As the federal government continues Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Southern California and across the country, mental health professionals are seeing a heightened need for their services, as they work to help clients cope with stress, anxiety and the loss of normalcy.
The situation is difficult, but there are mental health resources available. Our reporter compiled resources and spoke with therapists who offer guidance.
Seeking to serve Oakland’s urban Indigenous population, Native American Health Center is building a community facility with 76 affordable apartments as well as dental clinics.
Housing advocates say the housing will provide much-needed relief to Oaklanders as the city, and wider Bay Area, grapples with rising income inequality and skyrocketing housing prices.
For over 20 years, La Madera Community Garden in El Monte has served as a refuge for city residents seeking a lush, green space in an urban environment.
Now, as U.S. tariffs on imports such as produce lead to price uncertainty at grocery markets, Maria Casas says growing vegetables and herbs at La Madera is a lifeline for her and other community members.
Today, there are 77 health care districts across California, providing care for tens of millions of people, mostly in rural areas. Inyo County, where Bishop is located, now has two.
But few community members know these districts exist or that they may be governing health care in their region.
Janna Espinoza shudders remembering the day she and her daughter Coraline, then 8, showed up for an appointment in Salinas with their trusted pediatrician and were turned away because the child no longer had the right health insurance.
Coraline, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy and other serious conditions, relies on a safety-net health insurance program.
During the pandemic, California and other states didn’t require people to renew their membership Medicaid, known as Medi-Cal in California.
That changed on April 1, when California began sending out renewal packets once again. Renewals will be sent out in batches, based on the month in which beneficiaries originally applied for Medi-Cal.
The legacy of redlining in Fresno isn’t just linked to housing access. It also has deadly effects on air quality and preterm birth.
People living in substandard housing, a problem tied to redlining, are more likely to be exposed to wildfire smoke. This exposure can hurt pregnant people and the children they carry.
As climate change increases the intensity of wildfires in California, more people are losing their homes and facing long-term displacement and instability.
Researchers and those who work with disaster victims said there is insufficient government assistance to help the most vulnerable wildfire survivors find housing. There also isn’t enough housing to accommodate California’s swelling population of wildfire refugees.
Columbia Journalism Investigations in partnership with the Center for Public Integrity and Type Investigations spent a year digging into the growing need for climate relocation across the United States.
Little organized government assistance exists for preventing the loss of homes and lives before a disaster, the investigation revealed — and there is no comprehensive focus on helping people escape untenable situations.
California is often held up as a model for climate policy, environmental legislation, and pollution regulation, but those standards are rarely reflected in frontline communities.
Since 2000, more than 16 million pounds of toxic chemicals, primarily hydrogen cyanide, ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, have been spewed into Wilmington’s air from industrial sites in the city, according to the EPA. Community survey data shows dramatically higher rates of cancer, asthma and anxiety and depression in Wilmington, compared to national data.