California Divide

Covering income inequality across the state

Families carry boxes full of fresh produce during a food bank event at El Verano elementary on Nov. 1, 2019. Photo by Anne Wernikoff, CalMatters

How hungry is California? Millions struggle to eat well in an abundant state

How bad is California hunger? A lot depends on your access to food aid, which expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic but is being reduced.

Rya Jetha

Jeanne Kuang

and

Jeremia Kimelman

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes, R-California, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 20, 2019. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS

California Divide

Replacing Devin Nunes? Republican candidates take stands on Trump, schools, abortion

A special election will be held to replace Devin Nunes, who announced that he is leaving Congress to run Donald Trump’s new social media site.

Melissa Montalvo

• February 10, 2022

Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs responds to a question during his appearance before the Sacramento Press Club on July 10, 2018. AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli

California Divide

Former Stockton mayor launches nonprofit to end poverty in California

Michael Tubbs, who now serves as an economic advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom, announces a new nonprofit called End Poverty In California (EPIC) to advocate for statewide policies to reduce the wealth gap.

Alejandro Lazo

• February 10, 2022

Taylor Patterson, left, and Tamarin Johnson, right, chop watermelon to feed worms in a composting mound at the Healthy Hearts Institute’s garden in Pittsburg on Jan. 26, 2022. The community based organization is focused on providing access to healthy foods and improved nutritional education. Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group

California Divide

Community groups renew push for health equity and racial justice fund

Nonprofit clinics, tribal organizations and other community groups return to Sacramento for a second year to press for a $100 million health equity and racial justice fund. Gov. Gavin Newsom had left it out of last year’s budget.

Jesse Bedayn

• February 9, 2022

A young child walks past a painting depicting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during a Juneteenth celebration in Los Angeles on June 19, 2020. Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and ensure all enslaved people were freed, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

California Divide

Targeted universalism: A solution for inequality?

As policy experts grapple with how best to address racial inequalities that have worsened in California during the pandemic, a new, more involved policy approach offers promise even as it remains untested.

Jesse Bedayn

• February 3, 2022

Nearly obscured from Freeway 99 traffic, a homeless encampment on private property, of nearly 50 people, borders residential homes, at California Avenue and Monterey Street, July, 22, 2021.

California Divide

‘Progress’ but ‘no cause for celebration’: How Fresno is tackling homelessness in 2022

Fresno added hundreds of shelter beds as well as transitional housing to unhoused residents. But leaders acknowledge there's more work to do.

Melissa Montalvo

• January 24, 2022

Brittannie Gulley is a cashier at Stater Bros. Market in Norwalk. Gulley has worked at Stater Bros. Market for 18 years, and throughout the pandemic things have changed for her. "It has been very stressful working in the pandemic," Gulley said. "It's scary because you don't know if somebody has a cold, or the coronavirus." Jan. 13, 2022. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for CalMatters

California Divide

With pandemic protections gone, essential workers face omicron alone

Essential workers say they are bearing the brunt of the pandemic again but this time, there is less government support. Economists say jobs in California’s low-wage sectors could take longer to recover.

Alejandro Lazo

• January 20, 2022

California Divide

In familiar refrain, United Farm Workers grapples with how to grow

United Farm Workers membership has been down for years, so low that UC Merced researchers declared farmworker union membership statistically zero for 2020. Supporters say it’s too early to write the union’s obituary but UFW struggles to push its political agenda and grow its ranks.

Melissa Montalvo

and

Nigel Duara

• January 18, 2022

California Divide

One man’s lonely journey through California’s plan to end homelessness

The pandemic gave a chronically homeless veteran in Los Angeles a chance at permanent supportive housing, but his experience differed from what state leaders envision. Can California offer the right support as it adds tens of thousands of new units?

Jackie Botts

• January 17, 2022

A row of tents under an overpass in east Los Angeles on Nov. 17, 2021.

California Divide

5 challenges in expanding California’s permanent supportive housing — and potential solutions

One man's experience transitioning out of homelessness reveals challenges facing California as it ramps up permanent supportive housing.

Jackie Botts

• January 17, 2022

The offices of the Employment Development Department in Sacramento on Jan. 10, 2022. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

California Divide

EDD wants its jobless money back. But some people can’t pay.

California is asking some 1.4 million unemployment recipients to prove their eligibility months after receiving aid as part of a fraud recovery campaign. But some people say they’re caught in the Employment Development Department’s dragnet because they don’t have the documents to be cleared. Now, some risk having to pay back more than $30,000 — or face collection.

Jesse Bedayn

• January 13, 2022