In a rural California region, a plan takes shape to provide shade from dangerous heat

Elected officials, community leaders and farmworkers on Saturday launched a project to significantly increase the amount of shade in unincorporated areas in the Eastern Coachella Valley, a major agricultural area in southern California where temperatures routinely top 100 degrees in the summer. The initiative is the latest push across the U.S. to increase shaded areas in Latino and other minority communities, which are often disproportionately exposed to heat and don’t have the resources, such as air conditioning, to combat it.