California Divide
Will California sidestep federal ‘work first’ welfare rules?
California is trying to make its cash assistance program more flexible for low-income parents. Advocates say a federal rule is hindering that.
Poverty
California Divide
Advocates say California should send $2,000 per child to poorest families
Anti-poverty organizations are calling for the state to target some of its projected surplus to families making up to $30,000 a year.
California Divide
California senator proposes checks for low-income, homeless high school seniors
A state senator wants to send no-strings-attached checks to homeless high school seniors in California, where basic income programs are beginning to “feel a lot more like a movement.”
Commentary
Market capitalism is not the answer to close the justice gap
In an effort to close the justice gap in civil disputes, the State Bar released two recommendations, and the bar is alarmingly off target.
WhatMatters
How poor Californians languish in nursing homes
A CalMatters investigation unpacks the factors that result in thousands staying in California nursing homes against their will.
California Divide
California’s racial inequality: What can state do with $31 billion?
A new report found stark racial inequality across California. Advocates hope that the 2022 state budget will offer some solutions.
California Divide
$500 a month without strings: Bay Area’s latest guaranteed income program
Lea este artículo en español. South San Francisco this month sent out the first $500 monthly checks to around 150 low-income families to spend however they see fit. South San Francisco is the latest Bay Area city to launch a guaranteed income pilot program – in which participants receive monthly cash payments with no strings attached – […]
WhatMatters
Gas, electricity, food: Cost of living skyrockets in California
Day-to-day life is getting more expensive in California, which already has a higher percentage of residents living in poverty than any other state in the nation when the cost of living is taken into account. That’s because skyrocketing inflation rates pushed consumer prices nationwide up 6.2% in October compared to the same time last year […]
California Divide
New study finds millions of workers are ‘functionally unemployed’
California’s official unemployment rate is 7.5%. But a newer method of measuring unemployment reveals a far larger portion of the state is struggling to find full-time employment that pays enough to cover the cost of living.
California Divide
Universal basic income for farmworkers? Some leaders are pushing for it
A Fresno-area politician wants California to prioritize struggling San Joaquin Valley farmworkers in a proposed pilot program that would put cash in the hands of some the state’s impoverished residents. State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from Sanger, issued a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom last week urging the state to prioritize California’s “displaced, underemployed, or unemployed […]