Businesses need to see benefits to their bottom line before they really go green – and that’s what the Green Team, a committee of the Merced Chamber of commerce, is helping local businesses do. And other local chambers in California are embracing the same tactic.
Mutual Housing of Sacramento acquires, renovates and rebuilds housing projects that are deemed unsafe for residents. The result is more safe, affordable housing for low-income tenants.
It’s hard to ask for help when a loved one is suffering from memory impairment or other brain disorders. Del Mar Care Center is helping families in Salinas, and giving caregivers the tools they need to take care of themselves.
By Tim Moran
A select group of students is documenting and analyzing the health of Central Valley residents, a region that’s been called the Appalachia of the West.
The tiny Central Valley town of Cutler is home to one in a series of cutting-edge health clinics that raise the bar on low-cost, community-based healthcare with a sophisticated set of integrated services spanning primary care to alternative medicine and social outreach. The Family HealthCare Network includes 11 clinics dotting rural Tulare and Kings counties, both agricultural economies in the heart of the central San Joaquin Valley populated heavily by undocumented workers.
On the eve of a hearing in federal court, California officials and advocates for disabled and low-income seniors have agreed to a brief delay in the elimination of the state Adult Day Health Care program while a replacement service can be implemented.
A Boyle Heights bookstore reminds neighborhood residents of the area’s historic diversity and egalitarian roots.
Ken Moore brags about the water quality in Kerman, a Fresno County city of nearly 14,000 surrounded by farmland. While other Central Valley towns report infamous water problems with nitrates and chromium 6 contamination — issues that include infant deaths, birth defects and cancer — Kerman’s water only needs chlorine added to kill bacteria before it flows through city pipes, said Moore, Kerman’s Public Works Director.
More than 7,000 people qualify for Medicare every day, according to the AARP. But advocates for the elderly say that medical training isn’t keeping up with the demand for specialized knowledge of the needs of seniors. One program in Oakland is trying to fill that gap with the help of a senior acting troupe.
In Los Angeles, a change in the city’s daytime curfew law is on the City Council agenda. The law is aimed at keeping kids in school, but activists have waged a two-year battle against it, saying it’s punitive, discriminatory and counter-productive.