California Divide

As California's unemployment agency tries to cut off fraudsters, real unemployed Californians have found their benefit accounts suddenly frozen.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, California established Project Roomkey, an ambitious initiative to house homeless people in hotels and motels to keep them safe from infections. The project leveraged federal dollars to pay for lodging. Knowing that the program only offered temporary housing, state and local officials have created what they say is a permanent […]

Socorro Diaz, who has worked cleaning houses for 17 years, was still trying to digest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s veto of a bill that would have provided protections for domestic workers. “I am very angry, very sad because I know that my work is worthy and deserves respect,” said Diaz. SB 1257, which was approved by […]

Lea este artículo en español. California lawmakers are looking to protect one of the state’s most valuable workforces with a new COVID-19 relief package.  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a farmworker relief package this week, which promises farmworkers stricter enforcement of health guidelines and education of paid sick leave for COVID-19, among other things. Lawmakers also requested Newsom […]

From shattered career prospects to pay cuts and sudden shift work, the pandemic is forcing skilled labor and middle-class workers into lower wages and gig jobs.

Once a fringe tactic, rent strikes are gaining political attention around the state as renters seek payment relief amid the coronavirus recession.

Lea este artículo en español. Activists and domestic workers are asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to sign a bill that would extend safe work requirements to 13 million California households employing domestic help such as housekeepers and gardeners. Known as the Health and Safety for All Workers Act, the bill was approved by the Legislature on Aug. […]

Despite the havoc the COVID-19 pandemic has caused by canceling countless events across the nation, the Downtown Los Angeles Women’s Center (DWC) is holding a virtual campaign to raise funds to help homeless women. Unlike previous years when a gala was organized, this year the “Together Housed” campaign began on Sunday, September 6 and will […]

Hello! We’re publishing more of our work in Spanish to better serve our diverse state. Make sure to click here to read the article in English. Demand for food and social services has grown almost five-fold in some of Silicon Valley’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Now, the sole full-service social services provider in Cupertino and other west valley cities […]

Santa Barbara County adopts new rules aimed at preventing COVID-19 outbreaks among H-2A farmworkers. The move comes amid reports of outbreaks, including a monthlong investigation by CalMatters and The Salinas Californian that uncovered outbreaks that sickened more than 350.