Blog

By Samantha Young, Kaiser Health News, April 28, 2020 During the first week of school closures in San Jose, state Sen. Jim Beall’s office received more than a dozen phone calls from distressed parents and caregivers. The problem: They couldn’t get free lunches because school district rules required children be present to receive a meal. A grandmother caring for at least seven children couldn’t fit them all in her car. One parent had a sick child who needed to stay at home, and another was...

By Alexei Koseff, San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2020 California schools could reopen this summer to help make up for a “learning loss” that early closures forced by the coronavirus pandemic caused this year, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday. Schools typically start the academic year in mid- to late August, but the governor said that might be moved up to as early as July if the pandemic is under control. “We recognize there has been a learning loss,” Newsom said at a news conference. “We...

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, California Health Care Foundation, April 24, 2020 Many county correctional facilities throughout California are reducing their teeming populations to prevent large-scale COVID-19 outbreaks. The dorm rooms, dining halls, and recreation areas in many of these institutions are breeding grounds for spreading the virus, experts say. People have been complaining for weeks that inmates don’t have hand sanitizer or equipment like masks to protect themselves and that cramped...

Germaine Omish-Lucero’s ancestors were taken from their homes and forced to build California’s Mission San Luis Rey de Francia—a mission in what is now Oceanside—about 200 years ago. There, they were exposed to diseases such as measles, to which they had no immunity. Thousands died—and there is no escaping this tragic piece of California history. Yet Omish-Lucero, her children, and the children in her tribe stand. Despite inequities that continue to this day, the Rincon Band of Luiseno...

By Jack P. Shonkoff and David R. Williams, Center on the Developing Child, April 27, 2020 The COVID-19 virus is ruthlessly contagious and, at the same time, highly selective. Its capacity to infect is universal, but the consequences of becoming infected are not. While there are exceptions, children are less likely to show symptoms, older adults and those with pre-existing medical conditions are the most susceptible, and communities of color in the United States are experiencing dramatically...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, April 27, 2020 Stay home and save lives, governors have been telling residents since California’s Gavin Newsom led the way on March 19. But sheltering in place is a luxury that many Americans cannot afford, Claire Cain Miller, Sarah Kliff, and Margot Sanger-Katz wrote in the New York Times . “Service industry workers, like those in restaurants, retail, childcare, and the gig economy are much less likely to have paid sick days, the...

By Sydney Johnson, EdSource, April 27, 2020 Never in his 25-year teaching career did Greg Platt imagine he would someday be working full-time through a computer screen. But much has changed in the last few weeks as schools around California closed their doors amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I never thought a switch would be flipped one day, and we would be doing this,” said Platt, an English teacher at Troy High School in Fullerton. “It’s extremely painful for teachers. It’s so difficult not...

Presenters: Center for Care Innovations and Daniel Kurywchak, CEO, Telemedicine.com, Inc. Who should join: Organizations interested in learning more about starting up a telehealth and virtual care model. What you'll learn: CCI is launching a new webinar series to answer your urgent telehealth technology implementation questions. Dan Kurywchak has been helping organizations around the world start-up telehealth programs for 20+ years at UC Davis Medical Center, Intel, California Telehealth...

The California Family Resource Association (CFRA) is pleased to announce a partnership with the state Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) to provide $3M in emergency relief funds for Family Resource Centers (FRCs) to respond to COVID-19. The purpose of the fund is to support FRCs to provide emergency services and supplies to children and families most at need and as soon as possible. CFRA heard from many of you that the gap in prevention services and supports for families prior to...

Pilot testing of home delivery for SNAP foods began a year ago in New York, with recent expedited expansion of home delivery pilot programs in several states, including California . CA Dept. of Social Services, working with third party transaction processors and retailers, will launch the option for CalFresh purchases on April 28 through Amazon and Walmart. Participants in CalWORKS may also be able to use this option. FAQs provide details . With Californians experiencing unexpected...

People are beginning to be aware that one result of the increased stress around COVID-19 is the tragic fact that child abuse and neglect is increasing, but the safety net provided by schools is no longer in place. Teachers and counselors can continue to be a hero to students in this time of crisis, and can help mitigate the negative impact of traumatic events and stress. Caregivers might not be able to do it alone. We (Dr. Rachel Gilgoff, a child abuse pediatrician and trauma expert, and...

We at Penn State have launched a world-wide survey, now translated into 20 languages to study the effective (vs ineffective) ways of communicating the the COVID pandemic related messages. This survey has been already completed by over 10,000 people around the globe since we launched it few days ago. Our humble goal is to reach 1 million responders by the end of April / early May.