Government
Richmond City Councilmember Doria Robinson pulled up to Hilltop Park on a recent Sunday with a trunk full of lawn signs, tote bags and colorful voter handouts emblazoned with “VOTE YES ON 50.” Robinson showed up at the park to thank canvassers who had volunteered to knock on doors and to convince people to vote in the special election, which is on Tuesday. “People can finally stop talking about how upset they are,” Robinson said, referring to so many Democrats’…
Jeanne Gibson was 18 when she learned to weld massive warships known as destroyers in 1944. She was one of about 12 million women tending the homefront war effort, operating cranes, riveting and welding — work that earned them the nickname Rosie the Riveter. “ Being a Rosie kind of asserted my spine,” Gibson said, referring to the attitude it gave her. “We can do it!” At 99 and half this month, Gibson is eager to get back to work. She…
Richmond has awarded three local nonprofits grants totaling around $900,000 to expand legal aid for immigrants, do community outreach and continue the “Know Your Rights” campaign. The organizations receiving the funds are: Catholic Charities of the East Bay, East Bay Sanctuary Covenant and the Multicultural Institute. In addition to funding the legal defense for people facing deportation, the grants help undocumented immigrants to apply for visas, green cards or citizenship, the city said earlier this month. East Bay Sanctuary Covenant…
Richmond Mayor Eduardo Martinez and five other delegates arrived in Shanghai Thursday to begin a 10-day trip in China. The delegation will also visit Zhoushan — Richmond’s sister city since 1993 — to discuss cultural and economic collaboration with local officials, including an education exchange program. That program would invite Chinese students to a community college in Contra Costa County and fund some Richmond students to visit a university in Zhoushan. “They have a university there, and they already set…
The Richmond City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to expand emergency assistance for immigrants, including funds for rent, utilities and food. More than $140,000 will be diverted for these needs from a $1 million fund approved for immigration legal aid in March. Council members said adding flexibility to the aid program will help meet urgent needs in the community. “ICE is coming and breaking families apart,” said Councilmember Claudia Jimenez, who first suggested the expansion. “We want to protect these families,…
Richmond City Council unanimously approved $1 million in March to nonprofits that provide immigrants with legal aid and other resources. But more than six months later, city officials acknowledge that not a dollar has reached its intended destination. “The need is higher than ever right now,” Marisol Cantú, a community organizer at Reimagine Richmond said with a sigh. “There’s always been a sense of urgency. And yet I don’t think the sense of urgency from the community has met the city….
More than a dozen Richmond Police Department officers, staff and supporters used the public comment period of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to ask the city to fill dozens of Police Department vacancies, saying understaffing has forced many officers to work double shifts and even sleep at the station. But when Lt. George McLoughlin used his turn at the microphone to call for the return of two officers who were put on leave last month after the fatal shooting of 27-year-old…
“The Stakes” is a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. For months community members devoted to reducing pollution and improving the quality of life for vulnerable people in Richmond and other parts of the Bay Area have been stuck in limbo, hoping that the EPA grants they were told they won wouldn’t be taken away. On Friday, after promising these groups millions of dollars and then cutting off access to the money…
“The Stakes” is a UC Berkeley Journalism project on executive orders and actions affecting Californians and their communities. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Jessie Papalia has felt the panic and confusion among her students and their families at Bridges Academy Elementary in Oakland, a dual-language school with many students who have recently arrived in the United States. “The first week was rough. I had kids asking me if they could sleep at school because they were too…