Economic Inequality

California Divide

Coronavirus, citizenship and the census: California fears an undercount

A global pandemic is upending California's 2020 census outreach efforts while community organizers report difficulty getting residents to set aside privacy concerns — and government distrust. The risk of an undercount could cost a congressional seat and billions in federal funding.

By Elizabeth Castillo • March 16, 2020

California Divide

Can’t pay your power bill? Don’t worry, you’re safe for now as California utilities suspend shutoffs

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 […]

By Nigel Duara and Jackie Botts • March 13, 2020

California Divide

Food banks face shortages of volunteers; many Bay Area pantries close as coronavirus spreads

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 […]

By Jackie Botts, Nigel Duara and Erica Hellerstein • March 13, 2020

California Divide

Open reporting: How one man found freedom from his struggle to survive in the Bay Area

In January, I sat among dozens of other reporters in California’s Capitol as we peppered Gov. Gavin Newsom with questions about his spending plan for the year, a bulging $222 billion budget full of progressive proposals: $1.4 billion in new funds for homeless services, expansion of the state’s health insurance for low-income residents, a proposal […]

By Jackie Botts • March 2, 2020

California Divide

Are low-income voters Bernie’s secret weapon?

By Ben Christopher, Jackie Botts and Jacqueline García For all the talk of electability, Sen. Bernie Sanders would have the Democratic presidential nomination in the bag if every voter were like Ryan Frye, his two adult brothers, his sister-in-law and his parents.  The family, which shares a home in the small, rural town of Newman […]

By Ben Christopher, Jackie Botts and Jacqueline Garcia • February 28, 2020

California Divide

California’s housing crisis sickens families

Tanya Harris and her three daughters struggle to breathe in the converted motel room in Salinas they now rent as a studio. Just large enough for a bunkbed and a desk, the room holds all four of them. Harris sleeps on a silver inflatable mattress on the floor. And doctors say the room is making […]

By Kate Cimini • February 25, 2020

California Divide

Farmworkers struggle with high cost of housing

When Resi Salvador’s three little brothers walk through the door, they make a beeline for her, seated at a folding chair at her parents’ kitchen table. They snuggle into her arms. Resi laughs. She’s home. Just a few feet away in the living room stands a bunkbed, where Resi sleeps when she’s home. All told, […]

By Kate Cimini • February 24, 2020

California Divide

Living at the intersection of rich and poor

Carmen Preciado has always been able to identify the precise spot along Middlefield Road that marks the end of her world and the beginning of another. “When I go to the other side, it’s just like: ‘Oh, this is a rich people area,'” said Preciado, a 31-year-old single mother and life-long Redwood City resident. “You […]

By Erica Hellerstein • February 18, 2020

California Divide

Many low-income Californians don’t use credit cards. Should stores be required to accept cash?

Last May, Burger Patch first opened its doors in midtown Sacramento with a sign that said “No Cash Accepted.” The owners of the organic and vegan burger joint were worried that a cash register might invite theft.  But customers kept showing up with only cash. Sometimes the cashiers would accept it, working around the digital […]

By Jackie Botts • February 13, 2020

California Divide

California has some of the best and worst places in U.S. for raising children, report finds

Children who grow up in the San Jose area are better off than those raised in almost any other metropolitan region in the country, according to a new report measuring which U.S. neighborhoods give children the best chance of achieving economic success and good health. Nationally, the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara metropolitan area ranked second, just […]

By Erica Hellerstein • February 3, 2020