The Governor Gavin Newsom, together with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS), announced that 12 organizations funding 14 projects have received a total of $53 million in grants to create more housing options for older adults and adults with disabilities, including people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. 

The funds will create a total of 402 beds or units, the Governor's Office said in a statement.

“California is making significant investments in housing to help some of our most vulnerable residents – low-income seniors and adults with disabilities – live safely and with dignity in their communities,” Newsom said. 

“We are supporting local communities to acquire, renovate and improve properties across the state, providing not only a place to call home, but helping people stay out of homelessness,” he added.

The grants were awarded through the new Community Care Expansion (CCE) Program, which, through Governor Newsom’s budget, will provide a total of $570 million for the acquisition, rehabilitation, and construction of adult and senior care facilities serving Supplemental Security Income/State Supplemental Payment (SSI/SSP) and Cash Assistance for Immigrants (CAPI) applicants and recipients.

Similarly, these funds also went to other community-based residential care settings, such as permanent supportive housing and recovery care sites.

“These significant and timely investments will provide new housing options that will support older adults and adults with disabilities in California,” said CDSS Director Kim Johnson. 

“We must continue to combat our homeless crisis. Through this effort, we are breathing new life into aging facilities and acquiring and building new facilities that will support some of our most vulnerable residents, including people at risk of becoming homeless or experiencing homelessness,” she stressed.

Multi-million dollar investments in homeless housing will provide more than 55,000 new housing units and treatment spaces in the coming years. 

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By Carolyn Jones. Bay City News.

In its latest survey of California Unified School Districts, an LGBTQ+ civil rights nonprofit honored 19 districts across the state, including seven Bay Area school districts, for their inclusive policies supporting LGBTQ+ students and identified others that need to do more to ensure students feel safe on campus.

Equality California, one of the largest LGBTQ+ rights organizations in the country, highlighted that San Francisco Unified, as well as Oakland, Palm Springs, Elk Grove, Pittsburg, Monterey Peninsula, Vista, Moreno Valley and 11 others, have taken additional steps such as training staff, preventing suicide, expanding curriculum to include LGBTQ+ topics, supporting transgender students and maintaining an overall positive campus climate.

Other districts in the Greater Bay Area among the 19 honored include Stockton Unified, Cabrillo Unified in Half Moon Bay and Winters Joint Unified in Yolo County.

“Our goal was to elevate examples of excellence so that other districts have a model to follow,” said Chris Negri, director of the Equality California program. “This year we saw a lot of success with anti-bullying policies, teacher training and suicide prevention, but there is a lot of room for growth.”

The organization sent surveys to all 343 unified school districts across the state, and 118 responded. The results were slightly lower than the 2019 survey, but that’s likely due to COVID-related disruptions and increased outreach efforts, Negri said. The organization plans to do another survey in two years.

In the 2022 survey, 52 districts were identified as needing to do more work to create a safe environment for LGBTQ+ students. Those included West Contra Costa Unified, Needles Unified, Santa Ana Unified, Sanger Unified, and others.

Tehachapi Unified, where a gay student committed suicide in 2010 due in part to bullying on campus, did not respond to the survey. The death of 13-year-old Seth Walsh sparked a national anti-bullying movement and a California law requiring school districts to track and respond to bullying incidents.

“All students deserve to learn and grow in a welcoming, supportive, and safe school environment,” Negri said. “We hope that policymakers and community members will use this report as a resource to identify both the bright spots and the challenges as we build a community of districts across the state that are committed to implementing common-sense policies and approaches to improve school climate for LGBTQ+ and all students.”To read the original story you can click here click here.

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Following openly racist comments made by Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez last Sunday, the official decided to resign from her position amid strong media pressure.

The conversation remained private for nearly a year until the recording was leaked and revealed, in which Martinez is heard behind closed doors making racist comments, mocking some of his colleagues and their families, and even using crude terms to describe how the city should be politically constituted.

Ahead of the November 8 elections, the leak prompted three of his colleagues to call for his resignation, but candidates backed by Martínez have yet to take a position on what happened.

Among the disparaging remarks made by Martinez was one he said about the African-American son of Councilman Mike Bonin, of whom he said: “He looks like a monkey” – a little monkey – while comparing him to an accessory that his colleague wears “on the side.” “He wears it like this, during Black History month… He wears his little black boy, like on the side.”

According to the leaks, the comments were made during an October 2021 meeting with Councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, as well as Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera.

Following the scandal, Herrera also announced his resignation on Monday for, he said, having participated in "intolerant and racist" behavior.

The conversations were disclosed by the Los Angeles Times on October 9, which stated that the dialogue was shared on the social network Reddit by a now-suspended user, however, it is not clear who recorded it.

The conversation centered on the maps proposed by the city's redistricting commission and disagreements with them, as well as the need to "ensure that majority-Latino districts do not lose economic assets" in the process, the paper said.

“Mike Bonin has never said shit about Latinos. He will never say shit about us,” De Leon, who is of Guatemalan descent, is heard saying in the audio. He calls Bonin, a white man, “the fourth black councilman.”

"Bonin thinks he's a... black guy," Martínez is heard to agree. And this is followed by the aforementioned comments about his son, to which Cedillo and De León add others.

Martinez adds that the councilman and his partner are raising their son “like a white child,” adding: “This kid needs a few beatings. Let me take him around the corner and I’ll bring him back.”

The council members also made disparaging remarks about the appearance of some residents of the Koreatown neighborhood, who come from the state of Oaxaca and belong to different indigenous communities in Mexico.

"I see a lot of short, dark-skinned people," "I don't know where these people come from, what village they came from, how they got here... So ugly," are some of the phrases heard in the recording.

Following the leaks, reactions from other political figures were not long in coming, such as Senator Alex Padilla ‒who studied with Martínez and has been his ally for a long time‒, mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso, council members and other authorities, as well as several organizations, calling for the resignation of Martínez and the others involved in the conversation.

"We are shocked, angry and absolutely disgusted that Nury Martinez attacked our son with horrific racist slurs and spoke about her desire to physically harm him. It is vile, abhorrent and completely disgraceful," Bonin and her husband, Sean Arian, said in a statement.

"There is no place for racist language and hateful, inflammatory rhetoric to coexist with the duties of public service," said the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (Naleo) of the United States.

For his part, Martinez assumed responsibility and accepted the facts.

“I take responsibility for what I said and there are no excuses for those comments. I am truly sorry,” he said. “As someone who believes deeply in empowering communities of color, I recognize that my comments undermine that goal.”

The San Fernando Valley native, north of Los Angeles, to Mexican parents originally from Zacatecas, did not clarify whether, in addition to her resignation as Council president, she is also leaving her position as councilwoman.

For his part, Governor Gavin Newsom issued comments regarding the case, where he stated that words matter.

"Words matter, and racist language can do real harm. I'm encouraged that those involved in this have apologized and begun to take responsibility for their actions," Newsom said Monday.

"These comments have no place in our state, nor in our politics. We must all shape our behavior to live up to the best values we fight to protect every day," he added.

With information from the Los Angeles Times and BBC News

This publication was supported in whole or in part by funding provided by the State of California, administered by the California State Library.

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For the fourth consecutive year, and marking three decades since the city of Berkeley hosted the first Indigenous Peoples Day celebration, Governor Gavin Newsom proclaimed October 10 as Indigenous Peoples Day in California.

“Today we honor and celebrate the perseverance, rich diversity, and contributions of all Indigenous peoples, from the first peoples here to those around the world who now call California home,” the governor said in the proclamation.

Newsom said that at a time when many seek to exploit differences, “California understands that our diversity has long been our greatest strength.” 

He also noted that the first peoples of this place descend from one of the largest and most diverse populations of indigenous peoples in the nation, who, despite all adversities, have persisted in the face of successive waves of newcomers, sometimes hostile, seeking to extract, displace and destroy, and sometimes hopeful, seeking a better future for their children. 

"Since then, California has welcomed indigenous peoples from all over, all of whom we now call fellow Californians," he stressed.

“Today we celebrate not only the survival, but also the tenacity of indigenous peoples to succeed despite deeply rooted historical, institutional and cultural barriers.”

Newsom noted that just this year, a Wailaki citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes became the first Native American woman in space, as indigenous Californians claim their right to manage coastal lands under a first-in-the-nation program in partnership with the state.

She also noted that offensive place names have also been removed across the state, the California condor has been reintroduced to Yurok lands, and Native lands and foods have been restored to indigenous peoples throughout California.

“As Indigenous peoples gather today on Alcatraz to commemorate the Native American rights movement’s occupation of the island, we stand in solidarity with and support Native and Indigenous-led movements toward balance, reciprocity, and respect, understanding that these changes will require a re-evaluation and renewal of our collective values,” he said.

He also explained that we live in times of massive change and existential threats, as climate, cultural and capital changes "demand that we welcome one another with an open heart and mind, stripping ourselves of the colonial thinking that allows us to dehumanize and degrade ourselves too often in the search for personal well-being."

Finally, Newsom stressed that California rejects the celebration of the conquest of the lands we now call the Americas, and instead called on Californians to reflect on and celebrate the resilience and tenacity of indigenous peoples everywhere.

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