Tagged With "Public Advocates"

The Trump Administration has proposed a new rule that could penalize families in their immigration proceedings if they use critical public benefits, such as Medicaid for food-stamps. Nearly half of California's children live in immigrant families , meaning that this rule would do deep harm to families that make up the very fabric of California. It will force families to choose between providing basic needs for their children and keeping their families together. Right now, we have an...

By Neighborhood Data for Social Change, February 10, 2020 The California Department of Public Health reported in 2017 that completing a formal education is a crucial step on the pathway to securing fulfilling employment that can provide food, housing, transportation and other livelihood improvements essential to a healthy life. However, educational attainment differs across economic and racial lines. Since 2003, the achievement gap in California between low-income students and their more...

By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 9, 2019 California health officials want children and adults on Medi-Cal to get screened for traumatic childhood events that can cause negative health effects down the line. Now the state has started giving doctors and nurses tools to do the screenings. People who experience adversity early in life have much higher chances of substance abuse, depression, or chronic diseases than their peers, according to national research. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s...

From Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, March 18, 2020 New, one-stop state website: www.covid19.ca.gov New PSAs feature California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sonia Angell and California Surgeon General Dr. Nadine Burke Harris SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the launch of a new Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) public awareness campaign to provide useful information to Californians and inform them of actions they can take to further prevent the spread of...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, March 30, 2020 The spread of the novel coronavirus has upended life across the Golden State. On March 19, Governor Gavin Newsom issued an order that all individuals living in California were to stay at home except for essential activities like buying groceries or getting necessary health care. Public schools, nonessential businesses like gyms and entertainment venues, and parking lots at many state parks and beaches, are closed. The...

By Mary Severance, Public Policy Institute of California, November 20, 2019 The 2020 Census is fast approaching, and the stakes are high for California—political representation and federal funding are on the line. The San Joaquin Valley, with a population of 4.3 million, may be one of the state’s hardest-to-count regions. In Sacramento last Friday, PPIC convened a discussion about how valley communities are preparing for the census. California has long been home to high numbers of “hard to...

Public health professionals have seen disparities in health outcomes along racial lines for decades. With the Black Lives Matter movement elevating the discussion on disparities to a national dialogue, we asked public health professionals how they can use that momentum to inform their work. Take a listen to public health and social justice professionals from the Bay Area talk about how different sectors such as the economy, transportation, housing, and food can work together and use the...

By Public Advocates, January 2020 In 2013, low-income communities of color and immigrant communities won the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF), a funding law that increases resources for high need students and gives more power to the community. The promise of LCFF has yet to be fully realized, but together, we can make it live up to its potential. That’s why we’re launching the #WeMakeLCFFWork community education campaign in February 2020 to make sure families know their rights, are fully...

By Faith Kearns and Max Moritz, Lake County News, October 16, 2019 Deadly fires across California over the past several years have shown how wildfire has become a serious public health and safety issue. Health effects from fires close to or in populated areas range from smoke exposure to drinking water contaminated by chemicals like benzene to limited options for the medically vulnerable. These kinds of threats are becoming major, statewide concerns. Many people still think of wildfires as...

By ChangeLab Solutions and Merced County Public Health Department (CA), November 20, 2019 How can communities use school spaces during vacation times? Schools are more than just places of learning for children. They serve as centers of connection for families from surrounding neighborhoods and have many facilities and resources that can benefit the wider community. Opening school spaces during times when students are not on campus can significantly improve health and equity for those who...

By John Holland, The Modesto Bee, February 11, 2020 Some students will be able to help pay for college through public service, thanks to a pilot program the state launched Monday. Three universities in the Northern San Joaquin Valley are among the eight involved statewide. About 250 students will take part in the rollout of the Civic Action Fellowship during the 2020-21 academic year. It builds on community service that many students already do as part of their coursework. In Turlock, for...

On Tuesday, January 27, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) allowed the Trump administration to enforce the "public charge" rule, denying certain immigrants to gain permanent resident if they're likely to need government assistance to basic needs like food, shelter, and health care. The SCOTUS 5-4 decision on the public charge rule, previously overturned by lower courts, broadens the definition of public charge to an immigrant who receives one or more public benefits for more than 12...

CAREgivers film will be airing on most public television stations around the US beginning this month in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Orlando, Cleveland, Spokane, Boise, Springfield-Holyoke, Youngstown, Idaho Falls, Twin Falls, Fairbanks, ETC. Please check your local public TV stations for future dates and times. Broadcast times will also be posted in advance whenever possible at: http://caregiversfilm.com/screenings/see-the-film/ This documentary addresses secondary trauma (aka...

This year’s conference has something for everyone! Opening the conference, Echo’s Co-Executive Directors will be joined by some very special guests, including Anne Hudson-Price, an attorney from Public Counsel. Anne will be speaking about the legal action taken by Public Counsel to bring trauma-informed services to Compton School District. “You have to address trauma in order to do anything about the achievement gap,” she says in this article . In addition to featuring the Public Counsel,...

By Public Affairs UC Berkeley, July 23, 2019 Latina mothers living in the United States experienced a significant jump in preterm births in the nine months following the Nov. 8, 2016, election, according to a study by researchers at UC Berkeley and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The analysis, based on U.S. government data on more than 33 million live births in the country, found an excess of 2,337 preterm births to U.S. Latina mothers, compared to projections about...

By Madeline Drexler, Harvard Public Health, Winter 2020 In 2007, pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris, MPH ’02, set out on an idealistic mission: to deliver quality medical care to one of San Francisco’s poorest and most underserved neighborhoods—Bayview-Hunters Point, in the isolated southeastern corner of the city. Before Burke Harris arrived on the scene, only one pediatrician was serving the neighborhood’s 10,000 children. The community’s plight was starkly apparent in its ZIP code. In 17 of...

By Sammy Caiola, Capital Public Radio, December 18, 2019 When Susan Yee Kearns brought her son home from the hospital a year and a half ago, she started worrying about him almost immediately. She woke up thinking he might have died. She was afraid to be away from him. “There was a lot of anxiety,” the Sacramento mom said. So she sought mental health help through her Medi-Cal insurance. But Yee Kearns' provider told her that Medi-Cal would only cover 60 days of treatment. When it was over,...

By Xenia Shih Bion, California Health Care Foundation, February 3, 2020 In a 5-4 vote reflecting the ideological split among the justices, the US Supreme Court on January 27 decided to allow the Trump administration to commence enforcement (PDF) of its “public charge” rule nationwide. Only Illinois, where a statewide injunction is currently in effect, will not begin enforcing the rule. The regulation was slated to take effect last October, but federal judges in California, Illinois,...

By California Department of Public Health, Maternal, Child & Adolescent Health, October 2, 2019 The California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Center for Family Health is pleased to announce that the 2018 in-hospital breastfeeding data have been posted to the CDPH In-Hospital Breastfeeding Initiation Data website . We encourage all hospitals to utilize these data to integrate Quality Improvement (QI) efforts within the perinatal unit to ensure policies and practices are supportive of...

By Gina DePinto, Noozhawk, October 1, 2019 The Santa Barbara County Executive Office has announced the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office and the Department of Behavioral Wellness have been awarded $2,145,000 over three years ($715,000/year) to staff and support two law enforcement-mental health co-response teams for the county. One or more co-response teams will serve North County. Staffing includes two crisis intervention-trained Sheriff deputies and two clinician positions from...

Families at the top of the income ladder have more than 12 times the income of those at the bottom, before accounting for taxes and safety net programs. Two-thirds of Californians say the gap between rich and poor is getting larger, and about half think the state should do more to ensure equal opportunity for all. https://www.ppic.org/publication/income-inequality-in-california/?utm_source=ppic&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=bulletin

Responding to Bonnie Bergman: My parents were raised during the depression in Colorado. My Father said they got new shoes for Christmas, but by May or June, they had to put card board in them because they had worn though. Their house was a one room shack with a dirt floor. Later, my Dad joined the military to get out of the cold and found my Mom and a new life. Growing up in San Francisco, they bought their own home and raised a family. We never knew cold and hungry. My Dad worked & my...

Here is a possibility for well trained Doulas both for the birth and postpartum periods to provide much needed support--both practical and emotional.

By Tia Taylor Williams, American Public Health Association, May 2020 Alarming disparities within the COVID-19 pandemic — such as higher hospitalizations and death rates among African Americans — are sadly predictable and highlight the urgent need to address the root causes of health inequities. APHA is hosting this four-part webinar series to give an in-depth look at racism as a driving force of the social determinants of health and equity. The series will explore efforts to address systems,...

By Louis Freedberg, EdSource, May 28, 2020 Students should be encouraged but not required to use face coverings when California schools reopen for classroom instruction, according to a draft of “interim guidance” from the state obtained by EdSource. However, all staff should use face coverings, according to the document, which sources familiar with it say was drawn up by the California Dept. of Public Health in collaboration with the governor’s office. That is only one of the numerous issues...

By Samantha Young, California Healthline, July 29, 2020 When Will Lightbourne looked at the statistics behind California’s coronavirus cases, the disparities were “blindingly clear”: Blacks and Latinos are dying at higher rates than most other Californians. As of Monday, Latinos account for 45.6% of coronavirus deaths in a state where they make up 38.9% of the population, according to data collected by the California Department of Public Health. Blacks account for 8.5% of the deaths but make...

Understanding the story behind one’s score can empower and support people and families, which is what NumberStory.org -- and “The Story of Your Number” campaign -- is designed to do.