Manuela is our former Housing Reporter whose stories focused on the political dynamics and economic and racial inequities that contribute to the housing crisis in California and its potential solutions. Manuela previously covered income inequality and survival at The Fresno Bee for the California Divide. She is a former staff writer for PolitiFact and has interned at Politico Magazine, New York Magazine and The New Yorker. Originally from Buenos Aires, she has lived in Latin America, Europe and across the United States. She has a B.A. in comparative literature from Georgetown University.
Mary Ellen Sanchez, a single mother of six in Fresno, works as an in-home supportive service provider for two women. One is paralyzed from the neck down, and the other one is in her late 60s. Like over 400,000 in-home supportive service workers across the state represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 2015, she receives only […]
At a time when rural schools all over California struggle to keep students in school, a three-year-old experiment in the southern Fresno County community of Parlier is showing some interesting results. And, officials say, chronic absenteeism isn’t the only problem the Parlier experiment may eventually solve. Like many Central Valley communities, Parlier doesn’t have enough […]
It's easy for volunteer counters to miss unsheltered people, especially when law enforcement clears camps just before counters arrive. And they're not even trying to count people living doubled up, or renting cheap motel rooms. So why is so much riding on a count so bad?
Amanda Caballero wishes she could go back to work at Amazon. She made $15 an hour at the Fresno fulfillment center — several dollars more than the state’s minimum wage — and received more than three months of paid maternity leave. Her generous health insurance package covered her husband and five children, and she liked […]
California's most vexing issue is also its most shameful: the large and rising number of residents who lack a safe place to call home. Here's what you need to know about the problem — and possible solutions.
Kenda Williams, 51, went to West Coast Dental in Torrance to treat the shooting pain in her molar. She spent the day in a drug-induced haze. Williams later found out she had signed up for two credit cards that day to cover her dentist’s $9,055 bill. Unemployed and on Medi-Cal, the Los Angeles resident had […]
The Trump administration finalized a rule Wednesday that will cut off food stamps to roughly 688,000 American adults by requiring states to enforce work requirements. The U.S. Agriculture Department said the move will save about $5.5 billion over five years. The rule takes effect in April 2020. “This is about restoring the original intent of […]
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a $10 million plan to improve Fresno’s public schools during his visit to the city on Friday. Newsom delivered the keynote speech during the second day of the eighth annual California Economic Summit, which brought together over 800 civic and business leaders in downtown Fresno. “I care deeply about this damn Valley […]
The Central Valley Community Foundation announced a plan to attract $4.2 billion in investments to revitalize Fresno at the eighth annual California Economic Summit. More than 800 civic and business leaders from across the state met in downtown Fresno on Thursday for the first day of the two-day summit organized by the nonprofit California Forward. State and local stakeholders […]
Maximina Molina Sanchez is worried about going hungry this winter. She depends on a food bank in Huron to feed her husband and two kids. But with most agricultural workers out of jobs during the winter, demand is bound to increase, so she worries there won’t be enough food to feed everyone who needs it. […]
Manuela is our former Housing Reporter whose stories focused on the political dynamics and economic and racial inequities that contribute to the housing crisis in California and its potential solutions. Manuela previously covered income inequality and survival at The Fresno Bee for the California Divide. She is a former staff writer for PolitiFact and has interned at Politico Magazine, New York Magazine and The New Yorker. Originally from Buenos Aires, she has lived in Latin America, Europe and across the United States. She has a B.A. in comparative literature from Georgetown University.