Why is it important to be bilingual? For some people, being bilingual means having a better chance to find a job or a bridge to understand another culture. For others, it means being able to succeed academically and socially in the U.S., where the domestic language is English, and at the same time being able to converse with their grandparents who only speak Spanish. There is a bilingual education program called the Dual Language Immersion program that almost everyone in…
On a chilly morning in 2004, 13-year-old Demetrio Gonzalez who just immigrated to the U.S. sat in an eighth-grade English class at the Oak Crest Middle School in Encinitas, California and read Shakespeare’s articles for the first time. He stared at his brand new English book and thought, “Qué es esto?”–“What is this” in Spanish. The teacher noticed Gonzalez’s struggles with a language barrier from his nervous face, so she pulled him aside and offered to help. “Through my very,…
Raul Vasquez plans to vote for Proposition 10 to allow cities to expand rent control on housing because the rent on his Richmond house has risen nearly 70 percent in the past two years. The 63-year-old father of three who has lived in Richmond for more than three decades now pays $2,500 for the three-bedroom house that cost him $1,500 in rent in 2016. “It’s hard for me to pay that much rent because I have to support my children,”…
Swimmers from all over the Bay Area gathered at Keller Cove for the 9th Annual Swim for Kids’ Sake. Proceeds from the event benefit Richmond’s Sailfish swim team and provide swimming scholarships to inner-city and at-risk youth.
On a Saturday morning in August, a 23-year-old San Jose State University student was attacked from behind at the Richmond Bay Area Rapid Transit station while attempting to transfer trains to go home for the weekend. He was treated for broken teeth, possibly a broken jaw, and a concussion, according to ABC7News. And just the night before the apparently random attack in Richmond, two men were stabbed with a box cutter at the MacArthur BART station, only a few stops…
Rebeca Garcia-Gonzalez, a local painter, paints portraits of Latinos living or working in Richmond as a way to fight against discrimination in her community. This fall, the Richmond Art Center is exhibiting a selection of Garcia-Gonzalez’ portraits as part of Califas: Art of the US-Mexico Borderlands.
In the past six months, Richmond officials have received hundreds of complaints regarding LED light pollution from the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The goal of installing the new lights was to save energy, but now some residents can’t sleep.