Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing the most far-reaching changes to welfare since former President Bill Clinton and Congress overhauled the program 15 years ago.
Month: January 2012
As the birthplace of the computer revolution, Silicon Valley vigorously celebrates innovation and youth culture. In the shadow of the digital age, however, older adults in Santa Clara county echo a similar concern: they are second-class citizens when it comes to financial support from government agencies and high-tech foundations.
By Robert Fulton
The University of Southern California is located in a low-income area in South L.A. Longtime residents feel pushed out by the big demand for housing created by students and faculty. But the university says it is a good neighbor with programs designed to bring jobs to people who live in South L.A.
Juvenile justice realignment resulted in a small numbers of kids in state detention – but most of the kids there are being held because they committed violent crimes. What will happen to this small group of juvenile offenders if the detention centers, which now hold so few people, closes?
California counties could learn from the decade-long juvenile realignment process as they struggle to incorporate adult inmates from state prisons into their county jails and reduce overall inmate populations following the passage of AB 109. The state reduced the juvenile population by 88% since 1996 – and did it with no increase in juvenile crime.
Focused on collaboration and prevention, Alameda County is pushing to expand health care and wellness to as many residents as possible. The county was the first nationwide to accept a federal challenge: provide healthcare to every child eligible under two federal programs: the Children’s Health Insurance Plan, and Medicaid (or Medi-Cal in California). More expansively, Alameda County aims to lead the state in progressive reform efforts by 2014, when most provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act take effect.
The new insurance plan for low-income adults, part of California’s early roll-out of healthcare reform, will include mental health benefits along with minimum standards that counties must meet.
Parents trying to cook at home for finicky kids who are constantly exposed to Ronald McDonald, the Colonel and every sugary concoction imaginable are in for a struggle to start with. But cooking healthy? As difficult as that may be, Los Angeles restaurateur Steven Vasquez and his family are on a mission to ease parents’ pain – by coaxing kids themselves to realize the delight in eating healthy, delicious meals that contain fresh ingredients. With little fanfare, the Vasquez family for the last five years have been visiting Los Angeles-area recreation centers and other locations, holding exercise and cooking sessions for kids under the rubric “Cooking With Gabby” – Gabby being Vasquez’ daughter Gabriella.
The state’s health and social safety net for its poorest residents would be slashed even if voters approve a tax increase that Gov. Jerry Brown proposes for the November ballot, Brown said Thursday as he released his spending blueprint for the coming year. And if the voters reject new taxes, he said, California’s schools and universities would go on the chopping block. Brown’s budget includes deep cuts in welfare, Medi-Cal and home-based services for the disabled, which he wants to enact as soon as possible, and threatens a huge reduction to education – the equivalent of three weeks of classes — if voters reject a proposed increase in the sales tax and income tax in November.
By Genevieve Bookwalter
Twenty seven percent of Fresno residents worry about where their next meal will come from – that’s the highest food insecurity rate in the nation. Community gardens throughout the city are helping residents with the increasing costs of food.