community
Over the years, Nella Gonçalves has become very used to hearing a certain question: “Ew, you work with the homeless? Don’t they stink?” Gonçalves is the deputy director of Beyond Emancipation, an organization that helps foster youth transition into lives as independent adults. Gonçalves meets a lot of very young people in very difficult positions; she said there’s not a single youth she works with who wouldn’t know what it’s like to fear homelessness. Yet, she observed, even though barely…
In 2015, a measles outbreak spread across California, sickening hundreds of people. The outbreak spread across the West Coast as well as Mexico and Canada, and led the California legislature to outlaw vaccine exemptions based on personal beliefs. Removing the exemption has caused vaccination rates across the state to increase dramatically, including in the Bay Area. But some Bay Area residents worry current outbreaks in Washington and Oregon may soon jump state lines into California.
Since opening its doors as a no-kill rescue over two decades ago, the Milo Foundation has helped place over 8,000 animals into their forever homes. But after all those years of temporarily housing animals, the non-profit’s kennels are beginning to show some serious wear and tear. On top of that, founder and director Lynne Tingle says the recent rains have only served to exacerbate the problem because their dogs are not getting out as frequently and chewing right through the…
A group of Richmond residents gather every Saturday afternoon at the park on the Greenway to give out hot meals, fresh food and a toilet to any neighbor that needs it.
Although she has been living in Richmond for about 20 years, Margaret Lee had not been aware of the mark her fellow members of the Jewish community have left on the city. In fact, attending last week’s “Day of Learning” at the Richmond Museum of History, a gathering commemorating the Holocaust, was the first time she had engaged with the stories of other local Jewish people, she said. The gathering was one of the events held in conjunction with the…
Vivan Nishi was best known for her daily bike rides across Richmond, where she made frequent stops to visit with her son and friends. Then suddenly one day in September, the 73-year-old died of a heart attack in Brookside Homeless Shelter. Because her face bore a shallow cut from her cheek to her mouth and bruising around both eyes, Nishi’s son and daughter wanted to know more about what happened before she died. Her children paid for a private autopsy…
The Las Deltas Housing Project in North Richmond was built in the 1940s and 1950s, as part of the country’s low-rent housing program. Due to a lack of government funding, the Contra Costa Housing Authority was forced to close down Las Deltas and begin the process of relocating residents. Additional reporting by Barbara Harvey and Ravleen Kaur.
Built in memory of the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which claimed the lives of 25 people and destroyed over 37 hundred homes, the memorial features a fire-gutted home next to a rocky garden to educate the public about the importance of emergency preparedness in case of disasters. But signs of visitors over the years are visible. Both the exhibit and garden have been graffitied, and cigarette butts along with other common trash are strewn about. Click the audio piece to…
The Cathedral of Christ the Light stands on a big plaza in Oakland where people are sitting on benches and lawns, talking to each other, or drinking coffee between meetings. Students come to study under the sun. Children are running along the lake and near Children’s Fairyland on the other bank. The Cathedral of Christ the Light stands on a big plaza in Oakland where people are sitting on benches and lawns, talking to each other, or drinking coffee between…