As Bay Area food banks scramble to meet increased demand for their services, the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank has opened seven new pop-up pantries to fill a gap left by dozens of sites that have shut down due to coronavirus and volunteer shortages. The food bank has seen about 100 of its regular 275 food […]
As coronavirus cases rise throughout California, health officials announced Friday that Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, would extend its special enrollment period until the end of June in an effort to provide health insurance to more people. “The human and economic impacts of the coronavirus will be far-reaching, long-lasting and impacting many Californians’ […]
The coronavirus pandemic has forced the closure of many day laborer centers throughout the country, including most in California, putting thousands of people out of work. “We did it to protect workers, the community and employers. It is not good that 50 labor workers are together in a center waiting for a job,” said Pablo […]
A line of 500 to 600 people standing six feet apart snaked around a parking lot and multiple city blocks in downtown Los Angeles. Many were hotel and restaurant workers, Dodger Stadium employees and airline chefs. All had lost their jobs or were working reduced hours amid the coronavirus pandemic. One by one, they walked […]
Sunnyvale Community Services, the city’s largest safety-net agency, has been turned “upside down,” organizers say, as coronavirus cases rise in the Bay Area and the region has ordered millions of residents to shelter in place. Already, the nonprofit has had to cancel its weekly produce distribution indefinitely due to volunteer shortages and has seen a surge […]
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 […]
Gov. Gavin Newsom has directed seniors age 65 and older and people with compromised immune systems to isolate themselves at home during this coronavirus crisis. Here's what we know so far about that.
Six utilities serving more than 21 million Californians have announced that they will not shut off customers’ power for non-payment as the coronavirus continues to disrupt daily life. Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric, San Diego Gas & Electric and Pacific Power are taking the step until further notice. The Los Angeles Department of […]
On a typical day at the vast food bank warehouse in San Jose, 80 to 100 volunteers pack apples, oranges, pears, squash and cabbage into boxes to be shipped out to hundreds of distribution sites across Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. On Tuesday, just 17 volunteers showed up. All told, more than 1,000 volunteers […]