A Lawmaker’s Crusade to Require Public Charter Schools to Provide Free Lunch
More than 81,000 low-income students in California attend charter schools that do not offer free and reduced-price school meals. Assemblyman Rob Bonta wants to remedy that. The post A Lawmaker’s...
View ArticleHow a Retired Catholic School Principal Became a Cannabis Dispenser
A retired Catholic school principal, Taylor isn’t your typical marijuana expert. But that works in her favor, she said, as she strives to remove the stigmatization surrounding medical marijuana. The...
View ArticleAll Are Welcome: Health Clinics Work to Allay Fears of Immigrant Patients and...
Just beyond the reception desks at the two Clinica Romero health center sites in Los Angeles are signs in English and Spanish that say: “All Are Welcome,” as do buttons worn by staff members. That...
View ArticleBay Area Organizations Work to Eliminate Birth Disparities
The March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card found the preterm birth rate in California increased to 8.6 percent, reaching a six-year high. The report card also showed significant racial disparities...
View ArticleInstead of Helping Californians with Mental Illness, Local Agencies Have Sat...
California’s county and local mental health agencies have failed to spend $2.5 billion in taxpayer money that is intended to help Californians with mental illness, according to a new state auditor’s...
View ArticleAmid Daily Uncertainty, DACA Students at UC Berkeley Turn to On-Campus...
As the termination of DACA is challenged in courts throughout the country, the fate of roughly 800,000 DACA recipients remains in limbo. This causes such anxiety for the more than 400 students enrolled...
View ArticleDoctor’s Notes: These Children Don’t Need to Die
Children living in high poverty neighborhoods—a disproportionate number of whom are children of color—are more likely to die from child abuse. My patients in my clinic in South Los Angeles are children...
View ArticleMore Than A Decade Later, Recession-Era Cuts Still Hamper California’s...
Beginning in 2008, as the nation was in the throes of the economic recession, California’s top leaders made a series of cuts to safety-net programs that sent many low-income residents in a downward...
View ArticleLA County Embarks on Sweeping Youth Diversion Plan
Los Angeles County – the birthplace of heavy-handed police tactics like S.W.A.T. teams, helicopter patrols and gang injunctions – is embarking on an effort that could make the nation’s most populous...
View ArticleExperts Forecast Rising Numbers of Uninsured, Higher Premiums for California
California is expected to weather federal changes to health insurance rules better than many other states, but it will still face declining enrollment and rising premiums, two new studies predict. The...
View ArticleHow Supporting New Parents Can Shape California’s Next Generation
Anyone who's had the responsibility of caring for a newborn or young child can agree on one thing: It’s hard! Where do families go when they need help or information? What do parents do when they don’t...
View ArticleCalifornia Immigration Lawyers Watching Closely as Sessions Examines Asylum...
California immigration advocates are concerned about two recent actions by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions that could make it harder for foreigners fleeing violent situations to get asylum. The...
View ArticleFormer Migrant Students Teach the Next Generation How to Turn Disadvantage...
California’s agricultural system relies on migrant workers—the Central Valley alone produces a fourth of the nation’s food—but frequent moves can hamper migrant children’s education. The Mini-Corps...
View ArticleThey Have Insurance, But Few Take It: Low-Income Californians Struggle to...
Despite a recent expansion of benefits and boost in payments, Denti-Cal enrollees and their advocates say they are struggling to find dentists willing to see them. These 7 million Californian adults...
View ArticleConverting Motels to Homeless Housing is Good Business
Los Angeles has at least 328 motels with a combined 10,259 rooms. And on any given night, the city struggles to find shelter for nearly 35,000 people, many of whom have chronic health issues. The post...
View ArticleSchool Fitness Centers Aim to Improve the Health of Low-Income Students
Fourteen-year-old Sophia Gutierrez had seen gyms on television but never stepped foot in a real one, until she walked into Benjamin Franklin High School's new fitness center last month. The post School...
View ArticleWe Pay the Cost of Every Sexual Assault in California, and it’s $140 Billion...
We’ve heard the individual stories, tagged #MeToo and #TimesUp on social media. But what about the collective cost of sexual assault? Research we published last month shows that the annual cost of...
View ArticleDoctor’s Notes: LGBTQ Kids are Over-Represented in Foster Care, but LA County...
Years have passed since I took care of 16-year-old Andy, but I’ll never forget him or his story. As he sat in my exam room about half a decade ago, Andy, whose name has been changed, told me that his...
View ArticleCalifornia is Reshaping Addiction Treatment, One County at a Time
California has a new addiction treatment approach that tackles substance-use disorder much like any other chronic disease, such as diabetes or heart disease. Patients receive ongoing checkups and...
View ArticleDespite State Efforts, the Number of Dentists Who Accept Denti-Cal Declined...
The number of dental providers willing to treat Medi-Cal enrollees has decreased significantly in recent years, according to testimony state officials provided last week to the Hoover Commission, an...
View Article