Author: Heather Gilligan

First Lady Michelle Obama greets a worker as she promotes her Fresh Food Financing Initiative at The Fresh Grocer store in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 19, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Searching for the right recipe

By Heather Gilligan

At a time when obesity is overtaking smoking as the leading cause of preventable illness in the United States, healthy food financing initiatives seem like a reasonable solution to a difficult problem. And the obesity crisis hits poor people the hardest. About 35 percent of people with incomes of less than $15,000 struggle with obesity, compared to 24 percent of people with incomes above $50,000. Access to fresh food in poor neighborhoods, Obama and other fresh food financing advocates say, could set a generation of low-income kids on the path to good health.

Youth center in “killer corridor” helps kids thrive

By Heather Gilligan

The lobby of the East Oakland Youth Development Center should feel institutional, with its cinderblock walls painted white, scuffed but clean blue linoleum tile floor and tiled drop ceiling. Instead, the small lobby brims with the lively sounds of young people laughing and sneakers squeaking, spilling down the hall from the gym.

In the midst of the liveliness, a young boy sat alone on a bench, head low, shoulder hunched. Regina Jackson, the center’s director for the past 17 years, strode down the hall towards him, dressed in jeans, a crisp polo shirt and polished sneakers. She was slightly out of breath from joining the kids in the races in the gym.

Jackson was about to put the Center’s philosophy of change into action.

Meeting the needs of LGBT seniors

By Heather Gilligan

LGBT seniors came of age in a culture hostile to gay people. While the days of considering homosexuality a disease and a crime may be over for good, homophobia still affects the health of older gay people. The three biggest issues affecting the health of LGBT seniors are isolation, a lack of traditional family structures and economic insecurity, issues that are often intertwined, advocates say.

Data analysis partnership may help police and community

By Heather Gilligan

A recent partnership between the Oakland Police Department and a local not-for-profit is giving police sophisticated data about crime trends in the city. The data isn’t just changing policing methods – it’s offering residents detailed information about what’s going on in their neighborhoods.

Advocates, experts question proposed changes to Megan’s Law

By Heather Gilligan

Legislation passed by the Assembly’s public safety committee would allow counties to send email alerts notifying residents when a convicted sex offender moves into the neighborhood. Residents who sign up for the service would get messages with the name, photo, offense and address of local registered sex offenders delivered directly into their inboxes. But some victim advocates and treatment providers worry that notification doesn’t improve public safety, and may have the unintended consequence of making communities less safe.

Signs from a gang injunction protest

Do Gang Injunctions Work?

By Heather Gilligan

The emotional cacophony that surrounds gang injunctions, though fueled by genuine concerns about crime, safety and civil rights, drowns out extended discussion about effectiveness. Do gang injunctions work? Do they reduce crime in the safety zone and make city streets safer?

From Foreclosures to Affordable Housing

By Heather Gilligan

“Hello!” Anne Griffith called out as she unlocked the front door of a recently purchased home in the Elmhurst neighborhood of East Oakland. Though the house was purchased in foreclosure, and has stood empty for months, Griffith expected an answer to her call. She got one.

A slow park in Richmond

By Heather Gilligan

Toody Maher’s charge to renovate the Elm play lot in Richmond is a testament to perseverance. The small park sits on a corner in the Iron Triangle neighborhood, a low-income area that sees much of Richmond’s street violence. The play structure is a primary-colored island surrounded by grass and sidewalks with no pedestrians. On a recent sunny fall afternoon, the yellow and blue slide, built to beckon children, stood empty, the swings hung still. The only sign of life was an ice cream truck that drove by slowly, with a song playing hopefully from its loudspeaker. Maher has fought for two years to change this small corner of a poor city’s poorest neighborhood through an organization she founded, Pogo Park. She’s learned to embrace the series of never-ending challenges involved in making a play space for the youngest residents of Richmond’s Iron Triangle.

Wealth can shape health in California

By Heather Gilligan

Money can’t buy you love, but it might buy better health. People who live in wealthy neighborhoods live on average ten years longer than people who live in concentrated poverty. That’s why some experts say that the best way to improve public health is not through technological advances and breakthrough drugs, or even through better access to primary care. Instead, they say, policy efforts may be better focused on reducing the wealth gap in the United States.

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