round trip, or farther to participate in our programs.

The population of our service area is 3,932. Daggett has a population of 484, Newberry Springs has a population of 2,214, and Yermo has a population of 1,234. Barstow has a population of 25,231, Victorville has a population of 137,221, and Bakersfield has a population of 410,647.

This makes the population density of our community as a whole, 18 people per sq mi. Daggett has 18 people per sq mi, Newberry Springs has 19 people per sq mi, and Yermo has 17 people per sq mi. Barstow has 615 people per sq mi, Victorville has 1,854 people per sq mi, and Bakersfield has 2,872 people per sq mi.

According to the US Census data, the poverty rate for our overall community is 21.8%. Daggett is reported as having a poverty rate of 62.6%, Newberry Springs as 18.8%, and Yermo as 11.3%. Comparatively, the national average poverty rate is 12.6%, the state average is 12.2%, and the county average is 13.4% This means our community has nearly twice the poverty rate as the nation, state, and county rates, with nearly two thirds of Daggett, and one out of five in Newberry Springs below the poverty rate.

Through the monthly Commodities Food Distribution, we distribute food to approximately 150 households. Our Commodities Service district is only 2,065 households. This means about 7% of the households in our community participate in our programs for food assistance. However, the poverty rate across our service district is 26.6%..That’s 600 households that qualify. This means we are currently only serving 25% of the households that qualify for our programs

Across our community, 16.5% of the population are minors. In Daggett 13.6% are children, Newberry Springs is 19.6%, and in Yermo 11.9% are children. This is only 80% of the national average of 21.7%, and the state average of 21.8%, and only two thirds of the county average of 25.4%. This means we have 20% fewer children across our community than typical communities.

According to the US Census data, 20.9% of our community’s population is 65 years or older. Daggett’s population of seniors is 20.1%, Newberry Springs is 26.3%, and Yermo is 11.4%. The national percentage of the population aged 65 or older is 17.3%, the state is 15.8%, and the county is 12.5%. This means overall, our community has slightly more seniors than a typical community, primarily because Newberry Springs has twice the number of seniors than typically found in communities across the state and county while Yermo has nearly half the percentage of seniors than the national average.

The Census data projects that 17.0% of the population of our community are disabled. Daggett is 8.1%, Newberry Springs is 22.7%, and Yermo is 10.2%. The national average percentage of the population that is disabled is 13.4%, the state average is 11.7%, and the county average is 11.6%. This says that the number of disabled people within our community is nearly 50% higher than the national average with Daggett being below average, and Newberry Springs having twice the number of disabled persons as a typical community across the state and county.

Veterans make up 11.3% of our community, with Daggett having a population that is 4.2% veterans, Newberry Springs population is 12.7% veterans, and Yermo has 11.6% of its population having served. The national average percentage of the population that are veterans is 6.2%, the state is 4.3% veteran, and the county is 4.0%. This means overall our community has twice the number of veterans than the national average, and three times the number of veterans than a typical community across the state or county.

The rate of employment among the population of our community is 36.6% In Daggett, only 17.1% of the population is employed, Newberry Springs is 37.7% employed, and Yermo has an employment rate of 40.5%. The national average employment rate is 60.3%, the state rate is 60.0% and the county is 58.1%. The employment rate of Daggett is less than one third of the national, state, and county averages, while our community overall only has half the employment rate of other communities.

Because of the low number of employment opportunities within our community, and the increased numbers of seniors, disabled, and veterans, the percentage of able bodied adults capable of employment is smaller than in typical communities. This contributes to the higher poverty rates across our community. Young adults seeking employment often leave our community, contributing to the higher percentages of seniors, disabled and veterans, and lower percentages of employment rates in our community.