The California Report Magazine
How Far Would You Ride a Bus to Get Your Homework Done?
This week we're featuring stories of young Latinos trying to hang onto the California dream. Latinos make up the majority of California's youth. So today we're focusing on their challenges, because their future helps shape the future of the state. We start at Desert Mirage High School, in the Eastern Coachella Valley. Host Sasha Khokha spent time with student Rosy Mendez, whose dream is to become an engineer. She's the daughter of farmworkers, and doesn't have internet access at home, so she depends on public transportation to get online and do her homework. The school library closes early, so the bus ride to the public library is her only choice.
When Economics Divides Siblings
Sometimes, even within one family, there are class disparities. Take Emiliano Villa, a reporter with Youth Radio, who says growing up things were very different for him than they were for his sister.
Is College Still a Path to Success in California?
Generations of young people have believed that a college degree provides a path out of poverty, a way to get a piece of the California dream. If you graduated high school during the 1950s in California, you easily got into the college of your choice. A decade later, even if your family had no money to send you to college, you could still attend a public university for little or no cost under a law called the Master Plan for Higher Education. That college degree was your ticket to the middle class. But that's not the case anymore, especially if you're a low-income Latino student at the University of California. Does higher education in California still lead to greater economic opportunities?
When a Job's Not Enough to Get You Off Food Stamps
In Fresno, they're trying out a different kind of solution to address obstacles for people living in poverty. Some residents are getting help from a government agency that usually deals with cattle and crops.
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