Blog

By Emily Deruy, The Mercury News, Decemeber 2, 2019 As a fierce rainstorm drenched San Jose a few nights ago, Ericka Avila slept soundly in her new studio apartment just steps from St. James Park. Several weeks ago, that would have been out of the question. The 42-year-old spent years sleeping in her car, parked mostly at a Walmart on Story Road and sometimes at a library on Tully Road. When rain poured down or lightening flashed, Avila would peer out her windows, frightened and alone. “I’m...

By Carolyn Jones, Ed Source, November 27, 2019 California schools undercounted their homeless students by at least 37 percent in 2017-18, according to a recent state audit. The state failed to provide those students with transportation, counseling, connections to social services and other benefits they’re entitled to under state and federal law. The audit, conducted by the office of State Auditor Elaine Howle, found that schools and districts reported only 270,000 homeless children, although...

By Bill Plaschke, Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2019 “Moon! Moon! Moon!” they cried. Enveloped by his brothers, Brenden Moon didn’t notice. “Really, they chanted my name?” he said. “Oh my. Really? Oh my goodness.” As he spoke, his eyebrows rose along with his voice, his boyish face brightening, the toughest of them all overcome by the wonder of it all. [ Please click here to read more .]

By Soumya Karlamangla, Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2019 Mia St. John’s cellphone lit up with a message from the psychiatrist treating her son. The voicemail shimmered with hope, the first she had felt in months. The doctor said Julian, admitted to a psychiatric facility with schizophrenia, seemed more cheerful, was talking more with other patients and would soon begin a new art project. “Very happy to see he’s coming around a bit,” the doctor said. It was November 2014, and Julian, 24,...

Join a live webinar with California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris and Dr. Karen Mark Medical Director, Department of Health Care Services for a Medi-Cal provider introduction to the new ACEs Aware Initiative and the www.ACEsAware.org website. The Office of the California Surgeon General and the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), in the first public unveiling of the initiative, will host a live webinar to share details of the new ACEs Aware Initiative for Medi-Cal providers...

Thanks to Washington State Essentials for Childhood for sharing this message from the CDC. On November 8, 2019, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released RFA-CE-20-003, Research Grants for Preventing Violence and Violence- Related Injury . CDC intends to commit up to $1,050,000 in Fiscal Year 2020 to support up to three awards. The agency is soliciting investigator-initiated research that will help expand and advance knowledge about what works to prevent violence by rigorously...

Every couple of years, the Board of State and Community Corrections (BSCC) revises California's Title 15 and 24 regulations which set standards for the hundreds of local adult detention facilities across all 58 counties. This includes adult jails, temporary holding facilities, and court holding facilities. The standards cover everything from family visits to solitary confinement to nutrition. The revision process has started up again and our coalition is working to make sure a diverse set of...

Starting Jan. 1, police can legally use deadly force only when “necessary in defense of human life.” That’s a higher standard than prosecutors apply now, when officers are permitted to use such force when it is “reasonable.” An iteration of the change was first introduced in 2018 after unarmed Stephon Clark was killed by Sacramento police. The bill stalled until civil rights groups and police struck a compromise, securing passage in the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature . In this...

Primary care doctors are a hot commodity across California. Students are being lured by full-ride scholarships to medical schools. New grads are specifically recruited for training residencies. And full-fledged doctors are being offered loan repayment programs to serve low-income residents or work in underserved areas. These efforts are intended to ease or stave off the physician shortage expected to peak within the next decade in California. By 2030, the state will be short some 4,000...

The idea for "Not Going Back" came to me as I was driving through the desert after a visit to my hometown of Yuma, Arizona, which borders both Mexico and California. I heard yet another story on the radio about people at a rally saying we should return to the ‘good old days’ and began thinking about what that really meant.

By Jill Cowan, The New York Times, November 25, 2019 Homelessness is a part of everyday life for many California schoolchildren, for those who experience it and those who see it near schools and playgrounds. “I’m a working mother of two who has had to raise children to be not only aware and empathetic toward homeless people, but have also had to train my kids how to instantly spot an aggressive mentally ill person who may be a threat to them,” wrote Kristin, a reader in San Francisco.

By Jafet Serrato, Oct 24, 2019, for Action News BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. - The North Valley Community Foundation has been working on choosing where vital grant money should go after the Camp Fire. David Little is the executive vice president of the organization. "We are both giving direct assistance to fire survivors who need it, through our partners on the ground but also giving to agencies who need help in the longer term," Little said. The Butte County Sheriff's Office is one of those...