Blog

Wednesday, March 23, 2022 10am - 11am The Governor’s proposed State Budget was released on January 10 and the Legislature is now considering and hearing public testimony on the various elements. Join us for a virtual session to learn more about opportunities and challenges in some key areas of the state budget and what we might expect in the next couple of months. Event Speakers

From ACEs Aware, Image: ACEs Aware, March 4, 2022 The ACEs Aware initiative has released a new data report detailing the number of Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) screenings conducted for children and adults in California between January 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021. The report also tracks the number of clinical team members that completed the “ Becoming ACEs Aware in California ” online training between December 4, 2019, and September 30, 2021. The ACEs Aware Screening, Training, and...

By Brian Contreras, Image: Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2022 A nationwide investigation will explore the risks that the wildly popular short-form video app TikTok poses to children, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta announced Wednesday. Among the issues the investigation will focus on will be how the company has sought to increase the duration and frequency of use of its app by young people, the extent to which the company is aware of any harm it may be causing those users and...

By Carolyn Jones, Photo: Alison Yin/EdSource, EdSource, March 1, 2022 F or the first time in more than a decade, California invested significantly in school counselors last year as the pandemic spurred a mental health crisis among young people. But even with more funds and a soaring need, California’s school student-to-counselor ratio still ranks near the bottom nationally. According to the national rankings released last month by the American School Counselor Association, California schools...

By Sylvia A. Harvey, Photo: Ashleigh Reddy, The Imprint, February 24, 2022 I n 2017, three months after she became the first woman and the first African American to lead the Contra Costa District Attorney’s office, Diana Becton worked to abolish juvenile justice fees that fall most heavily on low-income families of color. Since then, she has publicly released reports on officer-involved fatalities and established “Clean Slate Day” for former offenders to clear their criminal records. Her...

By Carolyn Jones, Photo: Alison Yin/EdSource, EdSource, February 18, 2022 A s schools look for new ways to address student mental health amid the Covid pandemic, more are turning to a practice that costs almost nothing and, if done well, can lead to life-changing results for all involved: peer counseling. For students who are leery of adults, peer counseling can provide a safe place to work through conflicts with friends, struggles with academics, stress, loneliness, family problems and even...

By Anna Maria Barry-Jester, Photo: Anna Maria Barry-Jester/KHN, California Healthline, February 17, 2022 On a rainy winter morning, Jamie Hayden stopped in to visit with Diane Timothio. A case manager in Del Norte County on California’s remote northern coast, Hayden comes by often, sometimes staying for hours, to work with Timothio. Work can mean different things: going to doctor’s appointments, building her comfort level with eating at a restaurant, or listening to Timothio recount stories...

By John Fensterwald, Photo: Jefferson Union High School District, EdSource, February 23, 2022 N ext month, 122 teachers and other employees in the Jefferson Union High School District in Daly City will learn if they won a drawing that will allow them to move into a new housing project with below-market rents that their district is building. Nicole Ann Polo hopes to be one of them. A math teacher at her alma mater, Westmoor High, Polo has been living with her parents, which makes her better...

By Gillian Flaccus, Photo: Nathan Howard/Associated Press, The Press Democrat, February 21, 2022 The young mother had behaved erratically for months, hitchhiking and wandering naked through two Native American reservations and a small town clustered along Northern California’s rugged Lost Coast. But things escalated when Emmilee Risling was charged with arson for igniting a fire in a cemetery. Her family hoped the case would force her into mental health and addiction services. Instead, she...

By Michael Tubbs, Photo: Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle 2021, San Francisco Chronicle, February 23, 2022 California is a state of contradictions. We are the richest state in the country, but we have the highest poverty rate. We’re home to some of the most successful companies in the world, with more billionaires living here than all but two countries , but we have more homeless residents than anywhere in America. It doesn’t have to be this way. California’s poverty problem is a policy choice,...

Public Health Advocates is re cruiting members for the 12-member Equity Advisory Group of California COVID Justice: Recovery, Response & Repair. We invite you to be a member and to share this invitation with people in your networks. It is especially critical that we hear from people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ and other groups impacted by the pandemic and health inequity, so that their perspectives can inform our work. Southern California residents are strongly encouraged...

By Grace Gedye, Photo: Martin do Nascimento/Cal Matters, Cal Matters, February 8, 2022 Un proyecto de ley que está en camino al gobernador Gavin Newsom requeriría que los grandes empleadores en California ofrezcan a los trabajadores hasta 80 horas de licencia por enfermedad pagada relacionada con COVID. Pero hay una trampa: el proyecto de ley, que la Legislatura aprobó el lunes, no se aplica a los pequeños empleadores con 25 trabajadores o menos. Esa exención, que también incluyó la ley de...