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"content": "\u003cp style=\"text-align: left;\">\u003cstrong>Update, 1 p.m. Tuesday:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Board of Education on Monday evening approved a settlement between the school district and its former school bus provider over unpaid invoices during the pandemic, when buses were not taking kids to school.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Under the agreement, the company, First Student, will pay San Francisco Unified $1 million, school board officials announced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bus company worked with the school district for about 40 years before San Francisco Unified switched bus providers in 2021. The company last year sued the district for refusing to pay $5.4 million in non-transportation services when in-person classes were canceled. The district, in turn, countersued the company for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the California False Claims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last Thursday, a jury sided with the district, finding First Student guilty of violating the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=12650.&article=9.&highlight=true&keyword=False%20Claims%20Act\">California False Claims Act\u003c/a>, which bars the use of a false statement or document to obtain money from the state. But the jury also decided that the district did not incur any harm from receiving the company’s invoices, which it never paid.\u003cbr>\nThat mixed decision resulted in what’s known as a “fatal inconsistency” in the verdict, prompting both parties to try to reach a settlement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Friday, the two parties announced they had reached a settlement agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are glad the matter is resolved,” said Joe Arellano, spokesperson for First Student.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Original story, 5 p.m. Friday:\u003c/strong> The San Francisco Unified School District on Friday reached a settlement with its former school bus provider in \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11942379/san-francisco-unified-faces-5-4-million-legal-battle-over-bus-bills-during-school-closures\">a lawsuit over ongoing payments during the pandemic\u003c/a>, when students were learning from home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The terms of the deal with First Student, the bus operator, have not yet been released and the agreement must now be approved by the city’s Board of Education.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Today First Student and SFUSD reached a mutual settlement with no admission of liability on either side. We are glad the matter is resolved,” said Joe Arellano, spokesperson for First Student. “First Student took great pride in partnering with SFUSD for decades, transporting generations of families. We hope to return to the community in the future if the opportunity arises.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Thursday afternoon, a jury reached a verdict in the case in San Francisco Superior Court, records show. But a “fatal inconsistency” associated with the verdict caused the trial to continue into Friday, when the two parties ultimately settled.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD and First Student reached a settlement agreement, which will go to the Board of Education for approval at an upcoming meeting,” said Laura Dudnick, spokesperson for SFUSD.[aside label=\"related coverage\" tag=\"first-student\"]The company, which had provided bus services to public school students in San Francisco for four decades, sued SFUSD last year for refusing to pay $5.4 million in non-transportation services — such as bus maintenance and insurance — billed for the 2020–’21 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In disputing the payment, SFUSD argued it did not use any buses during that period, as classes were being held online, and was therefore not obligated to pay for those services. The district, in turn, countersued the company for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the California False Claims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit comes at a turbulent time for SFUSD, which has had to navigate a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11907979/sf-school-district-apologizes-for-not-paying-underpaying-hundreds-of-teachers-but-the-problem-persists\">months-long payroll fiasco\u003c/a>, rapidly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/SFUSD-enrollment-plummets-this-year-doubling-17073854.php\">declining enrollment\u003c/a> and other financial hardships coming out of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ohio-based First Student, the largest school bus operator in the nation, contracts with roughly 1,000 districts across the United States and Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD cut ties with the company early in the pandemic, when in-person instruction ground to a halt. In July 2021, just before the resumption of in-person instruction in schools, the district signed a $150 million, five-year contract with Zūm, a Redwood City-based start-up that allows parents and administrators to use an app to monitor pickups, bus locations and route changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The switch in providers was expected to save the district about $3 million annually, \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/29/zum-wins-150m-from-san-francisco-schools-to-modernize-and-electrify-student-transport/\">TechCrunch\u003c/a> reported at the time of the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the new contract agreement, First Student filed separate legal challenges against both SFUSD and Zūm, alleging the district’s selection of its new bus provider was irresponsible and that the district failed to investigate First Student’s allegations of misconduct in the bidding process. The court denied the motion against the district 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That court case against Zūm is set to begin in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Correction (March 29): The previous version of this story inaccurately stated that the “fatal inconsistency” in the jury’s verdict against First Student effectively overruled its decision. That was not the case.\u003c/em> [ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The company, which had provided bus services to public school students in San Francisco for four decades, sued SFUSD last year for refusing to pay $5.4 million in non-transportation services — such as bus maintenance and insurance — billed for the 2020–’21 school year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In disputing the payment, SFUSD argued it did not use any buses during that period, as classes were being held online, and was therefore not obligated to pay for those services. The district, in turn, countersued the company for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the California False Claims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuit comes at a turbulent time for SFUSD, which has had to navigate a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11907979/sf-school-district-apologizes-for-not-paying-underpaying-hundreds-of-teachers-but-the-problem-persists\">months-long payroll fiasco\u003c/a>, rapidly \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/SFUSD-enrollment-plummets-this-year-doubling-17073854.php\">declining enrollment\u003c/a> and other financial hardships coming out of the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ohio-based First Student, the largest school bus operator in the nation, contracts with roughly 1,000 districts across the United States and Canada.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>SFUSD cut ties with the company early in the pandemic, when in-person instruction ground to a halt. In July 2021, just before the resumption of in-person instruction in schools, the district signed a $150 million, five-year contract with Zūm, a Redwood City-based start-up that allows parents and administrators to use an app to monitor pickups, bus locations and route changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The switch in providers was expected to save the district about $3 million annually, \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/29/zum-wins-150m-from-san-francisco-schools-to-modernize-and-electrify-student-transport/\">TechCrunch\u003c/a> reported at the time of the deal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Following the new contract agreement, First Student filed separate legal challenges against both SFUSD and Zūm, alleging the district’s selection of its new bus provider was irresponsible and that the district failed to investigate First Student’s allegations of misconduct in the bidding process. The court denied the motion against the district 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That court case against Zūm is set to begin in August.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Correction (March 29): The previous version of this story inaccurately stated that the “fatal inconsistency” in the jury’s verdict against First Student effectively overruled its decision. That was not the case.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Oakland’s New Mayor, Sheng Thao\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Jan. 9, 2023, Sheng Thao became the 51st mayor of Oakland and the first Hmong American to lead a major city in United States history. She was born and raised in Stockton, to parents who immigrated from Laos to escape genocide. In her early 20s, Thao escaped an abusive relationship and experienced housing insecurity while raising her son as a single mother. After receiving an associate degree from Merritt College and a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, Thao began her career in politics. She served as a member of the Oakland City Council from 2018 until January 2023, when she was elected mayor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across the nation, food service workers are pushing for more rights, protections and pay. Late last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an Assembly bill that could see wages for California fast-food employees rise to as much as $22/hour. That bill is now set to appear on the 2024 ballot, following a voter referendum effort to block the law. As other states consider raising the minimum wage for restaurant workers while allowing them to keep their tips, we talk to Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Something Beautiful: Sargent and Spain at the Legion of Honor\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Located in picturesque Lincoln Park, San Francisco’s Legion of Honor features a vast collection of treasured artworks. The museum’s architecture is a work of art in itself, and the building has been a destination for art lovers since 1924. Right now, it’s hosting an exhibit of the works of famed portrait artist and painter John Singer Sargent, which is tonight’s look at Something Beautiful. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Oakland’s New Mayor, Sheng Thao\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">On Jan. 9, 2023, Sheng Thao became the 51st mayor of Oakland and the first Hmong American to lead a major city in United States history. She was born and raised in Stockton, to parents who immigrated from Laos to escape genocide. In her early 20s, Thao escaped an abusive relationship and experienced housing insecurity while raising her son as a single mother. After receiving an associate degree from Merritt College and a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley, Thao began her career in politics. She served as a member of the Oakland City Council from 2018 until January 2023, when she was elected mayor.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>One Fair Wage President Saru Jayaraman\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Across the nation, food service workers are pushing for more rights, protections and pay. Late last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an Assembly bill that could see wages for California fast-food employees rise to as much as $22/hour. That bill is now set to appear on the 2024 ballot, following a voter referendum effort to block the law. As other states consider raising the minimum wage for restaurant workers while allowing them to keep their tips, we talk to Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage and director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the night of Sunday, Feb. 19, Pastor Rodney D. Smith of Oakland’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church, known as FAME, was at home when he received an unusual call from one of the church officers — that the door alarms of the church were going off and needed to be checked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When one alarm goes off, the church officers don’t usually call me,” said Smith. “But in this particular case … all of the doors in the church were reporting that something was wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concerned, Smith got in his car and headed over. As he drove on the I-580, he could see smoke billowing in the distance. As he got closer to the church, he got an awkward feeling that the smoke was related. His fears were soon confirmed as he pulled into the parking lot and saw dozens of firefighters rushing to put out a fire that was engulfing the upper section of FAME while others surrounded the area with yellow tape to keep people away from the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just in disbelief,” recalled Smith. “It’s almost like a dream. Like you couldn’t believe what you’re seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three-alarm fire raged until early the next morning, gutting the building. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt and officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith, who became FAME’s lead pastor in 2020, said he’s still waiting for insurance companies to make their final report and learn the full scope of the damage to the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944318\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944318 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with salt-and-pepper hair and a full beard wearing a light grey cardigan stands outside a building with a fence behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor Smith stands outside the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oakland on March 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/fame-oakland-church-fire\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> was launched with a goal of $1 million, and Smith says there may be additional fundraising efforts once the exact costs of rebuilding can be determined. The church previously suffered damages during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just from what I see, I would probably think we’re going to be out at least a minimum of two years,” said Smith. “And then when you start rebuilding or refurbishing, that could be a whole nother year for that process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A living part of Oakland history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>FAME’s history is woven into the fabric of Oakland’s culture from the institution’s earliest days. Located at Telegraph Avenue at 37th Street in North Oakland, FAME is the oldest Black church in the East Bay and was \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55561507/83rd-anniversary-of-first-ame/\">founded in 1858\u003c/a> as Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church by a small group of Black residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was originally located on Fifth Street and structured as a mission in the home of one of the members. According to Barbara Freeman, a lifelong member of FAME and the church’s historian, the founding members purchased a schoolhouse on Fourth and Clay streets five years later from Horace Walpole Carpentier, Oakland’s first mayor. According to records from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8j38wxd/entire_text/\">African American Museum and Library at Oakland\u003c/a>, during this time the schoolhouse — which became the church’s first building — served as a meeting place for the Black community where social and political organizations held festivals and events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church also began running the first school for children of color in Oakland at a time when only white children could attend public schools in California. Informal schoolhouses had formed earlier as a result of segregation — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881675/the-19th-century-teacher-who-fought-to-give-black-children-an-education\">Elizabeth Flood\u003c/a>, one of the church’s founding members, started the first version of the school in her home on East 15th Street in 1857.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside postID=arts_13881675 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/2/2020/06/elizabeth_thorn_scott_flood_final-1020x574.jpg']An article from \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PA18720511.2.8&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------\">\u003cem>Pacific Appeal\u003c/em> newspaper\u003c/a> documented in 1871 that Isaac Flood, Elizabeth’s husband, petitioned the Oakland School Board to accept Black children, following the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Oakland public schools were integrated in 1872, and eight years later, in 1880, \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1880/1880Code.PDF#page=52\">the integration of schools in California was made into law (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a series of church members and local pastors held services, Jeremiah Sanderson was appointed FAME’s first minister in 1874.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten years later, the church moved to a larger location on 15th Street between Market and West streets and became known as Fifteenth Street Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1330px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM.png\" alt=\"An archival photo of a large group of African American men, women, and children standing in front of a building.\" width=\"1330\" height=\"874\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM.png 1330w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-1020x670.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-160x105.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1330px) 100vw, 1330px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An archival photo from 1953 shows a congregation posed in front of one of the church’s former locations, on 15th Street between Market and West streets. It was known as Fifteenth Street Church at the time. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Freeman, the church historian, says FAME’s legacy is distinguished and impossible to leave out when discussing the culture of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is not surprising and fills me with pride that FAME established the first school in Oakland to teach Black children,” said Freeman. “The Fifteenth Street Church made a significant impact in the community. FAME recognizes in order to have a thriving community, the church must be the anchor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 1954, under the leadership of Rev. H. Solomon Hill, that the church moved to its present location and became First African Methodist Episcopal Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944317\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944317\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-800x732.jpg\" alt=\"An archival photo of a scrapbook cover with blue lettering and image of a building with a cross diagonally in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"732\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-800x732.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1020x933.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-160x146.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1536x1405.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-2048x1873.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1920x1756.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An archival photo of a Relocation Services scrapbook cover at FAME church, circa 1958. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“FAME, for more than 160 years, has been an integral part of Oakland and has been involved in helping it develop into the kind of community that is recognized across the country,” said Rev. Dr. Harold R. Mayberry, presiding elder and former pastor of FAME. “So over the past several years, we’ve had a big shoe giveaway at the [Oakland] Coliseum. And for FAME to have given away over 10,000 new shoes by partnering with the community to share in that kind of effort, it speaks to FAME’s ability to generate the kind of relationships necessary to make things happen in this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Irma Lastra, a lifelong member of FAME and frequent volunteer, the shoe program was started years ago as an annual giveaway of 500 pairs of shoes and grew from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an awesome experience and thousands of people would attend,” Lastra recalled. “We also have Tent City, which is the outreach where we would go to the different tent cities and bless them with different things. We would pray with them, sing happy birthday and were very personable, hands on. We assist people and pay their bills, their rent, whatever the need is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944634\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944634\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"A distinguished middle-aged Black man wearing a blue collared shirt and blue jacket sits in a well-lit living room, his eyes looking into the distance\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Harold Mayberry, presiding elder and former pastor of FAME, at his home in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>FAME’s numerous community service and outreach programs include an extensive feeding ministry, operating three times a week and providing hot meals to unhoused members of the community. The food programs were in service during the peak of the pandemic as well, and Smith is in discussions with other congregations to use their kitchen facilities to continue operations. Under Mayberry’s leadership in 1996, the church began a prison ministry, computer training program, travel ministry, free income tax return assistance, and a weekly radio broadcast program on KDIA 1640 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Pastor Rodney D. Smith, First African Methodist Episcopal Church\"]‘I call FAME America’s church because I personally believe that everybody who loves this town, everybody who loves the Bay Area, is going to play a part in rebuilding because of its history.’[/pullquote]According to Freeman, the church has a long history of working with local government to help alleviate social ills plaguing the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 1987, Dr. Frederick O. Murph, former pastor of the FAME, was named chairperson of Mayor Lionel J. Wilson’s hunger task force,” said Freeman. “This task force was formed in response to a study that identified hunger as a growing problem. The study found that approximately 100,000 people in Oakland were at risk for hunger.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the Season of Caring program, last December, the church chartered a bus to pick up unhoused community members in the nearby area, giving them dress clothes and taking them to Scott’s Seafood Grill & Bar for a private dining experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944322\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An African American woman wearing a pink jumpsuit stands with both hands raised among several people who are seated in a building.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debra Chambers, 56, bows her head during FAME’s Sunday service, temporarily held at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland, on March 12. Chambers said she had been part of the church for over 20 years. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the devastating fire, there has been an outpouring of support from local leadership, community members and religious institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was told as a child you know who your real friends are when a crisis strikes, and FAME has discovered that there are real friends in the community who have stepped up to the plate to say, we are family,” said Mayberry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congregation held service a week later at Temple Beth Abraham synagogue, which will serve as a temporary home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944323\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A group of African American men and women stand with their hands raised and clapping as a man holds a microphone to the left.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Amittia Smith closes her eyes as her husband, Pastor Rodney Smith, speaks during the First African Methodist Episcopal Church congregation’s Sunday service at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland on March 12. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was in attendance for the service, and offered to look into resources to help the church. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s office reached out to Smith to offer support as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I call FAME America’s church because I personally believe that everybody who loves this town, everybody who loves the Bay Area, is going to play a part in rebuilding because of its history,” said Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After a three-alarm fire gutted the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, Pastor Rodney D. Smith and his congregation are working to continue services and preserve the church's rich history and cultural impact in the city.",
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"title": "After Devastating Fire, Landmark Black Church in Oakland Perseveres | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n the night of Sunday, Feb. 19, Pastor Rodney D. Smith of Oakland’s First African Methodist Episcopal Church, known as FAME, was at home when he received an unusual call from one of the church officers — that the door alarms of the church were going off and needed to be checked.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When one alarm goes off, the church officers don’t usually call me,” said Smith. “But in this particular case … all of the doors in the church were reporting that something was wrong.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concerned, Smith got in his car and headed over. As he drove on the I-580, he could see smoke billowing in the distance. As he got closer to the church, he got an awkward feeling that the smoke was related. His fears were soon confirmed as he pulled into the parking lot and saw dozens of firefighters rushing to put out a fire that was engulfing the upper section of FAME while others surrounded the area with yellow tape to keep people away from the blaze.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was just in disbelief,” recalled Smith. “It’s almost like a dream. Like you couldn’t believe what you’re seeing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The three-alarm fire raged until early the next morning, gutting the building. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, according to Oakland Fire Department spokesperson Michael Hunt and officials from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Smith, who became FAME’s lead pastor in 2020, said he’s still waiting for insurance companies to make their final report and learn the full scope of the damage to the building.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944318\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11944318 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A Black man with salt-and-pepper hair and a full beard wearing a light grey cardigan stands outside a building with a fence behind him.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63586_001_KQED_FAMEPastorRodneySmith_03092023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pastor Smith stands outside the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Oakland on March 9, 2023. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.gofundme.com/f/fame-oakland-church-fire\">GoFundMe\u003c/a> was launched with a goal of $1 million, and Smith says there may be additional fundraising efforts once the exact costs of rebuilding can be determined. The church previously suffered damages during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Just from what I see, I would probably think we’re going to be out at least a minimum of two years,” said Smith. “And then when you start rebuilding or refurbishing, that could be a whole nother year for that process.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A living part of Oakland history\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>FAME’s history is woven into the fabric of Oakland’s culture from the institution’s earliest days. Located at Telegraph Avenue at 37th Street in North Oakland, FAME is the oldest Black church in the East Bay and was \u003ca href=\"https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55561507/83rd-anniversary-of-first-ame/\">founded in 1858\u003c/a> as Shiloh African Methodist Episcopal Church by a small group of Black residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It was originally located on Fifth Street and structured as a mission in the home of one of the members. According to Barbara Freeman, a lifelong member of FAME and the church’s historian, the founding members purchased a schoolhouse on Fourth and Clay streets five years later from Horace Walpole Carpentier, Oakland’s first mayor. According to records from the \u003ca href=\"http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8j38wxd/entire_text/\">African American Museum and Library at Oakland\u003c/a>, during this time the schoolhouse — which became the church’s first building — served as a meeting place for the Black community where social and political organizations held festivals and events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The church also began running the first school for children of color in Oakland at a time when only white children could attend public schools in California. Informal schoolhouses had formed earlier as a result of segregation — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/arts/13881675/the-19th-century-teacher-who-fought-to-give-black-children-an-education\">Elizabeth Flood\u003c/a>, one of the church’s founding members, started the first version of the school in her home on East 15th Street in 1857.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>An article from \u003ca href=\"https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=PA18720511.2.8&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------\">\u003cem>Pacific Appeal\u003c/em> newspaper\u003c/a> documented in 1871 that Isaac Flood, Elizabeth’s husband, petitioned the Oakland School Board to accept Black children, following the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. Oakland public schools were integrated in 1872, and eight years later, in 1880, \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1880/1880Code.PDF#page=52\">the integration of schools in California was made into law (PDF)\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After a series of church members and local pastors held services, Jeremiah Sanderson was appointed FAME’s first minister in 1874.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ten years later, the church moved to a larger location on 15th Street between Market and West streets and became known as Fifteenth Street Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944324\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1330px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944324\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM.png\" alt=\"An archival photo of a large group of African American men, women, and children standing in front of a building.\" width=\"1330\" height=\"874\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM.png 1330w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-1020x670.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Screenshot-2023-03-21-at-5.14.53-PM-160x105.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1330px) 100vw, 1330px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An archival photo from 1953 shows a congregation posed in front of one of the church’s former locations, on 15th Street between Market and West streets. It was known as Fifteenth Street Church at the time. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Freeman, the church historian, says FAME’s legacy is distinguished and impossible to leave out when discussing the culture of Oakland.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It is not surprising and fills me with pride that FAME established the first school in Oakland to teach Black children,” said Freeman. “The Fifteenth Street Church made a significant impact in the community. FAME recognizes in order to have a thriving community, the church must be the anchor.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t until 1954, under the leadership of Rev. H. Solomon Hill, that the church moved to its present location and became First African Methodist Episcopal Church.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944317\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-scaled.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11944317\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-800x732.jpg\" alt=\"An archival photo of a scrapbook cover with blue lettering and image of a building with a cross diagonally in the background.\" width=\"800\" height=\"732\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-800x732.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1020x933.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-160x146.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1536x1405.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-2048x1873.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/Relocation-Services-scrapbook-cover-1958-1920x1756.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An archival photo of a Relocation Services scrapbook cover at FAME church, circa 1958. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of African American Museum & Library at Oakland Photograph Collection)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“FAME, for more than 160 years, has been an integral part of Oakland and has been involved in helping it develop into the kind of community that is recognized across the country,” said Rev. Dr. Harold R. Mayberry, presiding elder and former pastor of FAME. “So over the past several years, we’ve had a big shoe giveaway at the [Oakland] Coliseum. And for FAME to have given away over 10,000 new shoes by partnering with the community to share in that kind of effort, it speaks to FAME’s ability to generate the kind of relationships necessary to make things happen in this community.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Irma Lastra, a lifelong member of FAME and frequent volunteer, the shoe program was started years ago as an annual giveaway of 500 pairs of shoes and grew from there.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was an awesome experience and thousands of people would attend,” Lastra recalled. “We also have Tent City, which is the outreach where we would go to the different tent cities and bless them with different things. We would pray with them, sing happy birthday and were very personable, hands on. We assist people and pay their bills, their rent, whatever the need is.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944634\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944634\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1.jpg\" alt=\"A distinguished middle-aged Black man wearing a blue collared shirt and blue jacket sits in a well-lit living room, his eyes looking into the distance\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63594_003_KQED_ReverendHaroldMayberry_03092023-qut-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Harold Mayberry, presiding elder and former pastor of FAME, at his home in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>FAME’s numerous community service and outreach programs include an extensive feeding ministry, operating three times a week and providing hot meals to unhoused members of the community. The food programs were in service during the peak of the pandemic as well, and Smith is in discussions with other congregations to use their kitchen facilities to continue operations. Under Mayberry’s leadership in 1996, the church began a prison ministry, computer training program, travel ministry, free income tax return assistance, and a weekly radio broadcast program on KDIA 1640 AM.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>According to Freeman, the church has a long history of working with local government to help alleviate social ills plaguing the community.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In 1987, Dr. Frederick O. Murph, former pastor of the FAME, was named chairperson of Mayor Lionel J. Wilson’s hunger task force,” said Freeman. “This task force was formed in response to a study that identified hunger as a growing problem. The study found that approximately 100,000 people in Oakland were at risk for hunger.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of the Season of Caring program, last December, the church chartered a bus to pick up unhoused community members in the nearby area, giving them dress clothes and taking them to Scott’s Seafood Grill & Bar for a private dining experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944322\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944322\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut.jpg\" alt=\"An African American woman wearing a pink jumpsuit stands with both hands raised among several people who are seated in a building.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63633_03122023_kqed_fameservice-256-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Debra Chambers, 56, bows her head during FAME’s Sunday service, temporarily held at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland, on March 12. Chambers said she had been part of the church for over 20 years. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since the devastating fire, there has been an outpouring of support from local leadership, community members and religious institutions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was told as a child you know who your real friends are when a crisis strikes, and FAME has discovered that there are real friends in the community who have stepped up to the plate to say, we are family,” said Mayberry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The congregation held service a week later at Temple Beth Abraham synagogue, which will serve as a temporary home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11944323\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11944323\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A group of African American men and women stand with their hands raised and clapping as a man holds a microphone to the left.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1282\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-1020x681.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS63643_03122023_kqed_fameservice-332-qut-1536x1026.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rev. Amittia Smith closes her eyes as her husband, Pastor Rodney Smith, speaks during the First African Methodist Episcopal Church congregation’s Sunday service at Temple Beth Abraham in Oakland on March 12. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee was in attendance for the service, and offered to look into resources to help the church. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s office reached out to Smith to offer support as well.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I call FAME America’s church because I personally believe that everybody who loves this town, everybody who loves the Bay Area, is going to play a part in rebuilding because of its history,” said Smith.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "'A Life-and-Death Difference': Essential Workers Push for Cantonese Language Access in San Francisco",
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"headTitle": "‘A Life-and-Death Difference’: Essential Workers Push for Cantonese Language Access in San Francisco | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n Wednesday evenings, about 35 students crowd into Grace Yu’s classroom at City College of San Francisco to study Cantonese late into the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These aren’t your average 20-something college kids. Many of the students in Yu’s oversubscribed classes — both of her two Cantonese courses this semester have full waitlists — are essential workers hoping to apply their newfound skills to their careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, a city where about one-tenth of the population speaks Cantonese, essential workers are beginning to realize that their ability to communicate in Cantonese can have life-or-death consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city employs some of the workers in Yu’s class as first responders, but there also are medical professionals, social service providers and community volunteers who are learning the language to better serve Cantonese-speaking residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see being able to speak Cantonese as not only about cultural preservation, but also making sure that people can receive essential services in a language they understand,” said Julia Quon, a doula and nursing student who took Yu’s class, referencing concerns that the language’s future is threatened by the Chinese government’s campaign to promote Mandarin and by younger generations losing the language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When her Cantonese-speaking patients at San Francisco General Hospital see her walk in, Quon said, they breathe a “huge sigh of relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cantonese, a regional Chinese language spoken by over 80 million people across the world, is the most-spoken Chinese language in the Bay Area, and it is spoken at even higher rates in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is the Cantonese capital of America,” said Alan Wong, president of City College’s Board of Trustees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are limited opportunities to learn the language later in life in San Francisco, which in turn diminishes the hiring pool of essential workers who can speak Cantonese. High school students in the public school district hoping to earn world language credits in Chinese only have the option of taking Mandarin. And City College, the only higher education institution in the city that offers Cantonese, has reduced the numbers of teachers in its program over the years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943629\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943629\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Middle-aged Asian woman wearing a blue and red zip-up top smiles as she stands behind a desk in a classroom with a white board behind her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Grace Yu poses for a portrait during a break from teaching a Cantonese class at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Puppy Valentine, a student in Yu’s class, said learning Cantonese creates a better rapport with many of the people she sees in her capacity as a community health supervisor at St. Anthony’s Medical Clinic, which provides a broad range of safety-net services to San Franciscans in need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even when you’re not doing the best job with the language, people can tell you’re trying,” Valentine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Sit, co-founder of the Chinatown Volunteer Coalition, said he regularly steps in to serve as an interpreter, both in person and over the phone, for Chinatown residents seeking the help of first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He keeps an eye out when he’s outside for people who may be in need of assistance: “I’ll walk by, show them the card that we’re volunteering for the CVC and say, ‘Hey, I’m just checking in to see if everything’s OK. I can translate in Cantonese. Do you need any help?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raymond Wong, who works with Sit, said his experience has made clear the importance of Cantonese, and he’s signed up for one of Yu’s classes to deepen his vocabulary as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hire, educate and provide resources,” he said, ticking off steps the city could take to ensure better language access. “We need to ensure our community feels safe and protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A life-and-death community need\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Yu first began teaching at City College, there was a team of Cantonese instructors. Now, she is the only one remaining. In 2021, administrators threatened to cut the program, but community members, led by Save Cantonese, an advocacy group that Quon co-founded, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11872330/my-heart-dropped-ccsf-students-rally-to-protest-cuts-that-threaten-to-transform-college\">rallied to preserve it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943624\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Asian woman wearing a colorful red shirt and a red-and-gold facemask holds a microphone with hand-made signs in the background reading Save Cantonese at CCSF\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Quon, a former student in Grace Yu’s Cantonese class who organized Save Cantonese at CCSF with her fellow classmates, speaks at a Fight for City College rally outside Mission High School in San Francisco on May 6, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shawn Lee, policy director for Save Cantonese, said there is a clear community need for these classes, especially specialized courses, such as one focusing on medical terms. “Even knowing how to talk about preexisting conditions and allergies are the things that can make a life-and-death difference,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent high-profile incidents in the city — including hateful attacks against members of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities — have also intensified calls to ensure that essential workers can provide services in Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Russell Jeung, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, SFSU Asian American studies professor\"]‘These are dramatic cases … But I also know lots of cases where people don’t call 911 because they don’t know how to speak to dispatchers, or they don’t seek out health care because they don’t understand the doctors.’[/pullquote]Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3161691/learning-cantonese-shouldnt-just-be-about-cultural\">commentators have pointed out that first responders’ inability to speak Cantonese may have impacted their capacity to help Xiao Zhen Xie\u003c/a>, an older woman who \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/24/980760622/asian-grandmother-who-smacked-her-attacker-with-a-board-donates-nearly-1-million\">fought off an attacker with a wooden board\u003c/a> in March 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In another incident in May 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/district-attorney-chesa-boudin-joins-effort-to-find-missing-84-year-old-woman/\">84-year-old Jean Chang Kan Fung was reported missing\u003c/a> after she didn’t return home from a walk. Nearly two weeks later, her body was discovered on a beach in Pacifica, though it wasn’t confirmed as hers for months. It turned out that \u003ca href=\"https://48hills.org/2021/09/the-mystery-of-jean-chang-kan-fung-84-dead-after-an-encounter-with-chp/\">California Highway Patrol officers had encountered Fung the day she went missing\u003c/a> — they picked her up after responding to 911 calls about a person walking on a highway, then gave her a ride to a Safeway miles from her home. Chesa Boudin, who was then the district attorney, suggested that a “communication breakdown” had taken place, as Fung spoke only Taishanese and Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know where the communication went wrong,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/district-attorney-chesa-boudin-joins-effort-to-find-missing-84-year-old-woman/\">Boudin said at a press conference about the incident\u003c/a>. “But we know she didn’t get a ride home. She didn’t get a ride close to her home … I think all of us feel that, had there been more language access, perhaps this devastating situation could have been avoided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said he was not aware of an issue of translation in the department’s response to the first woman, and he wrote that a certified Cantonese-speaking officer assisted the victim in the initial investigation. The California Highway Patrol, which responded to the latter incident, did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are dramatic cases,” said Russell Jeung, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University. “But I also know lots of cases where people don’t call 911 because they don’t know how to speak to dispatchers, or they don’t seek out health care because they don’t understand the doctors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeung, who co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://stopaapihate.org/about/\">Stop AAPI Hate\u003c/a>, a coalition that tracks and responds to hate incidents, added that the March and May 2021 incidents came at an “inflection point” where there was a heightened awareness among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of attacks. (Jeung is no longer with the coalition.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said institutions’ failure to provide access to services in an appropriate language constitutes a form of hate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This type of cultural insensitivity is a problem,” he said. “Addressing racism involves both addressing the hate incidents but also the broader, institutionalized forms of hate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We can be a source of comfort’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Stop AAPI Hate has received 942 reports of hate incidents in the last year in San Francisco, with 63% of those incidents being reported by Chinese respondents, according to data provided by the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some essential workers pointed to such incidents as the motivation for their efforts to learn or use Cantonese on their jobs, as well as first-hand experiences with language access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christine Chow, a student in Yu’s class who works as a medical assistant at a Daly City dermatology clinic, said she thinks of a Cantonese-speaking patient who visits the clinic after picking up his prescriptions to have his medications explained to him, even though pharmacies in California are required to provide services in languages other than English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can be a source of comfort for patients when we can provide that help,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943652\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Wide shot of numerous students who appear to be of varying race and age sitting at desks in a classroom with books open, speaking to each other\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on an assignment during a Cantonese language class taught by Professor Grace Yu at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wong, the City College trustee, cited an incident at a San Francisco hospital where he stepped in to interpret for an older Chinese woman as the motivation for his advocacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recalled walking down a hallway when the woman flagged him down. She had a “big purple eye,” Wong said, and she told him that she had been punched on a bus. According to Wong, she told him that when police officers arrived, they were unable to communicate with her, and she was further unable to communicate with staff at the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever I think about the importance of having a Cantonese education, I think about her,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We still have a long way to go’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jeung, the San Francisco State University professor, added that in some regards, San Francisco is ahead of other cities in providing language access as a result of its Language Access Ordinance, one of the strongest local language laws in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law requires that all city departments that serve the public provide “fair language access” and establishes a reporting process for departments and residents to determine whether the city is following the law. But Jeung said there is still a question of how well the law is implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that the community continues to cry out for these types of services shows that we still have a long way to go in implementing these types of policies,” Jeung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question of language access is important to city officials, added Mason Lee, spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, citing the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The system is not perfect, but everyone who works for the city knows how much we value being multilingual,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943635\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943635\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two men wearing facemasks, one who appears to be Asian and one who appears to be white, face each other and hold school books while seated in a classroom setting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work together to complete an assignment during Grace Yu’s Cantonese language class at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some first responders employed by the city are also working to improve language access. According to spokespeople for the fire and police departments, about 4% of fire department employees and 6% of police department employees speak Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stan Lee, a San Francisco firefighter who leads the Asian Firefighters Association, said Cantonese language skills are already underrepresented in the department, and new Chinese hires are often born in the U.S. or come to the department from outside the city, making them less likely to speak Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee added that not having appropriate language skills can be dangerous when responding to calls. He gave the example of a firefighter being unable to understand what medications a victim is taking: “That could be a life-or-death situation,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Police Department Sergeant Culbert Chu, who leads the department’s Asian Peace Officers Association, added that in emergency situations, dispatchers prioritize sending first responders who can speak the appropriate language, and when that is not possible, responders are able to use the LanguageLine app, an on-demand interpreting service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chu noted that all four Chinatown beat officers can speak some amount of Cantonese, and he has worked on community outreach in Chinatown, such as by providing residents with the phone numbers of Cantonese-speaking officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they hear us speaking [Cantonese], it puts them at ease,” he said. “It makes people more comfortable talking to us about what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curran Gong, a police officer who works with Chu, added, “The more Cantonese speakers, the better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from the Bay Area chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and Comcast California’s Rising With the Tides fellowship, a storytelling project aimed at amplifying Asian American Pacific Islander stories and voices.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">O\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>n Wednesday evenings, about 35 students crowd into Grace Yu’s classroom at City College of San Francisco to study Cantonese late into the night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These aren’t your average 20-something college kids. Many of the students in Yu’s oversubscribed classes — both of her two Cantonese courses this semester have full waitlists — are essential workers hoping to apply their newfound skills to their careers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, a city where about one-tenth of the population speaks Cantonese, essential workers are beginning to realize that their ability to communicate in Cantonese can have life-or-death consequences.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The city employs some of the workers in Yu’s class as first responders, but there also are medical professionals, social service providers and community volunteers who are learning the language to better serve Cantonese-speaking residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I see being able to speak Cantonese as not only about cultural preservation, but also making sure that people can receive essential services in a language they understand,” said Julia Quon, a doula and nursing student who took Yu’s class, referencing concerns that the language’s future is threatened by the Chinese government’s campaign to promote Mandarin and by younger generations losing the language.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When her Cantonese-speaking patients at San Francisco General Hospital see her walk in, Quon said, they breathe a “huge sigh of relief.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cantonese, a regional Chinese language spoken by over 80 million people across the world, is the most-spoken Chinese language in the Bay Area, and it is spoken at even higher rates in San Francisco.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“San Francisco is the Cantonese capital of America,” said Alan Wong, president of City College’s Board of Trustees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But there are limited opportunities to learn the language later in life in San Francisco, which in turn diminishes the hiring pool of essential workers who can speak Cantonese. High school students in the public school district hoping to earn world language credits in Chinese only have the option of taking Mandarin. And City College, the only higher education institution in the city that offers Cantonese, has reduced the numbers of teachers in its program over the years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943629\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943629\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Middle-aged Asian woman wearing a blue and red zip-up top smiles as she stands behind a desk in a classroom with a white board behind her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62791_016_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Professor Grace Yu poses for a portrait during a break from teaching a Cantonese class at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Puppy Valentine, a student in Yu’s class, said learning Cantonese creates a better rapport with many of the people she sees in her capacity as a community health supervisor at St. Anthony’s Medical Clinic, which provides a broad range of safety-net services to San Franciscans in need.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Even when you’re not doing the best job with the language, people can tell you’re trying,” Valentine said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jonathan Sit, co-founder of the Chinatown Volunteer Coalition, said he regularly steps in to serve as an interpreter, both in person and over the phone, for Chinatown residents seeking the help of first responders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He keeps an eye out when he’s outside for people who may be in need of assistance: “I’ll walk by, show them the card that we’re volunteering for the CVC and say, ‘Hey, I’m just checking in to see if everything’s OK. I can translate in Cantonese. Do you need any help?’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Raymond Wong, who works with Sit, said his experience has made clear the importance of Cantonese, and he’s signed up for one of Yu’s classes to deepen his vocabulary as a result.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Hire, educate and provide resources,” he said, ticking off steps the city could take to ensure better language access. “We need to ensure our community feels safe and protected.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A life-and-death community need\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>When Yu first began teaching at City College, there was a team of Cantonese instructors. Now, she is the only one remaining. In 2021, administrators threatened to cut the program, but community members, led by Save Cantonese, an advocacy group that Quon co-founded, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11872330/my-heart-dropped-ccsf-students-rally-to-protest-cuts-that-threaten-to-transform-college\">rallied to preserve it\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943624\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943624\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Asian woman wearing a colorful red shirt and a red-and-gold facemask holds a microphone with hand-made signs in the background reading Save Cantonese at CCSF\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS48914_015_SanFrancisco_CCSFRally_05062021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Julia Quon, a former student in Grace Yu’s Cantonese class who organized Save Cantonese at CCSF with her fellow classmates, speaks at a Fight for City College rally outside Mission High School in San Francisco on May 6, 2021. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Shawn Lee, policy director for Save Cantonese, said there is a clear community need for these classes, especially specialized courses, such as one focusing on medical terms. “Even knowing how to talk about preexisting conditions and allergies are the things that can make a life-and-death difference,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Recent high-profile incidents in the city — including hateful attacks against members of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities — have also intensified calls to ensure that essential workers can provide services in Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘These are dramatic cases … But I also know lots of cases where people don’t call 911 because they don’t know how to speak to dispatchers, or they don’t seek out health care because they don’t understand the doctors.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Some \u003ca href=\"https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/3161691/learning-cantonese-shouldnt-just-be-about-cultural\">commentators have pointed out that first responders’ inability to speak Cantonese may have impacted their capacity to help Xiao Zhen Xie\u003c/a>, an older woman who \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2021/03/24/980760622/asian-grandmother-who-smacked-her-attacker-with-a-board-donates-nearly-1-million\">fought off an attacker with a wooden board\u003c/a> in March 2021.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In another incident in May 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/district-attorney-chesa-boudin-joins-effort-to-find-missing-84-year-old-woman/\">84-year-old Jean Chang Kan Fung was reported missing\u003c/a> after she didn’t return home from a walk. Nearly two weeks later, her body was discovered on a beach in Pacifica, though it wasn’t confirmed as hers for months. It turned out that \u003ca href=\"https://48hills.org/2021/09/the-mystery-of-jean-chang-kan-fung-84-dead-after-an-encounter-with-chp/\">California Highway Patrol officers had encountered Fung the day she went missing\u003c/a> — they picked her up after responding to 911 calls about a person walking on a highway, then gave her a ride to a Safeway miles from her home. Chesa Boudin, who was then the district attorney, suggested that a “communication breakdown” had taken place, as Fung spoke only Taishanese and Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We don’t know where the communication went wrong,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/district-attorney-chesa-boudin-joins-effort-to-find-missing-84-year-old-woman/\">Boudin said at a press conference about the incident\u003c/a>. “But we know she didn’t get a ride home. She didn’t get a ride close to her home … I think all of us feel that, had there been more language access, perhaps this devastating situation could have been avoided.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A spokesperson for the San Francisco Police Department said he was not aware of an issue of translation in the department’s response to the first woman, and he wrote that a certified Cantonese-speaking officer assisted the victim in the initial investigation. The California Highway Patrol, which responded to the latter incident, did not respond to a request for comment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These are dramatic cases,” said Russell Jeung, an Asian American studies professor at San Francisco State University. “But I also know lots of cases where people don’t call 911 because they don’t know how to speak to dispatchers, or they don’t seek out health care because they don’t understand the doctors.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Jeung, who co-founded \u003ca href=\"https://stopaapihate.org/about/\">Stop AAPI Hate\u003c/a>, a coalition that tracks and responds to hate incidents, added that the March and May 2021 incidents came at an “inflection point” where there was a heightened awareness among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of attacks. (Jeung is no longer with the coalition.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said institutions’ failure to provide access to services in an appropriate language constitutes a form of hate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This type of cultural insensitivity is a problem,” he said. “Addressing racism involves both addressing the hate incidents but also the broader, institutionalized forms of hate.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We can be a source of comfort’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Stop AAPI Hate has received 942 reports of hate incidents in the last year in San Francisco, with 63% of those incidents being reported by Chinese respondents, according to data provided by the group.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some essential workers pointed to such incidents as the motivation for their efforts to learn or use Cantonese on their jobs, as well as first-hand experiences with language access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Christine Chow, a student in Yu’s class who works as a medical assistant at a Daly City dermatology clinic, said she thinks of a Cantonese-speaking patient who visits the clinic after picking up his prescriptions to have his medications explained to him, even though pharmacies in California are required to provide services in languages other than English.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We can be a source of comfort for patients when we can provide that help,” Chow said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943652\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943652\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Wide shot of numerous students who appear to be of varying race and age sitting at desks in a classroom with books open, speaking to each other\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62786_009_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work on an assignment during a Cantonese language class taught by Professor Grace Yu at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Wong, the City College trustee, cited an incident at a San Francisco hospital where he stepped in to interpret for an older Chinese woman as the motivation for his advocacy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He recalled walking down a hallway when the woman flagged him down. She had a “big purple eye,” Wong said, and she told him that she had been punched on a bus. According to Wong, she told him that when police officers arrived, they were unable to communicate with her, and she was further unable to communicate with staff at the hospital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Whenever I think about the importance of having a Cantonese education, I think about her,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘We still have a long way to go’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jeung, the San Francisco State University professor, added that in some regards, San Francisco is ahead of other cities in providing language access as a result of its Language Access Ordinance, one of the strongest local language laws in the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The law requires that all city departments that serve the public provide “fair language access” and establishes a reporting process for departments and residents to determine whether the city is following the law. But Jeung said there is still a question of how well the law is implemented.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The fact that the community continues to cry out for these types of services shows that we still have a long way to go in implementing these types of policies,” Jeung said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The question of language access is important to city officials, added Mason Lee, spokesperson for Mayor London Breed, citing the law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The system is not perfect, but everyone who works for the city knows how much we value being multilingual,” Lee said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943635\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943635\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two men wearing facemasks, one who appears to be Asian and one who appears to be white, face each other and hold school books while seated in a classroom setting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/RS62790_015_KQED_CCSFCantoneseClass_02082023-qut-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Students work together to complete an assignment during Grace Yu’s Cantonese language class at City College of San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Some first responders employed by the city are also working to improve language access. According to spokespeople for the fire and police departments, about 4% of fire department employees and 6% of police department employees speak Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Stan Lee, a San Francisco firefighter who leads the Asian Firefighters Association, said Cantonese language skills are already underrepresented in the department, and new Chinese hires are often born in the U.S. or come to the department from outside the city, making them less likely to speak Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lee added that not having appropriate language skills can be dangerous when responding to calls. He gave the example of a firefighter being unable to understand what medications a victim is taking: “That could be a life-or-death situation,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco Police Department Sergeant Culbert Chu, who leads the department’s Asian Peace Officers Association, added that in emergency situations, dispatchers prioritize sending first responders who can speak the appropriate language, and when that is not possible, responders are able to use the LanguageLine app, an on-demand interpreting service.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Chu noted that all four Chinatown beat officers can speak some amount of Cantonese, and he has worked on community outreach in Chinatown, such as by providing residents with the phone numbers of Cantonese-speaking officers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When they hear us speaking [Cantonese], it puts them at ease,” he said. “It makes people more comfortable talking to us about what happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Curran Gong, a police officer who works with Chu, added, “The more Cantonese speakers, the better.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was produced with support from the Bay Area chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) and Comcast California’s Rising With the Tides fellowship, a storytelling project aimed at amplifying Asian American Pacific Islander stories and voices.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "In East San Jose, One District is Seeing Success with Universal Preschool",
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"headTitle": "In East San Jose, One District is Seeing Success with Universal Preschool | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California is in the middle of rolling out a plan to make preschool universal across the state. Also known as “transitional kindergarten,” it’s all part of an ambitious plan to make childcare more accessible, and close some big learning gaps between children from low and high income families. So far, the implementation has been mixed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But some districts have been providing transitional kindergarten already. The Alum Rock Union School District in East San Jose is one of them, and its program is attracting more and more interest from families. Today, we explain why. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/12txE2nlChD8tPW9bA7I_AN8C3tHtJzOm/view?usp=share_link\">\u003cem>Episode transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daisy Nguyen \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Early Childhood Education and Care reporter for KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8462357833&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/about/17653/help-make-the-bay-even-better\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Bay Survey\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11941863/universal-preschools-off-to-a-bumpy-start-but-east-san-jose-is-seeing-success-by-investing-in-future-students-earlier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Universal Preschool’s Off to a Bumpy Start, but East San José Is Seeing Success. Here’s Why\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "The Alum Rock Union School District in East San Jose been providing transitional kindergarten successfully, providing a model for California's ambitious plan to make preschool universal across the state. ",
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"title": "In East San Jose, One District is Seeing Success with Universal Preschool | KQED",
"description": "The Alum Rock Union School District in East San Jose been providing transitional kindergarten successfully, providing a model for California's ambitious plan to make preschool universal across the state. ",
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"headline": "In East San Jose, One District is Seeing Success with Universal Preschool",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">California is in the middle of rolling out a plan to make preschool universal across the state. Also known as “transitional kindergarten,” it’s all part of an ambitious plan to make childcare more accessible, and close some big learning gaps between children from low and high income families. So far, the implementation has been mixed.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">But some districts have been providing transitional kindergarten already. The Alum Rock Union School District in East San Jose is one of them, and its program is attracting more and more interest from families. Today, we explain why. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/12txE2nlChD8tPW9bA7I_AN8C3tHtJzOm/view?usp=share_link\">\u003cem>Episode transcript\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Guest: \u003c/b>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daisy Nguyen \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Early Childhood Education and Care reporter for KQED.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp id=\"embed-code\" class=\"inconsolata\">\n\u003c!-- iframe plugin v.4.3 wordpress.org/plugins/iframe/ -->\u003cbr>\n\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=KQINC8462357833&light=true\" width=\"100%\" class=\"iframe-class\">\u003c/iframe>\n\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Links:\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/about/17653/help-make-the-bay-even-better\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Bay Survey\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11941863/universal-preschools-off-to-a-bumpy-start-but-east-san-jose-is-seeing-success-by-investing-in-future-students-earlier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">Universal Preschool’s Off to a Bumpy Start, but East San José Is Seeing Success. Here’s Why\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "your-calfresh-benefits-will-drop-in-april-heres-what-you-can-do",
"title": "Your CalFresh Benefits Will Drop in April. Here's What You Can Do",
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"headTitle": "Your CalFresh Benefits Will Drop in April. Here’s What You Can Do | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was updated at 1:40 p.m., Thursday, April 6.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">\u003cstrong>Where to find additional money and food support if your CalFresh benefits are dropping\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/data-portal/research-and-data/calfresh-data-dashboard\">Over 3 million households around California use CalFresh\u003c/a>, the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food benefits program also known as “food stamps.” According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/data-portal/research-and-data/calfresh-data-dashboard\">the state’s most recent data from January 2023\u003c/a>, that’s more than 5 million people using these funds to ensure they have access to food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, folks using CalFresh have been receiving extra funds, called “emergency allotments,” in recognition of the extreme challenges the COVID pandemic has been causing to people’s lives and jobs. This increase was at least $95 in CalFresh benefits per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But starting in April, CalFresh users will notice a big drop in their food benefits. That’s because \u003ca href=\"https://cdss.ca.gov/calfreshcovid19\">those extra CalFresh pandemic funds were discontinued on Feb. 28\u003c/a>, making March the last month the emergency allotments will appear in your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading to find out why this is happening, or jump straight to \u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">where you can find additional food support and benefits\u003c/a> if you’re going to be affected by this drop in CalFresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you a student on CalFresh? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945814/college-students-your-calfresh-eligibility-is-about-to-change-heres-what-to-do\">Read more about how your eligibility for food benefits is also changing starting June 10.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is this drop in my CalFresh benefits happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The sharp reduction in CalFresh funds is due to federal funding changes for SNAP programs across the whole United States — not because of a change in California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — the federal agency that oversees SNAP programs nationwide — gave states extra funding so they could increase food benefits for people using SNAP. The increase allowed California to up the amount CalFresh users received every month, either to the maximum amount allowed or by adding a $95 increase for the people already getting the maximum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, a 2023 Congressional spending bill — the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 — has ended the pandemic-era release of these extra funds to households across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So how much money in CalFresh benefits will I now lose?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Starting in April, your CalFresh benefits will go back down to their pre-pandemic levels, according to what you’re currently eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These emergency allotments were $95 \u003cem>minimum\u003c/em>. So the end of these extra funds means that a person using CalFresh \u003cem>at the very least\u003c/em> is losing $95 each month in their food benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">Both your regular CalFresh benefits and how much emergency allotment you’ve been receiving are calculated based on your personal circumstances (PDF)\u003c/a>, which includes how many people are in your household, what your income is and what tax deductions you claim. The bigger your household and the lower your income, the larger your CalFresh benefits will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">\u003cstrong>Where to find additional money and food support if your CalFresh benefits are dropping\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">You can go here to see the income thresholds and maximum CalFresh monthly allotments (PDF)\u003c/a> that are currently in effect through Sept. 30, 2023. But remember that the dollar amounts for regular CalFresh allotments shown in the table below represent the \u003cem>absolute maximum amount\u003c/em> available to a household based on their circumstances, not the average. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fy-2023-cola\">The minimum CalFresh allotment available is $23.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1242px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943797\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2.png\" alt=\"A table that shows Maximum Monthly allotments for CalFresh users\" width=\"1242\" height=\"817\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2.png 1242w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-1020x671.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-160x105.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1242px) 100vw, 1242px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A table that shows maximum monthly allotments for CalFresh users. \u003ccite>(California Department of Social Services)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>How will this affect Californians using CalFresh?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>CalMatters has reported that since November, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/02/calfresh-emergency-allotments-ending/\">the extra emergency allotment boosts have amounted to more than $500 million a month\u003c/a> in additional food stamps for lower-income Californians, according to USDA data. Becky Silva, government relations director at the California Association of Food Banks, told CalMatters that a single-person household could see their food aid drop from $281 a month to as low as $23 in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco alone, officials at the city’s Human Services Agency (SFHSA) estimated in a March 1 press conference that around 70,000 households receiving CalFresh — more than 96,000 individuals — will lose an average of $160 per month, totaling a loss of $11.5 million citywide. The SFHSA estimates that older people, people with disabilities and families with multiple children will be most affected by these CalFresh changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the agency that administers CalFresh, says that it’s been using “many methods of communication” to alert CalFresh users about the imminent drop in funds, including texts, social media, automated phone calls and a January mailer sent to all people using CalFresh. This messaging, the agency says, has been translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, Armenian and Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://cdss.ca.gov/Portals/13/CFF-COVID/emergency-allotment-flyer-english.pdf\">official flyer warning of the CalFresh funding changes (PDF)\u003c/a>, CDSS advises people being hit by this sudden drop in food benefits in April that they can “get free food from your local food bank” as an “additional food resource.” The agency notes that both the state and the USDA also have made more funding available to food banks recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many advocates are deeply concerned about the impact on hunger in California. Particularly concerned are food bank representatives, whose organizations have already seen huge demand during the pandemic, and are themselves being squeezed by the food inflation that’s affecting the people that food banks serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/02/calfresh-emergency-allotments-ending/\">“There’s no way to overstate how devastating this is going to be,”\u003c/a> Silva from the California Association of Food Banks told CalMatters. “Families are going to see a dramatic and sudden drop in their food benefits at a time when food price inflation and the cost of living in California especially is through the roof.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Altfest, Alameda County Community Food Bank’s director of community engagement, says that the loss in Alameda County alone will amount to more than 3 million meals in the county per month. “Our food bank can’t make up 3.1 million meals,” Altfest said. “It’s physically impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to see a huge jump in demand,” he said. “And I think food banks across the country are going to struggle to make this up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Altfest says that many food banks across the state are joining forces with lawmakers and “working on a number of bills and proposals that we’ve been lobbying for.” These measures not only \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-02/millions-of-californians-see-catastrophic-end-of-covid-19-food-benefits-as-inflation-climbs\">advocate for increased state funding for food banks, but also for the state to augment federal SNAP benefits\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"foodsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can I find additional money and support if my CalFresh benefits are dropping?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First, make sure you’re getting all the CalFresh benefits you’re entitled to\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your income has gone down, or stopped because you’ve lost your job or your expenses have risen, you may be eligible for more CalFresh benefits. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">See the income thresholds and maximum CalFresh monthly allotments [PDF]\u003c/a> that are currently in effect through Sept. 30, 2023.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that’s your situation, you should contact your local social services office. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">Find your local social services office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Call 211\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalFresh officials say that if you are in “immediate need of food assistance,” you can dial 211 and speak with someone about food services that are available in your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This hotline is open 24 hours a day, but they warn that “not all areas provide 211 phone support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, the CalFresh Info Line can be reached at (877) 847-3663. The California Department of Social Services Helpline is (888) 445-1955, which CalFresh says can also offer information and assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use your county’s food access programs\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are food assistance options that are separate from food banks, although sometimes they work together. Your county may provide locations where you can pick up free food, or offer other ways of getting free or low-cost meals that include delivery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in the city and county of San Francisco:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/food/free-food-locations\">Free food locations offering both groceries and meals\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/disability-aging-services/groceries-meals\">Options for having meals delivered to your home\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/sites/default/files/Directory_Community%20meals%202022-23.pdf\">Locations where you can find a community meal (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchampss.org/our-program/\">Choosing Healthy Appetizing Meal Plan Solution for Seniors (CHAMPSS)\u003c/a>, a restaurant partnership that offers adults age 60 and older ways to eat subsidized meals at designated restaurants in San Francisco, with a suggested (optional) contribution of $4\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Contra Costa County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/foodsecurity/everyone.php\">A food assistance program\u003c/a> that provides one member of lower-income households in the county a box of food every month\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/foodsecurity/everyone.php\">The Community Produce Program\u003c/a> that offers one member of each household one or two bags of fresh fruits and vegetables, twice a month (own bag is required)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County residents can call (855) 309-FOOD (3663) for more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Alameda County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://foodnow.net/\">FoodNow\u003c/a>: A site managed with the Alameda County Community Food Bank that connects county residents to different food sources, including emergency groceries\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/maps/food-services.htm\">Map of food services and distribution locations in Alameda County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://covid-19.acgov.org/covid19-assets/docs/food-housing-finance/food-access-resource-list-2021.06.21.pdf\">List of food services and distribution locations in Alameda County (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedacountysocialservices.org/ex/our-services/Work-and-Money/General-Assistance/index\">General Assistance\u003c/a>: Cash aid for certain residents of Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Marin County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Congregate-Meals\">Congregate meal options in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Food-Pantries\">Food pantry and distribution options in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Home-Delivered-Meals%2C-Food\">Home-delivered meals in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in San Mateo County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/food\">Food assistance resources\u003c/a>, including details of meals for K–12 students and college students\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Napa County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://fifnv.org/wp-content/uploads/FoodResources.pdf\">A list of food services and distribution locations, including groceries, in Napa County (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://fifnv.org/events\">A list of food services and distribution locations, including groceries, in Napa County (calendar view)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Solano County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.solanocounty.com/emergencies/emfood.asp\">Resources for emergency food assistance in Solano County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Sonoma County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/health-and-human-services/human-services/divisions-and-services/economic-assistance/food-and-nutrition-benefits/other-food-programs\">Meals and food service resources in Sonoma County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Santa Clara County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://socialservices.sccgov.org/food-assistance\">Food resources, including delivery, for older adults in Santa Clara County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Get free produce at a farmers market that’s participating in California’s Fruit and Vegetable EBT pilot \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s Fruit and Vegetable EBT pilot provides CalFresh participants with up to $60 per month in rebates when they use their EBT card to pay for California-grown produce at a limited number of farmers markets and grocery stores statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it works: If you have funds on your EBT card and use them to pay for eligible produce at a participating location, you’ll instantly get a rebate for the cost of that produce — effectively making it free at the point of sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More stores will be participating in this pilot program in 2023. But right now, you can get up to $60 worth of California-grown produce with your EBT card at the following farmers markets and stores in the wider Bay Area:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://napafarmersmarket.org/\">\u003cem>Napa Farmers Market\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>110 West Street, Napa, CA 94559 (already in effect at the Saturday market; starts April 4 at the Tuesday market)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://splashpad.org/farmers-market/\">\u003cem>Grand Lake Farmers Market\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>746 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610 (starting April 8)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://marketlocations.com/\">Country Club Plaza Farmers Market\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>2405 Butano Drive, Sacramento, CA 95828\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>See the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/ebt/california-fruit-vegetable-ebt-pilot-project\">full list of stores and farmers markets that are already participating in the Fruit and Vegetables EBT pilot\u003c/a>, as well as the Bay Area locations that will start participating in April 2023 (dates TBD).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Apply for WIC\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) provides food assistance to lower-income families who have young children or are expecting a new child. Like CalFresh, it’s federally funded, and you can receive WIC benefits on top of your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is income-based, and is available to pregnant people, plus new parents and grandparents of young children. \u003ca href=\"https://myfamily.wic.ca.gov/Home/HowCanIGetWIC#howToGetWIC\">See whether you’re eligible for WIC and apply online.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use Market Match to double your CalFresh or WIC dollars at a farmers market\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/\">Market Match\u003c/a> is a statewide program that enables you to double your CalFresh or Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) funds at certain farmers markets and farm-direct locations near you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it works: Use the Market Match map to \u003ca href=\"http://ecologycenter.org/fmfinder/\">find a participating farmers market or other farm-direct location near you\u003c/a>, and when you arrive during operating hours, go to that market’s information booth with your EBT card and ask for Market Match. \u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/about/how-it-works/\">Your EBT card will be swiped for a dollar amount of your choice\u003c/a>, and in return you’ll receive tokens for double that dollar amount to spend at the market. (Another way of looking at it: Market Match effectively gives you 50% off produce you buy at participating farmers markets.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some markets will have a limit on the amount of CalFresh or WIC dollars you can have matched (often $10); others have no limit. Consider watching \u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/about/how-it-works/\">Market Match’s short “how it works” video\u003c/a> before using Market Match for the first time at a farmers market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Find a food bank or community pantry near you\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.cafoodbanks.org/our-members/\">find a local foodbank through the California Association of Food Banks\u003c/a>, or keep scrolling for a list of food banks and community kitchens, pantries and more near you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>San Francisco:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/\">SF-Marin Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.stanthonysf.org/\">St. Anthony Foundation\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.glide.org/\">Glide Memorial Church\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcityimpact.com/programs/#hunger\">San Francisco City Impact\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodrunners.org/\">Food Runners\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oldfirst.org/volunteer.html\">Old First Presbyterian Church Inter-Faith Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>East Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.accfb.org/\">Alameda County Community Food Bank\u003c/a> (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.accfb.org/get-involved/volunteer-community/\">ACCFB’s partner organizations\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.loavesfishescc.org/\">Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyfoodpantry.org/\">Berkeley Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.edfufoundation.org/bay-area-street-pantry.html\">Bay Area Street Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/program/food-distribution/\">Unity Council’s Food Security Project\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://trivalleyhaven.org/homeless-and-family-support/food-pantry/\">Tri-Valley Haven Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.refp.org/\">Richmond Emergency Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://tmcoakland.org/\">Telegraph Community Ministry Center\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>North Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vinnies.org/\">St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/\">SF-Marin Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://canv.org/\">Community Action of Napa Valley Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.refb.org/\">Redwood Empire Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>South Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.shfb.org/\">Second Harvest of Silicon Valley\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.marthas-kitchen.org/\">Martha’s Kitchen\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacredheartcs.org/\">Sacred Heart Community Service\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://rolfusa.org/food-pantry-more\">River of Life Foundation Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Other, smaller food banks and community fridges may be operating in your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[hearken id=\"10483\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/10483.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains additional reporting by KQED’s Sara Hossaini, and has been updated to include the latest numbers from the California Department of Social Services on how many people statewide use CalFresh.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In April, millions of households across California will see their CalFresh food stamps benefits drop due to a change in federal funding. Here's what to do if you're affected.",
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"title": "Your CalFresh Benefits Will Drop in April. Here's What You Can Do | KQED",
"description": "In April, millions of households across California will see their CalFresh food stamps benefits drop due to a change in federal funding. Here's what to do if you're affected.",
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"headline": "Your CalFresh Benefits Will Drop in April. Here's What You Can Do",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was updated at 1:40 p.m., Thursday, April 6.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">\u003cstrong>Where to find additional money and food support if your CalFresh benefits are dropping\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/data-portal/research-and-data/calfresh-data-dashboard\">Over 3 million households around California use CalFresh\u003c/a>, the state’s version of the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the food benefits program also known as “food stamps.” According to \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/data-portal/research-and-data/calfresh-data-dashboard\">the state’s most recent data from January 2023\u003c/a>, that’s more than 5 million people using these funds to ensure they have access to food.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>During the pandemic, folks using CalFresh have been receiving extra funds, called “emergency allotments,” in recognition of the extreme challenges the COVID pandemic has been causing to people’s lives and jobs. This increase was at least $95 in CalFresh benefits per month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But starting in April, CalFresh users will notice a big drop in their food benefits. That’s because \u003ca href=\"https://cdss.ca.gov/calfreshcovid19\">those extra CalFresh pandemic funds were discontinued on Feb. 28\u003c/a>, making March the last month the emergency allotments will appear in your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Keep reading to find out why this is happening, or jump straight to \u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">where you can find additional food support and benefits\u003c/a> if you’re going to be affected by this drop in CalFresh.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Are you a student on CalFresh? \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11945814/college-students-your-calfresh-eligibility-is-about-to-change-heres-what-to-do\">Read more about how your eligibility for food benefits is also changing starting June 10.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"#tellus\">Tell us: What else do you need information about right now?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>Why is this drop in my CalFresh benefits happening?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The sharp reduction in CalFresh funds is due to federal funding changes for SNAP programs across the whole United States — not because of a change in California law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) — the federal agency that oversees SNAP programs nationwide — gave states extra funding so they could increase food benefits for people using SNAP. The increase allowed California to up the amount CalFresh users received every month, either to the maximum amount allowed or by adding a $95 increase for the people already getting the maximum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But now, a 2023 Congressional spending bill — the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 — has ended the pandemic-era release of these extra funds to households across the U.S.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>So how much money in CalFresh benefits will I now lose?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Starting in April, your CalFresh benefits will go back down to their pre-pandemic levels, according to what you’re currently eligible for.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These emergency allotments were $95 \u003cem>minimum\u003c/em>. So the end of these extra funds means that a person using CalFresh \u003cem>at the very least\u003c/em> is losing $95 each month in their food benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">Both your regular CalFresh benefits and how much emergency allotment you’ve been receiving are calculated based on your personal circumstances (PDF)\u003c/a>, which includes how many people are in your household, what your income is and what tax deductions you claim. The bigger your household and the lower your income, the larger your CalFresh benefits will be.\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump straight to: \u003c/strong>\u003ca href=\"#foodsupport\">\u003cstrong>Where to find additional money and food support if your CalFresh benefits are dropping\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">You can go here to see the income thresholds and maximum CalFresh monthly allotments (PDF)\u003c/a> that are currently in effect through Sept. 30, 2023. But remember that the dollar amounts for regular CalFresh allotments shown in the table below represent the \u003cem>absolute maximum amount\u003c/em> available to a household based on their circumstances, not the average. \u003ca href=\"https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/fy-2023-cola\">The minimum CalFresh allotment available is $23.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943797\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 1242px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943797\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2.png\" alt=\"A table that shows Maximum Monthly allotments for CalFresh users\" width=\"1242\" height=\"817\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2.png 1242w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-800x526.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-1020x671.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/calfresh-elig2-160x105.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1242px) 100vw, 1242px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A table that shows maximum monthly allotments for CalFresh users. \u003ccite>(California Department of Social Services)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>How will this affect Californians using CalFresh?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>CalMatters has reported that since November, \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/02/calfresh-emergency-allotments-ending/\">the extra emergency allotment boosts have amounted to more than $500 million a month\u003c/a> in additional food stamps for lower-income Californians, according to USDA data. Becky Silva, government relations director at the California Association of Food Banks, told CalMatters that a single-person household could see their food aid drop from $281 a month to as low as $23 in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco alone, officials at the city’s Human Services Agency (SFHSA) estimated in a March 1 press conference that around 70,000 households receiving CalFresh — more than 96,000 individuals — will lose an average of $160 per month, totaling a loss of $11.5 million citywide. The SFHSA estimates that older people, people with disabilities and families with multiple children will be most affected by these CalFresh changes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The California Department of Social Services (CDSS), the agency that administers CalFresh, says that it’s been using “many methods of communication” to alert CalFresh users about the imminent drop in funds, including texts, social media, automated phone calls and a January mailer sent to all people using CalFresh. This messaging, the agency says, has been translated into Spanish, Vietnamese, Armenian and Cantonese.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In its \u003ca href=\"https://cdss.ca.gov/Portals/13/CFF-COVID/emergency-allotment-flyer-english.pdf\">official flyer warning of the CalFresh funding changes (PDF)\u003c/a>, CDSS advises people being hit by this sudden drop in food benefits in April that they can “get free food from your local food bank” as an “additional food resource.” The agency notes that both the state and the USDA also have made more funding available to food banks recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, many advocates are deeply concerned about the impact on hunger in California. Particularly concerned are food bank representatives, whose organizations have already seen huge demand during the pandemic, and are themselves being squeezed by the food inflation that’s affecting the people that food banks serve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/california-divide/2023/02/calfresh-emergency-allotments-ending/\">“There’s no way to overstate how devastating this is going to be,”\u003c/a> Silva from the California Association of Food Banks told CalMatters. “Families are going to see a dramatic and sudden drop in their food benefits at a time when food price inflation and the cost of living in California especially is through the roof.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mike Altfest, Alameda County Community Food Bank’s director of community engagement, says that the loss in Alameda County alone will amount to more than 3 million meals in the county per month. “Our food bank can’t make up 3.1 million meals,” Altfest said. “It’s physically impossible.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to see a huge jump in demand,” he said. “And I think food banks across the country are going to struggle to make this up.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Altfest says that many food banks across the state are joining forces with lawmakers and “working on a number of bills and proposals that we’ve been lobbying for.” These measures not only \u003ca href=\"https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-03-02/millions-of-californians-see-catastrophic-end-of-covid-19-food-benefits-as-inflation-climbs\">advocate for increased state funding for food banks, but also for the state to augment federal SNAP benefits\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"foodsupport\">\u003c/a>Where can I find additional money and support if my CalFresh benefits are dropping?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>First, make sure you’re getting all the CalFresh benefits you’re entitled to\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If your income has gone down, or stopped because you’ve lost your job or your expenses have risen, you may be eligible for more CalFresh benefits. (\u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/Portals/9/CalFreshOutreach/Brochures/Income_Inserts_FFY2023-English.pdf?ver=2022-09-27-105231-437\">See the income thresholds and maximum CalFresh monthly allotments [PDF]\u003c/a> that are currently in effect through Sept. 30, 2023.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If that’s your situation, you should contact your local social services office. \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/county-offices\">Find your local social services office.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Call 211\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>CalFresh officials say that if you are in “immediate need of food assistance,” you can dial 211 and speak with someone about food services that are available in your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This hotline is open 24 hours a day, but they warn that “not all areas provide 211 phone support.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alternatively, the CalFresh Info Line can be reached at (877) 847-3663. The California Department of Social Services Helpline is (888) 445-1955, which CalFresh says can also offer information and assistance.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use your county’s food access programs\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These are food assistance options that are separate from food banks, although sometimes they work together. Your county may provide locations where you can pick up free food, or offer other ways of getting free or low-cost meals that include delivery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in the city and county of San Francisco:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/food/free-food-locations\">Free food locations offering both groceries and meals\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/services/disability-aging-services/groceries-meals\">Options for having meals delivered to your home\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfhsa.org/sites/default/files/Directory_Community%20meals%202022-23.pdf\">Locations where you can find a community meal (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchampss.org/our-program/\">Choosing Healthy Appetizing Meal Plan Solution for Seniors (CHAMPSS)\u003c/a>, a restaurant partnership that offers adults age 60 and older ways to eat subsidized meals at designated restaurants in San Francisco, with a suggested (optional) contribution of $4\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Contra Costa County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/foodsecurity/everyone.php\">A food assistance program\u003c/a> that provides one member of lower-income households in the county a box of food every month\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://cchealth.org/foodsecurity/everyone.php\">The Community Produce Program\u003c/a> that offers one member of each household one or two bags of fresh fruits and vegetables, twice a month (own bag is required)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Contra Costa County residents can call (855) 309-FOOD (3663) for more information.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Alameda County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://foodnow.net/\">FoodNow\u003c/a>: A site managed with the Alameda County Community Food Bank that connects county residents to different food sources, including emergency groceries\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.acgov.org/maps/food-services.htm\">Map of food services and distribution locations in Alameda County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://covid-19.acgov.org/covid19-assets/docs/food-housing-finance/food-access-resource-list-2021.06.21.pdf\">List of food services and distribution locations in Alameda County (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.alamedacountysocialservices.org/ex/our-services/Work-and-Money/General-Assistance/index\">General Assistance\u003c/a>: Cash aid for certain residents of Alameda County\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Marin County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Congregate-Meals\">Congregate meal options in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Food-Pantries\">Food pantry and distribution options in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.marinhhs.org/resources/Food/Home-Delivered-Meals%2C-Food\">Home-delivered meals in Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in San Mateo County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.smcgov.org/food\">Food assistance resources\u003c/a>, including details of meals for K–12 students and college students\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Napa County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://fifnv.org/wp-content/uploads/FoodResources.pdf\">A list of food services and distribution locations, including groceries, in Napa County (PDF)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://fifnv.org/events\">A list of food services and distribution locations, including groceries, in Napa County (calendar view)\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Solano County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.solanocounty.com/emergencies/emfood.asp\">Resources for emergency food assistance in Solano County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Sonoma County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://sonomacounty.ca.gov/health-and-human-services/human-services/divisions-and-services/economic-assistance/food-and-nutrition-benefits/other-food-programs\">Meals and food service resources in Sonoma County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Food assistance options in Santa Clara County:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://socialservices.sccgov.org/food-assistance\">Food resources, including delivery, for older adults in Santa Clara County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Get free produce at a farmers market that’s participating in California’s Fruit and Vegetable EBT pilot \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state’s Fruit and Vegetable EBT pilot provides CalFresh participants with up to $60 per month in rebates when they use their EBT card to pay for California-grown produce at a limited number of farmers markets and grocery stores statewide.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it works: If you have funds on your EBT card and use them to pay for eligible produce at a participating location, you’ll instantly get a rebate for the cost of that produce — effectively making it free at the point of sale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More stores will be participating in this pilot program in 2023. But right now, you can get up to $60 worth of California-grown produce with your EBT card at the following farmers markets and stores in the wider Bay Area:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://napafarmersmarket.org/\">\u003cem>Napa Farmers Market\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>110 West Street, Napa, CA 94559 (already in effect at the Saturday market; starts April 4 at the Tuesday market)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://splashpad.org/farmers-market/\">\u003cem>Grand Lake Farmers Market\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>746 Grand Avenue, Oakland, CA 94610 (starting April 8)\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://marketlocations.com/\">Country Club Plaza Farmers Market\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>2405 Butano Drive, Sacramento, CA 95828\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>See the \u003ca href=\"https://www.cdss.ca.gov/inforesources/ebt/california-fruit-vegetable-ebt-pilot-project\">full list of stores and farmers markets that are already participating in the Fruit and Vegetables EBT pilot\u003c/a>, as well as the Bay Area locations that will start participating in April 2023 (dates TBD).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Apply for WIC\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) provides food assistance to lower-income families who have young children or are expecting a new child. Like CalFresh, it’s federally funded, and you can receive WIC benefits on top of your CalFresh benefits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is income-based, and is available to pregnant people, plus new parents and grandparents of young children. \u003ca href=\"https://myfamily.wic.ca.gov/Home/HowCanIGetWIC#howToGetWIC\">See whether you’re eligible for WIC and apply online.\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Use Market Match to double your CalFresh or WIC dollars at a farmers market\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/\">Market Match\u003c/a> is a statewide program that enables you to double your CalFresh or Women, Infants and Children Supplemental Nutrition Program (WIC) funds at certain farmers markets and farm-direct locations near you.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How it works: Use the Market Match map to \u003ca href=\"http://ecologycenter.org/fmfinder/\">find a participating farmers market or other farm-direct location near you\u003c/a>, and when you arrive during operating hours, go to that market’s information booth with your EBT card and ask for Market Match. \u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/about/how-it-works/\">Your EBT card will be swiped for a dollar amount of your choice\u003c/a>, and in return you’ll receive tokens for double that dollar amount to spend at the market. (Another way of looking at it: Market Match effectively gives you 50% off produce you buy at participating farmers markets.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Some markets will have a limit on the amount of CalFresh or WIC dollars you can have matched (often $10); others have no limit. Consider watching \u003ca href=\"https://marketmatch.org/about/how-it-works/\">Market Match’s short “how it works” video\u003c/a> before using Market Match for the first time at a farmers market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Find a food bank or community pantry near you\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can \u003ca href=\"https://www.cafoodbanks.org/our-members/\">find a local foodbank through the California Association of Food Banks\u003c/a>, or keep scrolling for a list of food banks and community kitchens, pantries and more near you:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>San Francisco:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/\">SF-Marin Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.stanthonysf.org/\">St. Anthony Foundation\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.glide.org/\">Glide Memorial Church\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfcityimpact.com/programs/#hunger\">San Francisco City Impact\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodrunners.org/\">Food Runners\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.oldfirst.org/volunteer.html\">Old First Presbyterian Church Inter-Faith Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>East Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.accfb.org/\">Alameda County Community Food Bank\u003c/a> (and \u003ca href=\"https://www.accfb.org/get-involved/volunteer-community/\">ACCFB’s partner organizations\u003c/a>)\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.loavesfishescc.org/\">Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.berkeleyfoodpantry.org/\">Berkeley Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.edfufoundation.org/bay-area-street-pantry.html\">Bay Area Street Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://unitycouncil.org/program/food-distribution/\">Unity Council’s Food Security Project\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://trivalleyhaven.org/homeless-and-family-support/food-pantry/\">Tri-Valley Haven Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.refp.org/\">Richmond Emergency Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://tmcoakland.org/\">Telegraph Community Ministry Center\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>North Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.vinnies.org/\">St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sfmfoodbank.org/\">SF-Marin Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://canv.org/\">Community Action of Napa Valley Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.refb.org/\">Redwood Empire Food Bank\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>South Bay:\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.shfb.org/\">Second Harvest of Silicon Valley\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"http://www.marthas-kitchen.org/\">Martha’s Kitchen\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.sacredheartcs.org/\">Sacred Heart Community Service\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://rolfusa.org/food-pantry-more\">River of Life Foundation Food Pantry\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>Other, smaller food banks and community fridges may be operating in your area.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>\u003ca id=\"tellus\">\u003c/a>Tell us: What else do you need information about?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>At KQED News, we know that it can sometimes be hard to track down the answers to navigate life in the Bay Area in 2023. We’ve published \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/coronavirus-resources-and-explainers\">clear, helpful explainers and guides about issues like COVID\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11936674/how-to-prepare-for-this-weeks-atmospheric-river-storm-sandbags-emergency-kits-and-more\">how to cope with intense winter weather\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11821950/how-to-safely-attend-a-protest-in-the-bay-area\">how to exercise your right to protest safely\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So tell us: What do you need to know more about? Tell us, and you could see your question answered online or on social media. What you submit will make our reporting stronger, and help us decide what to cover here on our site, and on KQED Public Radio, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story contains additional reporting by KQED’s Sara Hossaini, and has been updated to include the latest numbers from the California Department of Social Services on how many people statewide use CalFresh.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Oakland Rapper Guap on His Black and Filipino Roots and What Inspired the Song 'Chicken Adobo'",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This post is part of a series of stories on The California Report Magazine about the experience of being mixed race.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if he’s not always recognized as part of the Asian American community, Oakland-born rapper Guap is fiercely proud of his Filipino roots. On the last track of his 2021 album, \u003cem>1176\u003c/em>, he tells an origin story spanning decades and continents. His grandfather, a Black merchant marine stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, found himself with a rip in the pocket of his uniform. He found a young Filipina seamstress to repair the pocket — and fell in love. When his time in Subic Bay came to an end, the two married and moved to a one-story house in West Oakland, where they would eventually raise their grandchild Guap, the first-born child of their youngest daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>1176\u003c/em>, created in collaboration with Filipino American producer !llmind, is Guap’s most personal work to date. It’s the culmination of a circuitous path into the music industry, from first getting recognition as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGRgVCLfRHw&skip_registered_account_check=true\">scam rapper\u003c/a> to being featured on \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/2n3quCZ0anEa46j2IveacI\">a Grammy-nominated album\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC-0vapGE0A\">Marvel movie soundtrack\u003c/a>. For the KQED series “Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians,” hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Guap about growing up Black and Filipino, the cultural impact his lola had on him, and how his mixed identity shows up in his music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for length and clarity — for the full version, listen to the audio at the top of this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943567\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943567\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit.png\" alt=\"A weathered white and light blue house sits in the middle as a young man in a light pink track suit points toward it with one hand, while holding his grandmother with the other. To the left, three teenagers are gathered as two kneel on the sidewalk playing dice.\" width=\"2250\" height=\"2250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit.png 2250w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap and his grandmother looking at the West Oakland house he grew up in. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On growing up with his grandparents\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of my creativity and explorative intent just came from [my grandfather, Douglas]. He was super handy in carpentry and home improvement. I probably get everything else in my life from my grandma. She is the most hard-working, sacrificial person ever. She doesn’t have a selfish bone in her body. I actually want her to be more selfish. I watched her work so many under-the-table jobs, fight to get legalized, even dealing with breast cancer and she’s still here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Guap, rapper and musician\"]‘[My home] was really like a cultural hub for the neighborhood because my grandma would cook so much Filipino food.’[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had a lot of fruit trees — a calamansi tree, which is a Filipino citrus fruit, a cherry tree, and an apple tree. And [my home] was really like a cultural hub for the neighborhood because my grandma would cook so much Filipino food, and we had an open-door policy. We had a lot of food and we shared it a lot so that my house was a home, not only to me growing up, but to a lot of my friends and people around us. My circle got so used to eating it that they kind of expected certain dishes: pancit, adobo, lumpia especially. I think that’s from the nature of my relationship with my grandma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943568 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Filipina grandmother in a fuzzy, brown coat and wearing sunglasses smiles as she poses for a photo with her grandson, who towers above her and lays his cheek on top of his head, wears a pink, knitted sweater and silver durag.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap and his grandmother, Corazon Mckinzy, in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On navigating Blackness in the Filipino community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There was a lot of love inherently and a lot of acceptance, but there was also a lot of subtle racism. Even the Filipino elders, who I was receiving it from, didn’t really understand that it was racist. I never played sports, but I got compared to almost every athlete, mostly basketball players. And I used to be so irritated by that. I don’t want to be compared to them. There was even light pressure to get me to try to play basketball, and it got weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"More from The California Report’s ‘Mixed’ series\" tag=\"mixed\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it was little things that built up over time. Comments and assumptions. Now, I know that a lot of my mischievousness as a child was because of ADHD. [Back then] I’d fiddle around with something and get in trouble and that was because I was the Black kid, not because something else was troubling me. Normal mental health issues got waved off as Black problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[When I visited the Philippines] it was weird to see people almost as dark as me, but they still [were] kind of confused. The wildest thing was people coming up to me and touching my hair. My grandma warned me about that. But it was always cool when people just walked up speaking Tagalog assuming that I completely understood it because, you know, they’ll try to talk slower if they feel like you’re foreign. So I thought that was cool.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943560 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Filipina family of about a dozen men, women and children sit smiling at a dinner table; one woman hugs a baby on her lap. Oakland rapper and musician, Guap, sits at the table on the right side smiling wearing a white tank top next to a woman in a green T-shirt. A stack of blue, plastic chairs are off to the side.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap with his extended family in the Philippines. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On performing at an LA Clippers game for Filipino Heritage Night\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shout out to the homie Roslynn and her company, 1587. She’s a connector for a lot of Filipino American artists, and because of her, I was able to perform at halftime at the Crypto Arena. I couldn’t believe it. I was looking up at 15,000 people or something like that. It was a great vibe and I was just super humbled by it. When things like that happen, it doesn’t even hit me until I get home and I just smile about it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XB7siF0VKjY\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>On tapping into his roots when creating the song ‘Chicken Adobo’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I was making this album with !llmind, who’s Filipino as well, and we were just kind of going over Filipino goals. [Like] what do I want out of this project? And I was like, you know, I always wanted a song that the Filipino kids or the islander kids with the ukulele can sing at the talent show, because we all know they’re going to do it. He was going through some beats and he was like, “You know, I have the perfect one.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DaovaJgytE\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And I was like, man, this makes me feel so warm. I want to make a love song. But if it’s for Filipino kids, I’ll talk about chicken adobo. That’s my favorite food. And eating food reminds me of love [and] love for family. It’s always food when I think about the old house, you know? So I was trying to channel that energy into the song, which is why I’m comparing the love of food to my love for this girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1708px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943561 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Rapper, musician Guap performs live on stage at a concert. He holds a mic in his hand as he wears a white tank top and red and orange-patterned pants.\" width=\"1708\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-scaled.jpg 1708w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-800x1199.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1020x1529.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1025x1536.jpg 1025w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1920x2879.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1708px) 100vw, 1708px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap performing at a live concert in Manila, Philippines. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On advice for fellow mixed-race artists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I need all my mixed people to talk about it. Express yourself. Express your vantage point, your perspective and put that in your art, especially to the artists. Let it become a part of your identity. I promise [that] the more you are self-aware, the less writer’s block you have. You don’t have to make anything up or fabricate anything when you can fully tap in with yourself. So don’t deny your art that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n[hearken id=\"7528\" src=\"https://modules.wearehearken.com/kqed/embed/7528.js\"]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"title": "Oakland Rapper Guap on His Black and Filipino Roots and What Inspired the Song 'Chicken Adobo' | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/mixed-race\">\u003ci data-stringify-type=\"italic\">This post is part of a series of stories on The California Report Magazine about the experience of being mixed race.\u003c/i>\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even if he’s not always recognized as part of the Asian American community, Oakland-born rapper Guap is fiercely proud of his Filipino roots. On the last track of his 2021 album, \u003cem>1176\u003c/em>, he tells an origin story spanning decades and continents. His grandfather, a Black merchant marine stationed in Subic Bay in the Philippines, found himself with a rip in the pocket of his uniform. He found a young Filipina seamstress to repair the pocket — and fell in love. When his time in Subic Bay came to an end, the two married and moved to a one-story house in West Oakland, where they would eventually raise their grandchild Guap, the first-born child of their youngest daughter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>1176\u003c/em>, created in collaboration with Filipino American producer !llmind, is Guap’s most personal work to date. It’s the culmination of a circuitous path into the music industry, from first getting recognition as a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGRgVCLfRHw&skip_registered_account_check=true\">scam rapper\u003c/a> to being featured on \u003ca href=\"https://open.spotify.com/album/2n3quCZ0anEa46j2IveacI\">a Grammy-nominated album\u003c/a> and a \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC-0vapGE0A\">Marvel movie soundtrack\u003c/a>. For the KQED series “Mixed: Stories of Mixed-Race Californians,” hosts Sasha Khokha and Marisa Lagos spoke to Guap about growing up Black and Filipino, the cultural impact his lola had on him, and how his mixed identity shows up in his music.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This interview has been edited for length and clarity — for the full version, listen to the audio at the top of this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943567\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2250px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11943567\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit.png\" alt=\"A weathered white and light blue house sits in the middle as a young man in a light pink track suit points toward it with one hand, while holding his grandmother with the other. To the left, three teenagers are gathered as two kneel on the sidewalk playing dice.\" width=\"2250\" height=\"2250\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit.png 2250w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-800x800.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1020x1020.png 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-160x160.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1536x1536.png 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-2048x2048.png 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/1176-no-edit-1920x1920.png 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2250px) 100vw, 2250px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap and his grandmother looking at the West Oakland house he grew up in. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On growing up with his grandparents\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>A lot of my creativity and explorative intent just came from [my grandfather, Douglas]. He was super handy in carpentry and home improvement. I probably get everything else in my life from my grandma. She is the most hard-working, sacrificial person ever. She doesn’t have a selfish bone in her body. I actually want her to be more selfish. I watched her work so many under-the-table jobs, fight to get legalized, even dealing with breast cancer and she’s still here.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘[My home] was really like a cultural hub for the neighborhood because my grandma would cook so much Filipino food.’",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We had a lot of fruit trees — a calamansi tree, which is a Filipino citrus fruit, a cherry tree, and an apple tree. And [my home] was really like a cultural hub for the neighborhood because my grandma would cook so much Filipino food, and we had an open-door policy. We had a lot of food and we shared it a lot so that my house was a home, not only to me growing up, but to a lot of my friends and people around us. My circle got so used to eating it that they kind of expected certain dishes: pancit, adobo, lumpia especially. I think that’s from the nature of my relationship with my grandma.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943568\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1707px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943568 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Filipina grandmother in a fuzzy, brown coat and wearing sunglasses smiles as she poses for a photo with her grandson, who towers above her and lays his cheek on top of his head, wears a pink, knitted sweater and silver durag.\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-scaled.jpg 1707w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-800x1200.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1020x1530.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/fnf-14-1920x2880.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1707px) 100vw, 1707px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap and his grandmother, Corazon Mckinzy, in Oakland. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On navigating Blackness in the Filipino community\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>There was a lot of love inherently and a lot of acceptance, but there was also a lot of subtle racism. Even the Filipino elders, who I was receiving it from, didn’t really understand that it was racist. I never played sports, but I got compared to almost every athlete, mostly basketball players. And I used to be so irritated by that. I don’t want to be compared to them. There was even light pressure to get me to try to play basketball, and it got weird.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it was little things that built up over time. Comments and assumptions. Now, I know that a lot of my mischievousness as a child was because of ADHD. [Back then] I’d fiddle around with something and get in trouble and that was because I was the Black kid, not because something else was troubling me. Normal mental health issues got waved off as Black problems.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">[When I visited the Philippines] it was weird to see people almost as dark as me, but they still [were] kind of confused. The wildest thing was people coming up to me and touching my hair. My grandma warned me about that. But it was always cool when people just walked up speaking Tagalog assuming that I completely understood it because, you know, they’ll try to talk slower if they feel like you’re foreign. So I thought that was cool.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943560\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2560px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943560 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A Filipina family of about a dozen men, women and children sit smiling at a dinner table; one woman hugs a baby on her lap. Oakland rapper and musician, Guap, sits at the table on the right side smiling wearing a white tank top next to a woman in a green T-shirt. A stack of blue, plastic chairs are off to the side.\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1708\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-scaled.jpg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-800x534.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-2048x1366.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-117-1920x1281.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap with his extended family in the Philippines. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On performing at an LA Clippers game for Filipino Heritage Night\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Shout out to the homie Roslynn and her company, 1587. She’s a connector for a lot of Filipino American artists, and because of her, I was able to perform at halftime at the Crypto Arena. I couldn’t believe it. I was looking up at 15,000 people or something like that. It was a great vibe and I was just super humbled by it. When things like that happen, it doesn’t even hit me until I get home and I just smile about it.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/XB7siF0VKjY'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/XB7siF0VKjY'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003ch2>On tapping into his roots when creating the song ‘Chicken Adobo’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I was making this album with !llmind, who’s Filipino as well, and we were just kind of going over Filipino goals. [Like] what do I want out of this project? And I was like, you know, I always wanted a song that the Filipino kids or the islander kids with the ukulele can sing at the talent show, because we all know they’re going to do it. He was going through some beats and he was like, “You know, I have the perfect one.”\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/1DaovaJgytE'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/1DaovaJgytE'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>And I was like, man, this makes me feel so warm. I want to make a love song. But if it’s for Filipino kids, I’ll talk about chicken adobo. That’s my favorite food. And eating food reminds me of love [and] love for family. It’s always food when I think about the old house, you know? So I was trying to channel that energy into the song, which is why I’m comparing the love of food to my love for this girl.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11943561\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1708px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11943561 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Rapper, musician Guap performs live on stage at a concert. He holds a mic in his hand as he wears a white tank top and red and orange-patterned pants.\" width=\"1708\" height=\"2560\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-scaled.jpg 1708w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-800x1199.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1020x1529.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-160x240.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1025x1536.jpg 1025w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1366x2048.jpg 1366w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/03/PABATCHV2-78-1920x2879.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1708px) 100vw, 1708px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Guap performing at a live concert in Manila, Philippines. \u003ccite>(Courtesy of Paul Middleton)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003ch2>On advice for fellow mixed-race artists\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>I need all my mixed people to talk about it. Express yourself. Express your vantage point, your perspective and put that in your art, especially to the artists. Let it become a part of your identity. I promise [that] the more you are self-aware, the less writer’s block you have. You don’t have to make anything up or fabricate anything when you can fully tap in with yourself. So don’t deny your art that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca id=\"anchor\">\u003c/a>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District’s former school bus provider is suing the district for $5.4 million for payments it claims the district failed to make during the 2020–21 school year when students were participating in distance learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest dispute, which is not the first between the private transportation company First Student Inc. and SFUSD, comes as both businesses and school districts across the country are scrambling to recover from losses during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is a corporate shakedown of our public school district by the largest bus company in the United States,” said Nancy Harris, attorney representing SFUSD, during opening statements for the jury trial. “The terms of the contract provide that the school district agreed to pay First Student only when drivers employed by First Student drove students in buses owned by First Student to and from schools and other points.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ohio-based First Student is the country’s largest school bus transportation service provider and worked with San Francisco Unified for 40 years before the two organizations cut ties during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there’s no disagreement that buses weren’t running their usual routes during the 2020–21 school year, representatives for First Student allege that the district owes them money for non-transportation services, such as bus maintenance and vehicle insurance. The company invoiced SFUSD for $5.4 million for those additional costs in the fall of 2021.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Nancy Harris, attorney representing SFUSD\"]'This case is a corporate shakedown of our public school district by the largest bus company in the United States.'[/pullquote]In response to First Student's lawsuit, SFUSD filed a cross-complaint for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the California False Claims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district maintains that under the 2020–21 school year contract, they were not obligated to pay for services because buses were not transporting students during the city’s shelter-in-place order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email sent to KQED, the district also alleged that the company “submitted false invoices claiming that hundreds of buses and drivers were deployed on the road in August and September 2020, at a time when students were learning remotely,” according to Laura Dudnick, spokesperson for SFUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When that did not work, [First Student] demanded that the school district cover its overhead costs. This strategy was part of its nationwide pressure campaign against school districts to increase its revenue, when school districts like SFUSD struggled with budget deficits and were focused on students,” Dudnick wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court testimony Thursday, Paul Osland, who was president of First Student during the pandemic, denied pressuring any district into payments during the pandemic, and suggested his company was simply upholding its end of a contract that started in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osland asserts that First Student charges for a full program, meaning not only transportation services, but also the operating expenses such as vehicle insurance, bus technology and regular maintenance that is required by California Highway Patrol to keep the buses in operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID “impacted all of us, but it sure as heck impacted our business,” said Osland in court on Thursday. Osland, who is now retired, previously ran transportation services for Chicago Public Schools. “Of course this is not a shakedown. It was an initiative in everyone’s interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Paul Osland, former president, First Student\"]'Of course this is not a shakedown. It was an initiative in everyone's interest.'[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris, the attorney for SFUSD, underscored a section of the contract that anticipated school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district shall not be obligated to accept or pay for services, herein to be furnished by the contractor, on those days when by the direction of the Superintendent, the district schools are closed to ensure the health and safety of the pupils or for any other lawful reason. The district agrees to notify the contractor, not later than 5:30 a.m., on days of such school closures,” the contract reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osland, however, said he thinks that portion of the contract would only apply to short-term closures like snow days or fire days, not months-long disruptions. No such distinction is made either way in the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Student works with around 1,000 districts across the U.S. and Canada. The company provides yellow school bus transportation to and from schools for general education, students with disabilities and individualized education plans, field trip services and charter bus services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to KQED, the company said it filed the lawsuit “because of bad faith and broken promises by SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD made a choice to stop paying for the many services that SFUSD required under the bus contract, including the more than 230 yellow school buses dedicated to SFUSD that First Student kept in position throughout the pandemic,” the statement read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First Student stood by its business partner, fulfilling its obligations to maintain operational readiness to ensure it was ready to transport students as soon as schools reopened. And when they did, First Student was ready when SFUSD called. Over an eight-month period, First Student submitted discounted invoices, but SFUSD paid nothing. SFUSD had encumbered funds available, and even issued a purchase order, but it made a choice not to pay. That is not just or fair, and for that reason, we expect to prevail in court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After 40 years of service, SFUSD cut ties with First Student during the pandemic, and the district in July 2021 awarded school transportation to app-based start-up Zūm in a $150 million five-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the deal, the district estimated the new provider would save the district about $3 million annually, according to \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/29/zum-wins-150m-from-san-francisco-schools-to-modernize-and-electrify-student-transport/\">a report from TechCrunch\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, First Student sued Zūm, whose consultant had recently left a high position with First Student. First Student alleged the employee downloaded the competing bid from its company while joining Zūm. That case is set to begin trial August 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Student also filed an appeal against SFUSD’s process and decision to contract with Zūm. The court denied that appeal from First Student in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from First Student. This story also has been corrected, to accurately reflect the status of First Student's lawsuit against Zūm, which is scheduled to begin trial Aug. 14. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The San Francisco Unified School District’s former school bus provider is suing the district for $5.4 million for payments it claims the district failed to make during the 2020–21 school year when students were participating in distance learning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest dispute, which is not the first between the private transportation company First Student Inc. and SFUSD, comes as both businesses and school districts across the country are scrambling to recover from losses during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This case is a corporate shakedown of our public school district by the largest bus company in the United States,” said Nancy Harris, attorney representing SFUSD, during opening statements for the jury trial. “The terms of the contract provide that the school district agreed to pay First Student only when drivers employed by First Student drove students in buses owned by First Student to and from schools and other points.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ohio-based First Student is the country’s largest school bus transportation service provider and worked with San Francisco Unified for 40 years before the two organizations cut ties during the pandemic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there’s no disagreement that buses weren’t running their usual routes during the 2020–21 school year, representatives for First Student allege that the district owes them money for non-transportation services, such as bus maintenance and vehicle insurance. The company invoiced SFUSD for $5.4 million for those additional costs in the fall of 2021.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In response to First Student's lawsuit, SFUSD filed a cross-complaint for breach of contract, bad faith and violations of the California False Claims Act.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The school district maintains that under the 2020–21 school year contract, they were not obligated to pay for services because buses were not transporting students during the city’s shelter-in-place order.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In an email sent to KQED, the district also alleged that the company “submitted false invoices claiming that hundreds of buses and drivers were deployed on the road in August and September 2020, at a time when students were learning remotely,” according to Laura Dudnick, spokesperson for SFUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When that did not work, [First Student] demanded that the school district cover its overhead costs. This strategy was part of its nationwide pressure campaign against school districts to increase its revenue, when school districts like SFUSD struggled with budget deficits and were focused on students,” Dudnick wrote.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In court testimony Thursday, Paul Osland, who was president of First Student during the pandemic, denied pressuring any district into payments during the pandemic, and suggested his company was simply upholding its end of a contract that started in 2015.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osland asserts that First Student charges for a full program, meaning not only transportation services, but also the operating expenses such as vehicle insurance, bus technology and regular maintenance that is required by California Highway Patrol to keep the buses in operation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>COVID “impacted all of us, but it sure as heck impacted our business,” said Osland in court on Thursday. Osland, who is now retired, previously ran transportation services for Chicago Public Schools. “Of course this is not a shakedown. It was an initiative in everyone’s interest.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Harris, the attorney for SFUSD, underscored a section of the contract that anticipated school closures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The district shall not be obligated to accept or pay for services, herein to be furnished by the contractor, on those days when by the direction of the Superintendent, the district schools are closed to ensure the health and safety of the pupils or for any other lawful reason. The district agrees to notify the contractor, not later than 5:30 a.m., on days of such school closures,” the contract reads.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Osland, however, said he thinks that portion of the contract would only apply to short-term closures like snow days or fire days, not months-long disruptions. No such distinction is made either way in the contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Student works with around 1,000 districts across the U.S. and Canada. The company provides yellow school bus transportation to and from schools for general education, students with disabilities and individualized education plans, field trip services and charter bus services.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement to KQED, the company said it filed the lawsuit “because of bad faith and broken promises by SFUSD.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“SFUSD made a choice to stop paying for the many services that SFUSD required under the bus contract, including the more than 230 yellow school buses dedicated to SFUSD that First Student kept in position throughout the pandemic,” the statement read.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“First Student stood by its business partner, fulfilling its obligations to maintain operational readiness to ensure it was ready to transport students as soon as schools reopened. And when they did, First Student was ready when SFUSD called. Over an eight-month period, First Student submitted discounted invoices, but SFUSD paid nothing. SFUSD had encumbered funds available, and even issued a purchase order, but it made a choice not to pay. That is not just or fair, and for that reason, we expect to prevail in court.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After 40 years of service, SFUSD cut ties with First Student during the pandemic, and the district in July 2021 awarded school transportation to app-based start-up Zūm in a $150 million five-year contract.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the time of the deal, the district estimated the new provider would save the district about $3 million annually, according to \u003ca href=\"https://techcrunch.com/2021/07/29/zum-wins-150m-from-san-francisco-schools-to-modernize-and-electrify-student-transport/\">a report from TechCrunch\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, First Student sued Zūm, whose consultant had recently left a high position with First Student. First Student alleged the employee downloaded the competing bid from its company while joining Zūm. That case is set to begin trial August 14.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First Student also filed an appeal against SFUSD’s process and decision to contract with Zūm. The court denied that appeal from First Student in 2022.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from First Student. This story also has been corrected, to accurately reflect the status of First Student's lawsuit against Zūm, which is scheduled to begin trial Aug. 14. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "reversal-of-oakland-school-closures-renews-hope-of-reparations-for-black-students",
"title": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students",
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"headTitle": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>The decision by Oakland’s new school board to rescind a school closure plan has renewed hope in the reparations movement to improve the outcomes of Oakland Unified School District’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the movement remains in limbo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/a> resolution, an initiative to provide more resources for almost 8,000 Black students. For some observers, the resolution acknowledged the inequitable education students have received for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution created a task force to monitor academic performance and, among other things, provide anti-racism training to district teachers and staff. Early versions of the resolution included a ban on school closures where more than 30% of the students are Black, a line item that was opposed by the school district and Chris Learned, the state trustee who oversaw the district’s finances. It was ultimately removed from the final resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For two decades, the school district has been under state receivership because of a $100 million bailout in 2003. To address budget shortfalls, the school board voted in January 2022 to close what it deemed were underperforming schools with low enrollment. The vote sparked protests, which included a hunger strike, a 125-day occupation of Parker Elementary School after the district closed it, and a State Department of Justice inquiry into claims that the plan continued a trend of discrimination against the district’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942027\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942027 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"A group of protesters hold signs against school closures as they march on a city street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents, youth and supporters protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. The rally was one of several events last year in support of the Reparations for Black Students campaign. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The closures derailed the reparations effort to hold the school district accountable for improving the education of Black students. But the reversal, which was approved during a special meeting in January, has activists and community members cautiously optimistic about OUSD’s future. The action was made possible by newly elected board members who opposed the previous board’s decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> continues to study and develop proposals for the entire state, a look into Oakland’s effort reveals just how difficult reparations can be to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are now finally positioned to start doing things differently,” said Mike Hutchinson, the school board’s new president. “We have to embed this work in the district so it becomes a core part of what we do, and I think we are starting to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Cázares, the current trustee, will have to sign off for the reversal to be permanent. The Alameda County Office of Education must also approve. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/19/ousd-oakland-school-closures-hutchinson-alameda-county-castro/\">As \u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>’s Ashley McBride reported\u003c/a>, “the board’s decision could also threaten a separate influx of state cash the district was expecting as a result of closing schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, if the decision is confirmed by the state, it will save five elementary schools that serve predominantly students of color — Brookfield, Grass Valley, Horace Mann, Carl B. Munck, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Hillcrest Elementary School, which would also continue to serve kindergarten through eighth grade. The majority of students at Grass Valley and Carl B. Munck are Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air,” said Pecolia Manigo, chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force, the body created to implement the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ongoing fight against systemic racism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jordan Rancifer was captivated by the stories of anti-Black racism in Oakland’s public schools that he heard in the Oakland High School auditorium in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It piqued my interest because it’s like, damn, I’m not the only one having these racial experiences in OUSD,” he recalled in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was one of a series of community listening sessions held by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandkidsfirst.org/programs/j4os/\">Justice for Oakland Students coalition\u003c/a>. Students described being called racist slurs by peers. They said they felt ignored when they brought concerns to school administrators, and alienated by curricula that neglected Black experiences. Parents described years of limited enrollment in programs meant to support Black students and funding that always seemed to quickly run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942014\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942014 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black man with a black hoodie and shoulder-length black twists looks at the camera while standing on a sidewalk in an urban street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Rancifer poses for a photo on Grand Avenue in Oakland on April 15, 2022. Rancifer spoke at the listening sessions that led to the Reparations for Black Students resolution when he was a senior at Oakland Technical High School. Now he’s studying political science at Cal State East Bay. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rancifer was then a senior struggling in math at Oakland Technical High School. He shared his experience in a room full of teachers, students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t feel like, as a Black man, I was being helped or noticed,” said Rancifer, now 23 and studying political science at Cal State East Bay. “They just kind of let me fail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students accounted for \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">20.5% of district enrollment\u003c/a> — roughly 10,000 out of 50,000 students — in the 2021–2022 academic year, according to OUSD’s dashboard. Two decades ago, Black students accounted for nearly half. Since then, the district has shuttered 16 majority Black schools, fracturing school communities and separating students from friends and familiar teachers. At the listening sessions, speakers said the closures contributed to the exodus of Black families from district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The listening sessions laid the foundation for the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution promised to address the declining enrollment and poor outcomes of Black students, and set its sights on ending the achievement gap, also called the opportunity gap, by 2026.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Pecolia Manigo, chair, Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\"]‘Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air.’[/pullquote]In September 2021, the district created the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlZalR3MLPd6M4XK5_ORtdu8oK0d26Ox/view\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/a>, a 25-member volunteer body to carry out the resolution. By that time, Rancifer was in college. His mother, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, an Oakland teacher and vice president of the Oakland teachers union, became the task force secretary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that makes me so excited about our work is being able to bring Black folks into a safe space, and for them to know that they’re not alone in their experiences and that other folks are experiencing the same thing, but that they can also come up with the solutions,” said Manigo, who is also executive director of the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network, an Oakland-based nonprofit that empowers parents to advocate for their children in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo and Hutchinson, things were going smoothly for months after the task force began its work. The volunteer group of Black parents, educators, district employees and community activists met regularly on Zoom, gathering virtually to view colorful slide decks put together by Manigo, mother of two OUSD students and one OUSD graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD receives special state funding for students from lower-income families and foster youth, many of whom are Black. The task force aims to track how OUSD invests that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has been trying to improve the outcomes for Black students for decades. OUSD founded the African American Male Achievement program in 2010 and what is now known as the African American Female Excellence program in 2015. Data shows the programs improved graduation rates and lowered rates of suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the impact of other, more diffuse efforts like curriculum changes and diversifying staff is harder to trace. The task force set out to build a system to quantify the impact of district interventions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to say whether something is effective or not effective, and whether it’s helping to close opportunity gaps or not … we knew that that was a big challenge,” said Manigo, who was unsuccessful in her bid for a school board seat in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo, the school closure plan, announced four months after the task force began its work, revealed that the district was unwilling “to understand the implications of the lived experience and wisdom that so many of us had been putting before them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure plan felt like a betrayal. “By saying reparations, there is an immediate demand to stop the harm,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942012\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942012 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with a purple top and short cropped hair smiles at the camera as she stands in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1020x760.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1536x1145.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pecolia Manigo poses in Maxwell Park in Oakland on Aug. 25, 2022. Manigo is the chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead of focusing on improving outcomes for Black students, conflict grew among members of the task force who found themselves on opposing sides of the closure debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a highly polarized political context and I think our minds are pretty trained to put a stake in the ground and not move from that,” said Dr. Dexter Moore Jr., the superintendent’s representative on the task force. “It put a wedge in the work. No question about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, a report presented by Moore to the school board on behalf of the district superintendent showed that a year after the reparations resolution was passed, many of the worrying trends affecting Black students continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students were being suspended at more than twice the district average, and more than half of Black students were chronically absent, which Moore attributed in part to the impact of a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time. Between the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years, \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">Black student enrollment dropped by more than 400 students\u003c/a>, continuing the decades-long pattern of Black students leaving the district, according to OUSD data. Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, district superintendent, instructed the task force to pause indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force initially refused to stop holding meetings, but momentum waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We went from 25 folks being able to meet in the very early days and having really great conversations looking over different indicators and putting metrics to those things, to then eventually 15, 16, 17, to slowly but surely many individuals just stepping back,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force stopped holding public meetings in April. Not enough members were regularly attending to have a quorum. Ten months later, meetings have yet to resume. But developments since the new year might signal a change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson has nominated board members Clifford Thompson and VanCedric Williams, co-author of the reparations resolution, to new positions as board liaisons to the task force. He hopes Thompson and Williams will help the task force rebuild its membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942017\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942017\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg\" alt='A Black man with clean shaven head and wearing a blue hoodie that reads \"Protect West Oakland Mural\" smiles at the camera with people in the background.' width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1020x751.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1536x1130.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, an outspoken opponent of school closures in Oakland, became the president of Oakland’s school board in January. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Manigo feels frustrated that so much time was lost fighting the district, especially in a year with a massive state budget surplus. Instead of galvanizing energy around petitioning the state for more funding for Oakland schools, Manigo said community organizers like her spent the year fighting with the district to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was lost was the opportunity to really tell the Oakland story, to give lawmakers and the larger community hope that we really can create a district where all students are valued, where racially just schools are real,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That model could be important, because what Black students are up against in Oakland is similar to what Black students face throughout the state. \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">California remains the sixth most segregated state in the country for Black students (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the interim report published by the state reparations task force in June. “In California’s highly segregated schools, schools attended by white and Asian children receive more funding and resources than schools with predominantly Black and Latino children,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a reality with deep roots. \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1855/1855.PDF\">In 1855, California passed a law that withheld state funds from schools that taught Black and Chinese children (PDF).\u003c/a> Although California taxed Black residents to pay for public schools, the money was only used for the education of white children.[aside label=\"Related Stories\" postID=\"news_11941976,news_11941469\"]Systemic racism continues to affect Black students. According to statewide data, in 2021–2022 \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/state/CA/ps_NTI5Mjg%5E?_gl=1*1dpu79i*_ga*MTI4MDk1MjYxOS4xNjc1NzEyMjg0*_ga_475QR6J62K*MTY3NTcxMjI4NC4xLjEuMTY3NTcxMzM5NC42MC4wLjA.\">only 30% of Black students met English language arts standards and less than 16% met the standard in math\u003c/a>, placing Black students behind all other racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023–2024 budget attempted to address some of this inequity, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/critics-say-newsoms-proposal-for-low-performing-students-fails-black-students/684148\">the budget proposal drew criticism\u003c/a> from advocates who say they want to see more funding and support specifically for Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has played out in Oakland’s school district is not an anomaly when it comes to reparations, said Dr. Cheryl Grills, a state task force member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s sometimes harder to implement things in the spirit in which they were intended than it is to get the win on the books,” said Grills, professor at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state task force, which \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings\">meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento\u003c/a>, is expected to publish its plan for repairing almost 200 years of anti-Black racism in the state in June. To address racial disparities in public education, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda-consolidated-prelim-props.pdf\">preliminary policy proposals (PDF)\u003c/a> being considered include an increase in funding to schools through the local control funding formula, which determines how much money schools receive from the state. The preliminary proposals include repealing or amending Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot measure that prohibits state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment, public education and public contracting. “Proposition 209 is widely viewed as an impediment to the adoption of remedial measures,” the task force stated in the proposal document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No part of a reparations plan will become law without the support of the governor and the state Legislature. Like the reparations push in Oakland, it will require consistent public pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a historic moment that could happen in California,” Manigo said. “And I believe that the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The group redesigning how OUSD supports its Black students was stalled by the district's school closure plan. But that plan was rescinded — and now the group's leadership is hopeful for a renewed commitment to the district's Black families.",
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"title": "Reversal of Oakland School Closures Renews Hope of Reparations for Black Students | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The decision by Oakland’s new school board to rescind a school closure plan has renewed hope in the reparations movement to improve the outcomes of Oakland Unified School District’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the movement remains in limbo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March 2021, the school board passed the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1knTRaGliW06LnPCATRmaILnwrgViLgsC/view\">Reparations for Black Students\u003c/a> resolution, an initiative to provide more resources for almost 8,000 Black students. For some observers, the resolution acknowledged the inequitable education students have received for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution created a task force to monitor academic performance and, among other things, provide anti-racism training to district teachers and staff. Early versions of the resolution included a ban on school closures where more than 30% of the students are Black, a line item that was opposed by the school district and Chris Learned, the state trustee who oversaw the district’s finances. It was ultimately removed from the final resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For two decades, the school district has been under state receivership because of a $100 million bailout in 2003. To address budget shortfalls, the school board voted in January 2022 to close what it deemed were underperforming schools with low enrollment. The vote sparked protests, which included a hunger strike, a 125-day occupation of Parker Elementary School after the district closed it, and a State Department of Justice inquiry into claims that the plan continued a trend of discrimination against the district’s Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942027\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942027 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg\" alt=\"A group of protesters hold signs against school closures as they march on a city street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-800x599.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1020x763.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut-1536x1150.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS53519_20220204-IMG_2625-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Educators, parents, youth and supporters protest during a citywide rally at Oakland City Hall on Feb. 4, 2022. The rally was one of several events last year in support of the Reparations for Black Students campaign. \u003ccite>(Amaya Edwards/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The closures derailed the reparations effort to hold the school district accountable for improving the education of Black students. But the reversal, which was approved during a special meeting in January, has activists and community members cautiously optimistic about OUSD’s future. The action was made possible by newly elected board members who opposed the previous board’s decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">California Reparations Task Force\u003c/a> continues to study and develop proposals for the entire state, a look into Oakland’s effort reveals just how difficult reparations can be to implement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are now finally positioned to start doing things differently,” said Mike Hutchinson, the school board’s new president. “We have to embed this work in the district so it becomes a core part of what we do, and I think we are starting to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Luz Cázares, the current trustee, will have to sign off for the reversal to be permanent. The Alameda County Office of Education must also approve. \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/19/ousd-oakland-school-closures-hutchinson-alameda-county-castro/\">As \u003cem>The Oaklandside\u003c/em>’s Ashley McBride reported\u003c/a>, “the board’s decision could also threaten a separate influx of state cash the district was expecting as a result of closing schools.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, if the decision is confirmed by the state, it will save five elementary schools that serve predominantly students of color — Brookfield, Grass Valley, Horace Mann, Carl B. Munck, Fred T. Korematsu Discovery Academy and Hillcrest Elementary School, which would also continue to serve kindergarten through eighth grade. The majority of students at Grass Valley and Carl B. Munck are Black.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having the board make that decision as soon as it did has really given the system a breath of fresh air,” said Pecolia Manigo, chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force, the body created to implement the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Ongoing fight against systemic racism\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Jordan Rancifer was captivated by the stories of anti-Black racism in Oakland’s public schools that he heard in the Oakland High School auditorium in 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It piqued my interest because it’s like, damn, I’m not the only one having these racial experiences in OUSD,” he recalled in an interview with KQED.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The event was one of a series of community listening sessions held by the \u003ca href=\"https://www.oaklandkidsfirst.org/programs/j4os/\">Justice for Oakland Students coalition\u003c/a>. Students described being called racist slurs by peers. They said they felt ignored when they brought concerns to school administrators, and alienated by curricula that neglected Black experiences. Parents described years of limited enrollment in programs meant to support Black students and funding that always seemed to quickly run out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942014\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942014 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black man with a black hoodie and shoulder-length black twists looks at the camera while standing on a sidewalk in an urban street.\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62640_Jordan-Photo-2-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Jordan Rancifer poses for a photo on Grand Avenue in Oakland on April 15, 2022. Rancifer spoke at the listening sessions that led to the Reparations for Black Students resolution when he was a senior at Oakland Technical High School. Now he’s studying political science at Cal State East Bay. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Rancifer was then a senior struggling in math at Oakland Technical High School. He shared his experience in a room full of teachers, students and parents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I just didn’t feel like, as a Black man, I was being helped or noticed,” said Rancifer, now 23 and studying political science at Cal State East Bay. “They just kind of let me fail.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students accounted for \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Snapshot?:embed=y&:showAppBanner=false&:display_count=n&:showVizHome=n&:origin=viz_share_link\">20.5% of district enrollment\u003c/a> — roughly 10,000 out of 50,000 students — in the 2021–2022 academic year, according to OUSD’s dashboard. Two decades ago, Black students accounted for nearly half. Since then, the district has shuttered 16 majority Black schools, fracturing school communities and separating students from friends and familiar teachers. At the listening sessions, speakers said the closures contributed to the exodus of Black families from district schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The listening sessions laid the foundation for the reparations resolution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The resolution promised to address the declining enrollment and poor outcomes of Black students, and set its sights on ending the achievement gap, also called the opportunity gap, by 2026.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In September 2021, the district created the \u003ca href=\"https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PlZalR3MLPd6M4XK5_ORtdu8oK0d26Ox/view\">Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force\u003c/a>, a 25-member volunteer body to carry out the resolution. By that time, Rancifer was in college. His mother, Kampala Taiz-Rancifer, an Oakland teacher and vice president of the Oakland teachers union, became the task force secretary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The thing that makes me so excited about our work is being able to bring Black folks into a safe space, and for them to know that they’re not alone in their experiences and that other folks are experiencing the same thing, but that they can also come up with the solutions,” said Manigo, who is also executive director of the Bay Area Parent Leadership Action Network, an Oakland-based nonprofit that empowers parents to advocate for their children in public schools.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo and Hutchinson, things were going smoothly for months after the task force began its work. The volunteer group of Black parents, educators, district employees and community activists met regularly on Zoom, gathering virtually to view colorful slide decks put together by Manigo, mother of two OUSD students and one OUSD graduate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>OUSD receives special state funding for students from lower-income families and foster youth, many of whom are Black. The task force aims to track how OUSD invests that money.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Oakland has been trying to improve the outcomes for Black students for decades. OUSD founded the African American Male Achievement program in 2010 and what is now known as the African American Female Excellence program in 2015. Data shows the programs improved graduation rates and lowered rates of suspensions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the impact of other, more diffuse efforts like curriculum changes and diversifying staff is harder to trace. The task force set out to build a system to quantify the impact of district interventions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Being able to say whether something is effective or not effective, and whether it’s helping to close opportunity gaps or not … we knew that that was a big challenge,” said Manigo, who was unsuccessful in her bid for a school board seat in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>According to Manigo, the school closure plan, announced four months after the task force began its work, revealed that the district was unwilling “to understand the implications of the lived experience and wisdom that so many of us had been putting before them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The closure plan felt like a betrayal. “By saying reparations, there is an immediate demand to stop the harm,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942012\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-11942012 size-medium\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg\" alt=\"A Black woman with a purple top and short cropped hair smiles at the camera as she stands in a park.\" width=\"800\" height=\"596\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-800x596.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1020x760.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-160x119.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut-1536x1145.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62641_Manigo-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pecolia Manigo poses in Maxwell Park in Oakland on Aug. 25, 2022. Manigo is the chair of the Black Students and Families Thriving Task Force. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Instead of focusing on improving outcomes for Black students, conflict grew among members of the task force who found themselves on opposing sides of the closure debate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We are in a highly polarized political context and I think our minds are pretty trained to put a stake in the ground and not move from that,” said Dr. Dexter Moore Jr., the superintendent’s representative on the task force. “It put a wedge in the work. No question about it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last March, a report presented by Moore to the school board on behalf of the district superintendent showed that a year after the reparations resolution was passed, many of the worrying trends affecting Black students continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black students were being suspended at more than twice the district average, and more than half of Black students were chronically absent, which Moore attributed in part to the impact of a surge in COVID-19 cases at the time. Between the 2020–21 and 2021–22 school years, \u003ca href=\"https://dashboards.ousd.org/views/Enrollment/Historic?%3Aembed=y&%3AshowShareOptions=true&%3Adisplay_count=no&%3AshowVizHome=no&%3Arender=false#7\">Black student enrollment dropped by more than 400 students\u003c/a>, continuing the decades-long pattern of Black students leaving the district, according to OUSD data. Dr. Kyla Johnson-Trammell, district superintendent, instructed the task force to pause indefinitely.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force initially refused to stop holding meetings, but momentum waned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We went from 25 folks being able to meet in the very early days and having really great conversations looking over different indicators and putting metrics to those things, to then eventually 15, 16, 17, to slowly but surely many individuals just stepping back,” Manigo said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force stopped holding public meetings in April. Not enough members were regularly attending to have a quorum. Ten months later, meetings have yet to resume. But developments since the new year might signal a change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hutchinson has nominated board members Clifford Thompson and VanCedric Williams, co-author of the reparations resolution, to new positions as board liaisons to the task force. He hopes Thompson and Williams will help the task force rebuild its membership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942017\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11942017\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg\" alt='A Black man with clean shaven head and wearing a blue hoodie that reads \"Protect West Oakland Mural\" smiles at the camera with people in the background.' width=\"800\" height=\"589\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-800x589.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1020x751.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-160x118.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut-1536x1130.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62639_Hutchinson-qut.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mike Hutchinson, an outspoken opponent of school closures in Oakland, became the president of Oakland’s school board in January. \u003ccite>(Annelise Finney/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Manigo feels frustrated that so much time was lost fighting the district, especially in a year with a massive state budget surplus. Instead of galvanizing energy around petitioning the state for more funding for Oakland schools, Manigo said community organizers like her spent the year fighting with the district to keep schools open.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What was lost was the opportunity to really tell the Oakland story, to give lawmakers and the larger community hope that we really can create a district where all students are valued, where racially just schools are real,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That model could be important, because what Black students are up against in Oakland is similar to what Black students face throughout the state. \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">California remains the sixth most segregated state in the country for Black students (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to the interim report published by the state reparations task force in June. “In California’s highly segregated schools, schools attended by white and Asian children receive more funding and resources than schools with predominantly Black and Latino children,” the report says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s a reality with deep roots. \u003ca href=\"https://clerk.assembly.ca.gov/sites/clerk.assembly.ca.gov/files/archive/Statutes/1855/1855.PDF\">In 1855, California passed a law that withheld state funds from schools that taught Black and Chinese children (PDF).\u003c/a> Although California taxed Black residents to pay for public schools, the money was only used for the education of white children.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Systemic racism continues to affect Black students. According to statewide data, in 2021–2022 \u003ca href=\"http://www.ed-data.org/state/CA/ps_NTI5Mjg%5E?_gl=1*1dpu79i*_ga*MTI4MDk1MjYxOS4xNjc1NzEyMjg0*_ga_475QR6J62K*MTY3NTcxMjI4NC4xLjEuMTY3NTcxMzM5NC42MC4wLjA.\">only 30% of Black students met English language arts standards and less than 16% met the standard in math\u003c/a>, placing Black students behind all other racial groups.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2023–2024 budget attempted to address some of this inequity, but \u003ca href=\"https://edsource.org/2023/critics-say-newsoms-proposal-for-low-performing-students-fails-black-students/684148\">the budget proposal drew criticism\u003c/a> from advocates who say they want to see more funding and support specifically for Black students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What has played out in Oakland’s school district is not an anomaly when it comes to reparations, said Dr. Cheryl Grills, a state task force member.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s sometimes harder to implement things in the spirit in which they were intended than it is to get the win on the books,” said Grills, professor at Loyola Marymount University.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The state task force, which \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/meetings\">meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento\u003c/a>, is expected to publish its plan for repairing almost 200 years of anti-Black racism in the state in June. To address racial disparities in public education, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-agenda-consolidated-prelim-props.pdf\">preliminary policy proposals (PDF)\u003c/a> being considered include an increase in funding to schools through the local control funding formula, which determines how much money schools receive from the state. The preliminary proposals include repealing or amending Proposition 209, the 1996 ballot measure that prohibits state and local government affirmative action programs in the areas of public employment, public education and public contracting. “Proposition 209 is widely viewed as an impediment to the adoption of remedial measures,” the task force stated in the proposal document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>No part of a reparations plan will become law without the support of the governor and the state Legislature. Like the reparations push in Oakland, it will require consistent public pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There is a historic moment that could happen in California,” Manigo said. “And I believe that the time is now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"slug": "reparations-are-also-about-black-safety-and-that-means-taking-on-policing",
"title": "Reparations Are Also About Black Safety — and That Means Taking on Policing",
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"content": "\u003cp>[dropcap]T[/dropcap]yre Nichols was mercilessly beaten by Memphis police officers after a traffic stop last month — and it was his fault. That’s if you believe the five officers accused of killing Nichols, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the story officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157756023/memphis-tyre-nichols-police-officers-court-charges\">who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges on Feb. 17\u003c/a>, wanted the public to buy: Nichols, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article272243108.html\">lived in Sacramento\u003c/a> before moving to Memphis, was driving recklessly, a misdemeanor in Tennessee, before he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being forcibly removed from his car at gunpoint, he fled. The officers, then-part of an elite crime suppression unit, chased Nichols. They punched and kicked Nichols and struck him with a baton, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/tyre-nichols-arrest-videos.html\">justifying the violence in a false police report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The release of police and traffic camera footage revealed the glaring disparity that often exists between the police narrative and what actually occurs. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, wasn’t violent or aggressive, and he didn’t reach for an officer’s gun, as the initial report falsely asserted. So why did Nichols flee? In my bones, I know he was running to his mother’s house in search of what many police officers decline to provide Black people: safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America has been imperiled for four centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America is at the core of the California Reparations Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish more Californians were aware of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">the first statewide body to consider reparations for Black people\u003c/a>. The task force has presented an irrefutable examination of how systemic racism was woven into the fabric of America and California. I can think of at least 1,619 reasons why the work is largely unnoticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about it: After the unpaid workforce of millions was emancipated, laws were enacted to restrict economic and social mobility. The emancipated population was terrorized by white supremacists intent on preserving the racial hierarchy as promises of land, opportunity and security were abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t safe for Black people to look white people in the eye. It wasn’t safe for Black people to vote. It wasn’t safe for Black people to be in some towns after dark. It wasn’t safe for Black people to prosper. To maintain institutionalized social order, first it was the slave patrols, and now it’s the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label=\"Reparations in California\" link1=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations,Explore why California launched the first-in-the-nation task force to study reparations for Black people\" hero=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/2022/02/RiCLandingPageGraphic-1020x574.png\"]Racial terror swept this country for decades after emancipation as white mobs — some dressed in robes and hoods, some flashing badges and guns — destroyed homes, towns and lives. The racial segregation enforced in the South initiated the migration of Black people to states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than a year, the reparations task force, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-notice-agenda-03032023-03042023.pdf\">which meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento (PDF)\u003c/a>, has documented the unsavory truth about Black history — a history that is more than the cherry-picked sections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream speech. Honoring Black history must include the centuries of state-sanctioned violence that America willfully ignores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black history is American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After I watched the footage of Nichols being brutalized by the officers who immediately began constructing a false narrative as they gasped for air, I thought about Rodney King, the Black man who was savagely beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers in 1991, an assault recorded by an amateur videographer. The grainy footage of King writhing in pain as officers swung batons as if they were chopping sugarcane will stick in my mind forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about Delphine Allen, the Black man who, while walking in West Oakland in 2000, was kidnapped and assaulted by rogue Oakland police officers. His feet were struck with a baton before he was driven to a secluded highway overpass, where the beating continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was the lead plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit that alleged \u003ca href=\"https://clearinghouse.net/case/5541/\">misconduct and excessive use of force by four Oakland police officers\u003c/a> — and a lack of discipline and accountability for officer misconduct within the Oakland Police Department. More than 100 residents alleged mistreatment — brutal beatings, unlawful detention, intimidation — in the lawsuit that led to the federal monitoring of the OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quartet of officers known as “The Riders” rampaged West Oakland, an area once patrolled by the Black Panthers \u003cem>because of\u003c/em> police brutality, after sunset. An enduring vestige of enslavement is the over-policing of Black neighborhoods. As part of the $11 million settlement with the plaintiffs in 2003, the police department was forced to comply with court-ordered reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost two decades after the settlement, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/02/15/oakland-police-chief-leronne-armstrong-fired-mayor-sheng-thao/\">LeRonne Armstrong, OPD’s police chief, was fired on Feb. 15\u003c/a>, in part, because of an independent report that detailed the police department’s mishandling of officer misconduct — the kind of violation that led to federal monitoring in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942048\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942048\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A bald Black man in a blue police uniform stands outside in the sun holding a microphone and squinting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, pictured at a 2021 NAACP event paying tribute to George Floyd, was fired by Mayor Sheng Thao on Feb. 15. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, I interviewed Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston, co-authors of \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/13/oakland-police-darwin-bondgraham-riders-ali-winston-book-opd/\">\u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/uncovering-brutality-cover-and-corruption-oakland\">Commonwealth Club of California event\u003c/a>. In the book, BondGraham, news editor for The Oaklandside, and Winston, an independent journalist, present a riveting and profound portrait of out-of-control policing in Oakland. \u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night\u003c/em> is a compelling argument for why the police can’t be trusted with reforming the institution of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, OPD cycled through three police chiefs in eight days, an infamous stretch initiated by another misconduct scandal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11080955/alameda-county-da-charges-7-cops-with-sexually-exploiting-teenager\">sex-trafficking of a minor by Oakland police officers and officers from multiple Bay Area jurisdictions\u003c/a>. The same year, two officers were suspended because of a racist text scandal. In 2021, nine officers were disciplined for racist and sexist social media posts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what led to the firing of Armstrong, who is from West Oakland and became chief two years ago this month: In 2021, an OPD sergeant driving a police vehicle hit a parked car in the garage of his San Francisco apartment building. The driver, Sgt. Michael Chung, who was instrumental in OPD’s response to crime in Chinatown, didn’t report the accident. In 2022, Chung fired his gun in an elevator at police headquarters. Again, no report was filed. An investigation by a law firm found that an OPD captain had Chung’s violations reduced so his punishment was less severe. According to the investigators with Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP, Armstrong was aware of the light discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Jan. 18, the federal judge monitoring OPD’s reform efforts made the report by Clarence Dyer & Cohen public. The investigation “revealed systemic failures far larger and more serious than the actions of one police officer,” the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/OPD-IA-cases-NSA-compliance-report.pdf\">blistering report (PDF)\u003c/a> concluded. The next day Armstrong was placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when he should’ve copped a plea and said, “My bad, y’all.” Instead, he campaigned for his job at a rally on the steps of Oakland City Hall. The NAACP held another rally on Feb. 20. I called Terry Wiley, the former Alameda County prosecutor who is handling press around the firing for the NAACP. Wiley told me that Armstrong had made the kind of progress people of color want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile shot of a group of roughly 10 people, most of them Black, listening while a woman in the middle claps her hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members listen to speakers during a rally in support of terminated Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong at City Hall on Feb. 16. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you look at the balance of all of the positives he has brought to the department as the chief, the question becomes, was this incident such that he should be terminated?” said Wiley, who lost the November election for district attorney to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940920/when-da-boudin-investigated-police-killings-arrests-slowed-that-may-not-happen-with-da-pamela-price\">progressive Pamela Price\u003c/a>. “Our conclusion was that the mayor went too far on this, and that there should have been much more contemplation about the decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement released by Sam Singer, a crisis manager, shortly after Armstrong was terminated, Armstrong referred to himself as a “loyal and effective reformer.” But reform isn’t possible without zero tolerance for misconduct, and the failure to issue appropriate discipline is inexcusable, especially for someone who pledges loyalty to reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are incapable of policing the police. Just look around the Bay Area. In Vallejo, a city that blithely dodges police scrutiny, \u003ca href=\"https://openvallejo.org/2023/02/05/vallejo-destroyed-evidence-of-police-killings/\">the city destroyed evidence in multiple police killings\u003c/a> despite being under investigation by the state attorney general, according to reporting by Open Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/09/10/exclusive-fbi-criminal-investigation-of-antioch-pittsburg-cops-grows-grand-jury-convening/\">Officers in Antioch and Pittsburg are under investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney\u003c/a> for fraud and civil rights violations, and federal prosecutors have already dismissed more than a dozen cases that hinged on officer testimony, according to \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>. And in Berkeley, the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932420/berkeley-postpones-hiring-of-new-police-chief-amid-controversy-over-another-officers-alleged-racist-texts\">former police union head allegedly sent racist, anti-unhoused text messages\u003c/a> to officers while pushing for more arrests, as multiple newsrooms, including KQED, reported in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Wesley Lowery, journalist, author and contributing editor to The Marshall Project\"]‘What type of resources are we pouring into communities if our aim is to cut down on crime? Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?’[/pullquote]In January, the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board published a report that found that \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ripa-board-report-2023.pdf\">police searched Black people at twice the rate of white people in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>. And get this: Officers were more likely to find contraband on white people than Black and Latino people, according to the report, which also found that police were twice as likely to use force against Black people than white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/data-reveals-racial-disparities-police-stops-bay-17763091.php\">Black people were six times as likely to be stopped in Oakland than white people\u003c/a>, according to the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s analysis of the police-stop data recently released by the state attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, Black people were at least five times as likely to be stopped than white people. This is a city where officers accused of, among other infractions, sexual misconduct, domestic violence and sharing racist and antisemitic texts work desk duty in a windowless room while raking in millions collectively, according to the San Francisco Standard’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/cop-used-drugs-had-car-sex-with-a-teenager-then-sf-spent-1-2m-to-keep-him-on-desk-duty/\">three-part series on police accountability\u003c/a>. This is the city where \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/jenkins-police-investigate-17782463.php\">the law-and-order district attorney gutted the unit that investigates police misconduct and violence\u003c/a>, according to reporting by the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892172/wesley-lowery-on-americas-elusive-racial-reckoning\">episode of Forum\u003c/a>, Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, talked with host Mina Kim about “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-death-memphis-george-floyd-police-reform/672986/\">Why There Was No Racial Reckoning\u003c/a>,” a piece he wrote for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked nationwide uprisings not seen since 1967. Floyd’s death was supposed to also spark a reimagining of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, hasn’t happened. Instead, the backlash against protests that demanded more funding for social services has empowered cities to continue criminalizing poverty. Posturing by police and politicians isn’t going to provide relief for families who have been living in poverty for generations. The police are trained in coercion, which renders their skills insufficient to respond to the circumstances which allow criminal activity to flourish: disinvestment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What type of resources are we pouring into those communities if our aim is to cut down on crime?” Lowery said on Forum. “Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[aside label='Reparations Coverage' tag='california-reparations']In July, the task force will deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. But reparations are more than compensation. Last summer, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> with recommendations to address, among other things, the unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are the gatekeepers of that system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preliminary report suggests reducing “the scope of law enforcement jurisdiction within the public safety system” and shifting “more funding for prevention and mental health care.” The report also calls for the elimination of “discriminatory policing and particularly killings, use of force and racial profiling” of Black people; the elimination of racial disparities in police stops; and the elimination of over-policing of predominantly Black communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But to get to that place, it’s guaranteed to be a bumpy journey. Make sure you buckle up for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "California's reparations task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But when police can't be trusted to reform policing — with the ouster of OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong and the killing of Tyre Nichols as just the latest examples — it's going to be a bumpy journey.",
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"title": "Reparations Are Also About Black Safety — and That Means Taking on Policing | KQED",
"description": "California's reparations task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But when police can't be trusted to reform policing — with the ouster of OPD Chief LeRonne Armstrong and the killing of Tyre Nichols as just the latest examples — it's going to be a bumpy journey.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class=\"utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__dropcapShortcode__dropcap\">T\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>yre Nichols was mercilessly beaten by Memphis police officers after a traffic stop last month — and it was his fault. That’s if you believe the five officers accused of killing Nichols, of course.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the story officers, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2023/02/17/1157756023/memphis-tyre-nichols-police-officers-court-charges\">who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges on Feb. 17\u003c/a>, wanted the public to buy: Nichols, who \u003ca href=\"https://www.sacbee.com/news/equity-lab/article272243108.html\">lived in Sacramento\u003c/a> before moving to Memphis, was driving recklessly, a misdemeanor in Tennessee, before he was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After being forcibly removed from his car at gunpoint, he fled. The officers, then-part of an elite crime suppression unit, chased Nichols. They punched and kicked Nichols and struck him with a baton, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/us/tyre-nichols-arrest-videos.html\">justifying the violence in a false police report\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The release of police and traffic camera footage revealed the glaring disparity that often exists between the police narrative and what actually occurs. Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man, wasn’t violent or aggressive, and he didn’t reach for an officer’s gun, as the initial report falsely asserted. So why did Nichols flee? In my bones, I know he was running to his mother’s house in search of what many police officers decline to provide Black people: safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America has been imperiled for four centuries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The safety of Black people in America is at the core of the California Reparations Task Force.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I wish more Californians were aware of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/reparations\">the first statewide body to consider reparations for Black people\u003c/a>. The task force has presented an irrefutable examination of how systemic racism was woven into the fabric of America and California. I can think of at least 1,619 reasons why the work is largely unnoticed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Think about it: After the unpaid workforce of millions was emancipated, laws were enacted to restrict economic and social mobility. The emancipated population was terrorized by white supremacists intent on preserving the racial hierarchy as promises of land, opportunity and security were abandoned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It wasn’t safe for Black people to look white people in the eye. It wasn’t safe for Black people to vote. It wasn’t safe for Black people to be in some towns after dark. It wasn’t safe for Black people to prosper. To maintain institutionalized social order, first it was the slave patrols, and now it’s the police.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Racial terror swept this country for decades after emancipation as white mobs — some dressed in robes and hoods, some flashing badges and guns — destroyed homes, towns and lives. The racial segregation enforced in the South initiated the migration of Black people to states like California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For more than a year, the reparations task force, \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/task-force-notice-agenda-03032023-03042023.pdf\">which meets Friday and Saturday in Sacramento (PDF)\u003c/a>, has documented the unsavory truth about Black history — a history that is more than the cherry-picked sections of Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream speech. Honoring Black history must include the centuries of state-sanctioned violence that America willfully ignores.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Black history is American history.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After I watched the footage of Nichols being brutalized by the officers who immediately began constructing a false narrative as they gasped for air, I thought about Rodney King, the Black man who was savagely beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers in 1991, an assault recorded by an amateur videographer. The grainy footage of King writhing in pain as officers swung batons as if they were chopping sugarcane will stick in my mind forever.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I thought about Delphine Allen, the Black man who, while walking in West Oakland in 2000, was kidnapped and assaulted by rogue Oakland police officers. His feet were struck with a baton before he was driven to a secluded highway overpass, where the beating continued.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Allen was the lead plaintiff in a civil rights lawsuit that alleged \u003ca href=\"https://clearinghouse.net/case/5541/\">misconduct and excessive use of force by four Oakland police officers\u003c/a> — and a lack of discipline and accountability for officer misconduct within the Oakland Police Department. More than 100 residents alleged mistreatment — brutal beatings, unlawful detention, intimidation — in the lawsuit that led to the federal monitoring of the OPD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The quartet of officers known as “The Riders” rampaged West Oakland, an area once patrolled by the Black Panthers \u003cem>because of\u003c/em> police brutality, after sunset. An enduring vestige of enslavement is the over-policing of Black neighborhoods. As part of the $11 million settlement with the plaintiffs in 2003, the police department was forced to comply with court-ordered reforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost two decades after the settlement, \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/02/15/oakland-police-chief-leronne-armstrong-fired-mayor-sheng-thao/\">LeRonne Armstrong, OPD’s police chief, was fired on Feb. 15\u003c/a>, in part, because of an independent report that detailed the police department’s mishandling of officer misconduct — the kind of violation that led to federal monitoring in the first place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942048\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942048\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A bald Black man in a blue police uniform stands outside in the sun holding a microphone and squinting\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1020x679.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS49478_044_Oakland_NAACPGeorgeFloyd_05252021-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong, pictured at a 2021 NAACP event paying tribute to George Floyd, was fired by Mayor Sheng Thao on Feb. 15. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Last month, I interviewed Darwin BondGraham and Ali Winston, co-authors of \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/13/oakland-police-darwin-bondgraham-riders-ali-winston-book-opd/\">\u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night: Brutality, Corruption, and Cover-Up in Oakland\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, as part of a \u003ca href=\"https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/video/uncovering-brutality-cover-and-corruption-oakland\">Commonwealth Club of California event\u003c/a>. In the book, BondGraham, news editor for The Oaklandside, and Winston, an independent journalist, present a riveting and profound portrait of out-of-control policing in Oakland. \u003cem>The Riders Come Out at Night\u003c/em> is a compelling argument for why the police can’t be trusted with reforming the institution of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2016, OPD cycled through three police chiefs in eight days, an infamous stretch initiated by another misconduct scandal, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11080955/alameda-county-da-charges-7-cops-with-sexually-exploiting-teenager\">sex-trafficking of a minor by Oakland police officers and officers from multiple Bay Area jurisdictions\u003c/a>. The same year, two officers were suspended because of a racist text scandal. In 2021, nine officers were disciplined for racist and sexist social media posts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s what led to the firing of Armstrong, who is from West Oakland and became chief two years ago this month: In 2021, an OPD sergeant driving a police vehicle hit a parked car in the garage of his San Francisco apartment building. The driver, Sgt. Michael Chung, who was instrumental in OPD’s response to crime in Chinatown, didn’t report the accident. In 2022, Chung fired his gun in an elevator at police headquarters. Again, no report was filed. An investigation by a law firm found that an OPD captain had Chung’s violations reduced so his punishment was less severe. According to the investigators with Clarence Dyer & Cohen LLP, Armstrong was aware of the light discipline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Jan. 18, the federal judge monitoring OPD’s reform efforts made the report by Clarence Dyer & Cohen public. The investigation “revealed systemic failures far larger and more serious than the actions of one police officer,” the \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/OPD-IA-cases-NSA-compliance-report.pdf\">blistering report (PDF)\u003c/a> concluded. The next day Armstrong was placed on paid administrative leave.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s when he should’ve copped a plea and said, “My bad, y’all.” Instead, he campaigned for his job at a rally on the steps of Oakland City Hall. The NAACP held another rally on Feb. 20. I called Terry Wiley, the former Alameda County prosecutor who is handling press around the firing for the NAACP. Wiley told me that Armstrong had made the kind of progress people of color want to see.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11942080\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11942080\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A profile shot of a group of roughly 10 people, most of them Black, listening while a woman in the middle claps her hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1291\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-800x538.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1020x686.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS63165_GettyImages-1466897640-qut-1536x1033.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Community members listen to speakers during a rally in support of terminated Oakland police Chief LeRonne Armstrong at City Hall on Feb. 16. \u003ccite>(Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“When you look at the balance of all of the positives he has brought to the department as the chief, the question becomes, was this incident such that he should be terminated?” said Wiley, who lost the November election for district attorney to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11940920/when-da-boudin-investigated-police-killings-arrests-slowed-that-may-not-happen-with-da-pamela-price\">progressive Pamela Price\u003c/a>. “Our conclusion was that the mayor went too far on this, and that there should have been much more contemplation about the decision.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a statement released by Sam Singer, a crisis manager, shortly after Armstrong was terminated, Armstrong referred to himself as a “loyal and effective reformer.” But reform isn’t possible without zero tolerance for misconduct, and the failure to issue appropriate discipline is inexcusable, especially for someone who pledges loyalty to reform.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are incapable of policing the police. Just look around the Bay Area. In Vallejo, a city that blithely dodges police scrutiny, \u003ca href=\"https://openvallejo.org/2023/02/05/vallejo-destroyed-evidence-of-police-killings/\">the city destroyed evidence in multiple police killings\u003c/a> despite being under investigation by the state attorney general, according to reporting by Open Vallejo.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/09/10/exclusive-fbi-criminal-investigation-of-antioch-pittsburg-cops-grows-grand-jury-convening/\">Officers in Antioch and Pittsburg are under investigation by the FBI and the Contra Costa district attorney\u003c/a> for fraud and civil rights violations, and federal prosecutors have already dismissed more than a dozen cases that hinged on officer testimony, according to \u003cem>The Mercury News\u003c/em>. And in Berkeley, the city’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11932420/berkeley-postpones-hiring-of-new-police-chief-amid-controversy-over-another-officers-alleged-racist-texts\">former police union head allegedly sent racist, anti-unhoused text messages\u003c/a> to officers while pushing for more arrests, as multiple newsrooms, including KQED, reported in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In January, the California Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board published a report that found that \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ripa-board-report-2023.pdf\">police searched Black people at twice the rate of white people in 2021 (PDF)\u003c/a>. And get this: Officers were more likely to find contraband on white people than Black and Latino people, according to the report, which also found that police were twice as likely to use force against Black people than white people.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2021, \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/data-reveals-racial-disparities-police-stops-bay-17763091.php\">Black people were six times as likely to be stopped in Oakland than white people\u003c/a>, according to the\u003cem> San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>’s analysis of the police-stop data recently released by the state attorney general.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In San Francisco, Black people were at least five times as likely to be stopped than white people. This is a city where officers accused of, among other infractions, sexual misconduct, domestic violence and sharing racist and antisemitic texts work desk duty in a windowless room while raking in millions collectively, according to the San Francisco Standard’s \u003ca href=\"https://sfstandard.com/criminal-justice/cop-used-drugs-had-car-sex-with-a-teenager-then-sf-spent-1-2m-to-keep-him-on-desk-duty/\">three-part series on police accountability\u003c/a>. This is the city where \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/jenkins-police-investigate-17782463.php\">the law-and-order district attorney gutted the unit that investigates police misconduct and violence\u003c/a>, according to reporting by the \u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On a recent \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101892172/wesley-lowery-on-americas-elusive-racial-reckoning\">episode of Forum\u003c/a>, Wesley Lowery, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, talked with host Mina Kim about “\u003ca href=\"https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/02/tyre-nichols-death-memphis-george-floyd-police-reform/672986/\">Why There Was No Racial Reckoning\u003c/a>,” a piece he wrote for \u003cem>The Atlantic\u003c/em>. George Floyd’s murder by police in Minneapolis in May 2020 sparked nationwide uprisings not seen since 1967. Floyd’s death was supposed to also spark a reimagining of policing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That, of course, hasn’t happened. Instead, the backlash against protests that demanded more funding for social services has empowered cities to continue criminalizing poverty. Posturing by police and politicians isn’t going to provide relief for families who have been living in poverty for generations. The police are trained in coercion, which renders their skills insufficient to respond to the circumstances which allow criminal activity to flourish: disinvestment.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“What type of resources are we pouring into those communities if our aim is to cut down on crime?” Lowery said on Forum. “Is the resource we’re sending in a bunch of armed guys told to rough people up?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In July, the task force will deliver reparations recommendations, which are expected to include direct payments to eligible Black Californians. But reparations are more than compensation. Last summer, the task force \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/media/ab3121-interim-report-preliminary-recommendations-2022.pdf\">released a preliminary report (PDF)\u003c/a> with recommendations to address, among other things, the unjust legal system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The police are the gatekeepers of that system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The preliminary report suggests reducing “the scope of law enforcement jurisdiction within the public safety system” and shifting “more funding for prevention and mental health care.” The report also calls for the elimination of “discriminatory policing and particularly killings, use of force and racial profiling” of Black people; the elimination of racial disparities in police stops; and the elimination of over-policing of predominantly Black communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The task force could pave the road to viable racial equity in America. But to get to that place, it’s guaranteed to be a bumpy journey. Make sure you buckle up for safety.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>California public schools could soon all be equipped with an all-gender restroom for students during the school day, if \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB760\">a state bill introduced this month\u003c/a> passes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The proposal marks a stark contrast to the 16 anti-transgender bathroom bills that are currently in the legislative process in states such as Idaho and Arkansas, where lawmakers are looking to restrict students to using only the bathroom consistent with their assigned sex at birth.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton)\"]'To me, this is less about education than just fair treatment and decency.'[/pullquote]Supporters of California’s bathroom bill, SB 760, say the all-student restroom option will help provide a safe and private bathroom to any kid, regardless of their gender identity. And several California school districts are already ahead of the curve.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was necessary that we find a legislative fix to standardize access to bathrooms across California and solve this problem not just for current students having these challenges, but future students as well,” said Sen. Josh Newman (D-Fullerton), who authored the bill. “To me, this is less about education than just fair treatment and decency.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in January 2025, the bill would require each California school district to provide at least one all-gender restroom for students to use at every school campus. The restroom would have to meet the same requirements that school bathrooms already must follow, such as regular maintenance, cleaning, stocked toilet paper and soap, and it must be unlocked and accessible during school hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They would also need signage indicating that the restroom is open to all students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many schools, it could be a matter of simply repurposing an existing single-stall restroom to fulfill the requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941782\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11941782\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-800x613.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a dark suit and green tie with round glasses and Gov. Gavin Newsom behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-800x613.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-160x123.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470.jpg 832w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Senator Josh Newman on Oct. 27, 2022, in Fullerton. \u003ccite>(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s the approach Oakland Unified School District took in 2017 when administrators there decided to open all-student bathrooms at every school site, after the passage of the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1732\">California Equal Restroom Act\u003c/a>. Under that law, all California businesses must make single-occupancy restrooms open to all genders and identifiable with signage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We converted at all K–12 school sites an existing single-stall staff bathroom to a single-stall all-gender student bathroom. It was a process of a few months. It didn't take that long once it started,” said Ilsa Bertolini, coordinator for health education at OUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to the bathroom update, nonbinary students would have to visit the office or ask for a key to a staff bathroom, a common story at many schools that lack inclusive bathroom access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many LGBTQ advocates say it’s an unnecessary hurdle that can turn an everyday need — going to the bathroom — into a traumatizing experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn't want to have that barrier, and it's a privacy issue,” Bertolini said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/YouthReport-California-Final.pdf\">43% of transgender and nonbinary students said they are never allowed to use a bathroom, or locker room, that matches their gender identity (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to a 2018 study from the Human Rights Campaign. Of that group, more than half of students said they don’t feel safe using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, and 12% were told by teachers or administrators not to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We unfortunately have heard really terrible reports from students who do not feel comfortable using the restroom at school. They will deny themselves food or water, skip school to use the bathroom at home or leave the school campus. And those are not the outcomes we want,” said Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel with the Human Rights Campaign. “We want young folks to be able to focus on their education without being hungry, thirsty or riddled with anxiety about what will happen when they use the restroom.”[aside postID=news_11936552 hero='https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/01/122622-Eli-Erlick-TH-01-CM-1020x680.jpg']Nearly 50% of LGBTQ youth in California reported they have been teased or bullied because of their actual or perceived gender identity or sexuality, according to the 2018 HRC report.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Avoiding the restroom can lead to a variety of issues, such as physical pain or infection, accidents, or kids choosing to stay home from school or leave campus to go to the bathroom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Kena Hazelwood remembers being a queer student in San Francisco Unified School District before there was an effort to provide more inclusive restrooms and other support programs for LGBTQ students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I was a queer student in SFUSD, having a space to go to and explore questions would have been crucial. But those didn’t exist when I was in school,” said Hazelwood, who now leads LGBTQ student services for the district. “We are now creating spaces that resonate for more students. We aren’t telling kids to choose an identity, we are telling them these are spaces where you can feel safe and seen.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, 1 in 5 students in the district identifies as LGBTQ, according to Hazelwood, including about 2% who identify as nonbinary or transgender at the high school level. Nearly 77% of all LGBTQ students in the district also identify as people of color.[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\" citation=\"Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel, Human Rights Campaign\"]'We want young folks to be able to focus on their education without being hungry, thirsty or riddled with anxiety about what will happen when they use the restroom.'[/pullquote]In SFUSD, district leaders began a similar effort to open at least one single-stall all-gender bathroom at each school site back in 2016. But it’s taken some time, and money, to implement the change across the entire district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The bill, which is subject to change as it moves through the lawmaking process, states that reimbursement for any construction costs necessary to meet the mandate would be provided by the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“For our older schools, it might mean changing the locking mechanism so students don’t have to ask for keys. Or the height of the stall to make sure it’s private for anybody,” said Hazelwood. “This legislation has potential to provide funding. That’s been a barrier to enacting this across all our schools as quickly as we like. If the funding is attached, we can live up to this promise.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Addressing students’ toilet needs is not just about changing locks and signs, Hazelwood said, but making sure students and staff alike understand why different options exist.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s easy to focus on the physical nature of these restrooms, but that’s only part of it. We have to change our community and culture so people know why it’s important,” Hazelwood said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In Oakland Unified, leaders of school sites determined which restrooms would be repurposed for students. Then, Bertolini helped train custodial and grounds staff on why the restroom was changing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We spent two hours with small groups of custodians to talk about how we support our LGBTQ students and different identities students have, including nonbinary, which is a gender option in California and public school districts when you register students,” Bertolini said. “So, we were not providing a bathroom for our nonbinary students, and we are now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Starting in January 2025, the bill would require each California school district to provide at least one all-gender restroom for students to use at every school campus. The restroom would have to meet the same requirements that school bathrooms already must follow, such as regular maintenance, cleaning, stocked toilet paper and soap, and it must be unlocked and accessible during school hours.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They would also need signage indicating that the restroom is open to all students.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For many schools, it could be a matter of simply repurposing an existing single-stall restroom to fulfill the requirement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941782\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-11941782\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-800x613.jpg\" alt=\"A white man in a dark suit and green tie with round glasses and Gov. Gavin Newsom behind him.\" width=\"800\" height=\"613\" srcset=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-800x613.jpg 800w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470-160x123.jpg 160w, https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/GettyImages-1244280434-e1677270108470.jpg 832w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">State Senator Josh Newman on Oct. 27, 2022, in Fullerton. \u003ccite>(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>That’s the approach Oakland Unified School District took in 2017 when administrators there decided to open all-student bathrooms at every school site, after the passage of the \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1732\">California Equal Restroom Act\u003c/a>. Under that law, all California businesses must make single-occupancy restrooms open to all genders and identifiable with signage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We converted at all K–12 school sites an existing single-stall staff bathroom to a single-stall all-gender student bathroom. It was a process of a few months. It didn't take that long once it started,” said Ilsa Bertolini, coordinator for health education at OUSD.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Prior to the bathroom update, nonbinary students would have to visit the office or ask for a key to a staff bathroom, a common story at many schools that lack inclusive bathroom access.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many LGBTQ advocates say it’s an unnecessary hurdle that can turn an everyday need — going to the bathroom — into a traumatizing experience.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We didn't want to have that barrier, and it's a privacy issue,” Bertolini said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>About \u003ca href=\"https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/YouthReport-California-Final.pdf\">43% of transgender and nonbinary students said they are never allowed to use a bathroom, or locker room, that matches their gender identity (PDF)\u003c/a>, according to a 2018 study from the Human Rights Campaign. Of that group, more than half of students said they don’t feel safe using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity, and 12% were told by teachers or administrators not to.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We unfortunately have heard really terrible reports from students who do not feel comfortable using the restroom at school. They will deny themselves food or water, skip school to use the bathroom at home or leave the school campus. And those are not the outcomes we want,” said Cathryn Oakley, state legislative director and senior counsel with the Human Rights Campaign. “We want young folks to be able to focus on their education without being hungry, thirsty or riddled with anxiety about what will happen when they use the restroom.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>The Oakland Technical High School girls varsity basketball team \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKThdSuEB-s\">can ball\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a stretch to imagine that the Bulldogs — two-time defending state champions (2019 and 2022) — might have three or four trophies already, had much of the country not shut down two days before their scheduled championship game in March 2020; or had their 2021 season not been canceled altogether due to COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team’s success has even garnered the attention of local sports legends. They’re regularly visited by football great and \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/24/oakland-tech-high-school-honors-inaugural-sports-hall-of-fame/\">Oakland Tech alum Marshawn Lynch\u003c/a>. The Warriors’ Klay Thompson made an appearance at the team’s ring ceremony last summer, and his teammate \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KQEDnews/status/1626666615315238912\">Steph Curry sent the team a personal video message of congratulations\u003c/a> late last year for their championship banner ceremony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, they’re on a quest to three-peat with another state title. For sports fans still lamenting the Warriors and Raiders leaving Oakland, this high school team is showing that there’s still plenty to be excited about.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The best team I’ve ever had’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“If we make shots, we can beat anybody,” LeRoy Hurt, the team’s head coach, said. “But if we’re missing shots — and it happens — anybody can beat us. We just got to maintain our composure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941162\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Perspective courtside photo of a coach wearing a purple shirt sitting next to six or seven high school girl basketball players wearing white jerseys\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech coach LeRoy Hurt and members of the team’s starting squad watch during the Bulldogs’ final home game on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Maintaining composure, as well as good sportsmanship, are two of the team’s core values under Hurt — an Oakland Tech alum who’s been coaching the team since 2015. He led the team to an undefeated regular season in the Oakland Athletic League this year — the Bulldogs are 23-5 overall, including non-league games. On Feb. 10 at the team’s final home game, he \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CoachMiaFisher/status/1624918505870204928?s=20\">notched his 150th win as head coach\u003c/a>. Next up, they’re preparing for the local Oakland Athletic League playoffs, which is the first hurdle they need to clear in the journey to the state championships in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the best team I’ve ever had,” Hurt said from the sidelines of that final home game. “It’s a fantastic group.”[pullquote size=\"medium\" align=\"right\" citation=\"Jasmine Braggs, Bulldogs assistant coach\"]‘These young ladies are \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. Come see these girls. Just come see them. On our leisure, let’s not go to the hookah lounge. Let’s be like ‘Aye, let’s catch a game at Oakland Tech because I heard they were good.’ ‘[/pullquote]The group includes \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/rbF1qB7X2So\">six graduating seniors\u003c/a> who were feted during the team’s “Senior Night” celebration on Feb. 10: co-team captains and point guards Marisela Somvichian and Erin Sellers, center Sophia Askew-Gonçalves, plus guards Nia Hunter, Jada Williams and Jala Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The celebration was a glimpse of the kind of love the team receives and the community it’s built as it racks up achievements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two broadly smiling teenage girls, one shorter, Asian, with dark hair, one taller, Black, with blonde braids, stand in the middle of a basketball court holding flowers surrounded by friends and family. Children behind the girl in the center hold a homemade sign reading 'Big Soph!'\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech seniors Marisela Somvichian (left) and Sophia Askew-Gonçalves (center) celebrate during the team’s ‘senior night’ and final home game of the season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re all super supportive and they’re all very, very involved,” Anne Omura, Somvichian’s mother, said of the team’s family members — many of whom brought homemade posters, t-shirts and pom-poms to the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1-2-3, Bulldogs! 4-5-6, Family!\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Somvichian, who has been playing basketball since the second grade, said one of the keys to the team’s success is their team spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very, very energetic,” she said. “And I think the main thing is that outside of basketball, we all get along and we all connect. So on the court, our energy is just way better because we have that connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nia Hunter underlined that connection. “We’ve really built a family,” she said. “I honestly can say those girls in that gym are my second family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fitting, then, that the team’s cheer before every game is “1-2-3, Bulldogs! 4-5-6, Family!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941166\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941166\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a row of smiling, mostly Black teenage basketball players wearing white jerseys courtside, smiling and signaling with their hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the Oakland Tech Bulldogs girls’ basketball team, from left: Erin Sellers, Marisela Somvichian, Sophia Askew-Gonçalves, Jordan Taylor, Terri’a Russell, Zhanea Clemons, Sarai White, Tiana Grace, Jhai Johnson and Marticia Pollard pose for a photo on the sideline during the final home game of the regular season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Bulldogs family has done well embracing its newcomers, too. Terri’a Russell, a 6-foot freshman who began playing basketball in the fourth grade, feels right at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love it very much,” she said. “I love our team captains. I feel like their leadership is A-One.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell, along with 6-foot-3 freshman Jhai Johnson, are considered ones to watch in high school basketball circles. Johnson, daughter of Oakland Tech alum and 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson, made an impressive showing this year as the only female participant in the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Caballaz2005/status/1612138532214276097?s=20&t=ItpHePV3dNQadC4FcEfyeQ\">Oakland Athletic League dunk contest\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when the team is winning handily — it’s not uncommon to see the Bulldogs score upwards of 40 points before the other team gets a basket — Russell said the team mentality is to stay bullish while also exhibiting good sportsmanship. “We still play as if the score is 0–0. And say the other team falls down, pick ’em up, you know. Because [one day] we could be on the other end of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941168\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Action shot of two basketball players, one taller wearing a white jersey preparing to pass the ball, one shorter in a green jersey trying to block her. The scoreboard can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech’s Terri’a Russell passes the ball during the team’s final home game of the regular season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The sportsmanship the team practices and the Bulldogs family they’ve cultivated take on more significance in the face of personal losses some players have experienced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some girls lost their sisters, lost their parents, lost people to gun violence and all these different things,” Jasmine Braggs, assistant coach for the team, said. “So if they play sports as their outlet, and there’s joy there, and they’re also doing good in it, and then also being recognized: that gives you motivation. That says, ‘I mean something and somebody notices me.’ Because sometimes our girls — and our youth in general — go unnoticed so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling the gap in Oakland sports stories\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the Warriors- and Raiders-sized holes in the Oakland sports scene, and the future of the A’s hanging in the balance, it can be easy to say there’s not much sports action going on in the East Bay — with men’s sports, anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These young ladies are good,” Braggs, a former basketball player and Oakland Tech alum, emphasized. “They’re not dribble, dribble, step, shoot. They’re like, between the legs, \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/az-jkaX-foQ?t=14\">hezzy\u003c/a> – like, they’re all those things. And we have to acknowledge that because it’s so easy to slip through the cracks and say, ‘Oh, Oakland’s not doing nothing.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black girl wearing a white jersey soars through the air with a basketball as defenders wearing green jerseys surround her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech senior Nia Hunter takes a shot during the Bulldogs’ final home game of the regular season. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the Lady Bulldogs build a dynasty, efforts to bring a WNBA team to Oakland are also heating up. Oakland Tech’s own athletic director, Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson — who led Tech’s girls basketball team to its first two state championships in ‘04 and ‘05 and later played in the WNBA — has become a front woman for the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, the reality is that women’s and girl’s sports still don’t garner the respect or media coverage they deserve. Among U.S. sports fans, 79% say they don’t actively follow women’s sports, according to a recent study. It’s why Braggs is passionate about putting out the call to witness this girls varsity team in action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Come see these girls. Just come see them,” Braggs encouraged. “On our leisure, let’s not go to the hookah lounge. Let’s be like ‘Aye, let’s catch a game at Oakland Tech because I heard they were good.’ You know what I mean? Even just showing up in whatever school — if that’s Fremont [High School] or Oakland High.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Co-team captain Erin Sellers said she’s excited to have the support and appreciation of fans — from Steph Curry to classmates — even though it brings added pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re doing a pretty good job of carrying it,” she said. “The only thing that’s left is to win the championship this year. So that’s what we tryin’ to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First stop: the Oakland Athletic League playoffs, which tip off the week of Feb. 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>The Oakland Technical High School girls varsity basketball team \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKThdSuEB-s\">can ball\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not a stretch to imagine that the Bulldogs — two-time defending state champions (2019 and 2022) — might have three or four trophies already, had much of the country not shut down two days before their scheduled championship game in March 2020; or had their 2021 season not been canceled altogether due to COVID.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The team’s success has even garnered the attention of local sports legends. They’re regularly visited by football great and \u003ca href=\"https://oaklandside.org/2023/01/24/oakland-tech-high-school-honors-inaugural-sports-hall-of-fame/\">Oakland Tech alum Marshawn Lynch\u003c/a>. The Warriors’ Klay Thompson made an appearance at the team’s ring ceremony last summer, and his teammate \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/KQEDnews/status/1626666615315238912\">Steph Curry sent the team a personal video message of congratulations\u003c/a> late last year for their championship banner ceremony.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, they’re on a quest to three-peat with another state title. For sports fans still lamenting the Warriors and Raiders leaving Oakland, this high school team is showing that there’s still plenty to be excited about.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>‘The best team I’ve ever had’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>“If we make shots, we can beat anybody,” LeRoy Hurt, the team’s head coach, said. “But if we’re missing shots — and it happens — anybody can beat us. We just got to maintain our composure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941162\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941162\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Perspective courtside photo of a coach wearing a purple shirt sitting next to six or seven high school girl basketball players wearing white jerseys\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62945_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-946-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech coach LeRoy Hurt and members of the team’s starting squad watch during the Bulldogs’ final home game on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Maintaining composure, as well as good sportsmanship, are two of the team’s core values under Hurt — an Oakland Tech alum who’s been coaching the team since 2015. He led the team to an undefeated regular season in the Oakland Athletic League this year — the Bulldogs are 23-5 overall, including non-league games. On Feb. 10 at the team’s final home game, he \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/CoachMiaFisher/status/1624918505870204928?s=20\">notched his 150th win as head coach\u003c/a>. Next up, they’re preparing for the local Oakland Athletic League playoffs, which is the first hurdle they need to clear in the journey to the state championships in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This is the best team I’ve ever had,” Hurt said from the sidelines of that final home game. “It’s a fantastic group.”\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "‘These young ladies are \u003cem>good\u003c/em>. Come see these girls. Just come see them. On our leisure, let’s not go to the hookah lounge. Let’s be like ‘Aye, let’s catch a game at Oakland Tech because I heard they were good.’ ‘",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The group includes \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/rbF1qB7X2So\">six graduating seniors\u003c/a> who were feted during the team’s “Senior Night” celebration on Feb. 10: co-team captains and point guards Marisela Somvichian and Erin Sellers, center Sophia Askew-Gonçalves, plus guards Nia Hunter, Jada Williams and Jala Williams.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The celebration was a glimpse of the kind of love the team receives and the community it’s built as it racks up achievements.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941164\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941164\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Two broadly smiling teenage girls, one shorter, Asian, with dark hair, one taller, Black, with blonde braids, stand in the middle of a basketball court holding flowers surrounded by friends and family. Children behind the girl in the center hold a homemade sign reading 'Big Soph!'\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62866_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-107-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech seniors Marisela Somvichian (left) and Sophia Askew-Gonçalves (center) celebrate during the team’s ‘senior night’ and final home game of the season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“They’re all super supportive and they’re all very, very involved,” Anne Omura, Somvichian’s mother, said of the team’s family members — many of whom brought homemade posters, t-shirts and pom-poms to the game.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>1-2-3, Bulldogs! 4-5-6, Family!\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Somvichian, who has been playing basketball since the second grade, said one of the keys to the team’s success is their team spirit.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re very, very energetic,” she said. “And I think the main thing is that outside of basketball, we all get along and we all connect. So on the court, our energy is just way better because we have that connection.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nia Hunter underlined that connection. “We’ve really built a family,” she said. “I honestly can say those girls in that gym are my second family.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fitting, then, that the team’s cheer before every game is “1-2-3, Bulldogs! 4-5-6, Family!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941166\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941166\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of a row of smiling, mostly Black teenage basketball players wearing white jerseys courtside, smiling and signaling with their hands\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62929_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-635-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the Oakland Tech Bulldogs girls’ basketball team, from left: Erin Sellers, Marisela Somvichian, Sophia Askew-Gonçalves, Jordan Taylor, Terri’a Russell, Zhanea Clemons, Sarai White, Tiana Grace, Jhai Johnson and Marticia Pollard pose for a photo on the sideline during the final home game of the regular season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Bulldogs family has done well embracing its newcomers, too. Terri’a Russell, a 6-foot freshman who began playing basketball in the fourth grade, feels right at home.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I love it very much,” she said. “I love our team captains. I feel like their leadership is A-One.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Russell, along with 6-foot-3 freshman Jhai Johnson, are considered ones to watch in high school basketball circles. Johnson, daughter of Oakland Tech alum and 49ers quarterback Josh Johnson, made an impressive showing this year as the only female participant in the \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/Caballaz2005/status/1612138532214276097?s=20&t=ItpHePV3dNQadC4FcEfyeQ\">Oakland Athletic League dunk contest\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even when the team is winning handily — it’s not uncommon to see the Bulldogs score upwards of 40 points before the other team gets a basket — Russell said the team mentality is to stay bullish while also exhibiting good sportsmanship. “We still play as if the score is 0–0. And say the other team falls down, pick ’em up, you know. Because [one day] we could be on the other end of this.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941168\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941168\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut.jpg\" alt=\"Action shot of two basketball players, one taller wearing a white jersey preparing to pass the ball, one shorter in a green jersey trying to block her. The scoreboard can be seen in the background.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2023/02/RS62925_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-714-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech’s Terri’a Russell passes the ball during the team’s final home game of the regular season on Feb. 10. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The sportsmanship the team practices and the Bulldogs family they’ve cultivated take on more significance in the face of personal losses some players have experienced.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some girls lost their sisters, lost their parents, lost people to gun violence and all these different things,” Jasmine Braggs, assistant coach for the team, said. “So if they play sports as their outlet, and there’s joy there, and they’re also doing good in it, and then also being recognized: that gives you motivation. That says, ‘I mean something and somebody notices me.’ Because sometimes our girls — and our youth in general — go unnoticed so much.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Filling the gap in Oakland sports stories\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>With the Warriors- and Raiders-sized holes in the Oakland sports scene, and the future of the A’s hanging in the balance, it can be easy to say there’s not much sports action going on in the East Bay — with men’s sports, anyway.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“These young ladies are good,” Braggs, a former basketball player and Oakland Tech alum, emphasized. “They’re not dribble, dribble, step, shoot. They’re like, between the legs, \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/az-jkaX-foQ?t=14\">hezzy\u003c/a> – like, they’re all those things. And we have to acknowledge that because it’s so easy to slip through the cracks and say, ‘Oh, Oakland’s not doing nothing.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_11941287\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1920px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut.jpg\" alt=\"A young Black girl wearing a white jersey soars through the air with a basketball as defenders wearing green jerseys surround her\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" class=\"size-full wp-image-11941287\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-800x532.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-1020x678.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-160x106.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/02/RS62911_02102023_oaklandtechbasketball-461-qut-1536x1022.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Oakland Tech senior Nia Hunter takes a shot during the Bulldogs’ final home game of the regular season. \u003ccite>(Kori Suzuki/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>As the Lady Bulldogs build a dynasty, efforts to bring a WNBA team to Oakland are also heating up. Oakland Tech’s own athletic director, Dr. Alexis Gray-Lawson — who led Tech’s girls basketball team to its first two state championships in ‘04 and ‘05 and later played in the WNBA — has become a front woman for the movement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet, the reality is that women’s and girl’s sports still don’t garner the respect or media coverage they deserve. Among U.S. sports fans, 79% say they don’t actively follow women’s sports, according to a recent study. It’s why Braggs is passionate about putting out the call to witness this girls varsity team in action.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Come see these girls. Just come see them,” Braggs encouraged. “On our leisure, let’s not go to the hookah lounge. Let’s be like ‘Aye, let’s catch a game at Oakland Tech because I heard they were good.’ You know what I mean? Even just showing up in whatever school — if that’s Fremont [High School] or Oakland High.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Co-team captain Erin Sellers said she’s excited to have the support and appreciation of fans — from Steph Curry to classmates — even though it brings added pressure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think we’re doing a pretty good job of carrying it,” she said. “The only thing that’s left is to win the championship this year. So that’s what we tryin’ to do.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>First stop: the Oakland Athletic League playoffs, which tip off the week of Feb. 20.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. As a non-partisan forum, The Club brings to the public airwaves diverse viewpoints on important topics. The Club's weekly radio broadcast - the oldest in the U.S., dating back to 1924 - is carried across the nation on public radio stations and is now podcasting. Our website archive features audio of our recent programs, as well as selected speeches from our long and distinguished history. This podcast feed is usually updated twice a week and is always un-edited.",
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"order": 9
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"id": "fresh-air",
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"airtime": "SUN 7:30pm-8pm",
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"tagline": "Where conversation and cultura meet",
"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"order": 15
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"title": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown",
"tagline": "Lessons from a lifetime in politics",
"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
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"info": "Latino USA, the radio journal of news and culture, is the only national, English-language radio program produced from a Latino perspective.",
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"marketplace": {
"id": "marketplace",
"title": "Marketplace",
"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"source": "American Public Media"
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
"info": "Masters of Scale is an original podcast in which LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock Partner Reid Hoffman sets out to describe and prove theories that explain how great entrepreneurs take their companies from zero to a gazillion in ingenious fashion.",
"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "mindshift",
"title": "MindShift",
"tagline": "A podcast about the future of learning and how we raise our kids",
"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
"id": "onourwatch",
"title": "On Our Watch",
"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
"id": "on-the-media",
"title": "On The Media",
"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"link": "/radio/program/on-the-media",
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},
"pbs-newshour": {
"id": "pbs-newshour",
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"info": "Analysis, background reports and updates from the PBS NewsHour putting today's news in context.",
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"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/PBS-News-Hour-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
"airtime": "SUN 3pm-4pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/planetmoney.jpg",
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},
"link": "/radio/program/planet-money",
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"apple": "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/planet-money/id290783428?mt=2",
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},
"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
"link": "/podcasts/politicalbreakdown",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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