NOT JUST IN FERGUSON

A recent Department of Justice report found that courts and law enforcement in Ferguson, Missouri, are systematically and purposefully taking money from the pockets of poor people—disproportionately from black people—to put into court coffers. The context may be different in California, but many of the practices are chillingly similar. As a result, over four million Californians do not have valid driver’s licenses because they cannot afford to pay traffic fines and fees. These suspensions make it harder for people to get and keep jobs, further impeding their ability to pay their debt. They harm credit ratings. They raise public safety concerns. Ultimately they keep people in long cycles of poverty that are difficult, if not impossible to overcome. This report highlights the growing trend of license suspensions, how the problem happens, the impact on families and communities, and what can and should be done about it. Click here to read the full report.

Via: http://www.anewwayoflife.org/category/blog/

New study says a third of Californians in poverty

Nearly a third of California’s households “struggle each month to meet basic needs,” largely because of the state’s high cost of living, a new study by United Ways of California concludes.

The study relies on what the organization calls a “real cost measure” that goes well beyond the Census Bureau’s official poverty measure, which dates back to the early 1960s and pegs California’s rate at just half of what the United Ways study found.

The organization’s methodology is, however, similar in thrust to an alternative poverty measure that includes all forms of income and is adjusted for the cost of living. By that measure, nearly a quarter of California’s 39 million residents are living in poverty.

The United Ways study is centered on a household budget “composed of costs all families much address, such as food, housing, transportation, child care, out-of-pocket health expenses and taxes.”

While overall, by that method, 31 percent of California’s families “lack income adequate to meet their basic needs,” the rates vary widely by ethnic group and locale.

Over half of Latino families fall under the United Ways poverty measure, as well as 40 percent of black families. White families (20 percent) and Asian-American households 28 percent) are better off.

Geographically, poverty rates range from as high as 80 percent in inner city Los Angeles to as low as 9 percent in suburban Contra Costa County.

The study identified housing costs as the major factor in poverty, with struggling families spending over half of their incomes for shelter, with rents of two-bedroom housing units ranging from $584 a month in Modoc County to $1,905 in Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo counties.

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article27256111.html

AM Alert: Legislators discuss declining voter turnout

A record-low 42.2 percent of California voters participated in last November’s statewide general election, five months after a mere 25 percent of them voted in the June 2014 primary.

Lawmakers, political consultants and other experts will discuss the reasons for the growing election apathy and possible solutions at “Understanding California’s Voter Turnout Crisis: The Decline of Civic Participation,” an event hosted by the Leadership California Institute.So far this year, lawmakers have put forward proposals for automatic voter registration and other efforts to help reverse the voter drought.

The lineup of speakers includes state Sen. Ben Allen D-Santa Monica, and Assemblywoman Ling-Ling Chang R-Diamond Bar. Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, and Anthony York, editor and publisher of the Grizzly Bear Project, will also contribute to the forum.

The event is at 11 a.m. at the Citizen Hotel, 926 J Street.

FRACKING: Two years ago, Gov. Jerry Brown signed California’s most comprehensive legislation on the controversial oil and gas drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing. The measure mandates permits and groundwater monitoring for energy companies seeking to begin new fracking wells, as well as requiring the state to conduct an independent scientific assessment of well stimulation in California. The second set of those reports is set to be released today. The California Council on Science and Technology will present its findings, including how well stimulation could affect water, atmosphere, seismic activity, wildlife and vegetation, and human health, 3 p.m. at the California Environmental Protection Agency on I Street.

BREAST CANCER SEMINAR: Recent research suggests that women with dense breast tissue may not need the additional cancer screenings often recommended by physicians – well-intentioned caution that can lead to false positives and burdensome costs. Joy Melkinow, director for the Center of Health Policy and Research at UC Davis, will discuss the changing evidence on cancer screenings and prevention, and its effect on public health guidelines, noon at the UC Center Sacramento on K Street.

By: ALEXEI KOSEFF AND CATHERINE DOUGLAS MORAN

Via: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article26824324.html

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article26824324.html#storylink=cpy

Time for Change Foundation Hosting Prop 47 Felony Reduction Clinic

On Saturday July 25, Time for Change Foundation (TFCF) will be hosting their Creating Healthy Alternatives Mobilizing Prop 47 (CHAMP 47) Felony Reduction Clinic under the guidelines of Proposition 47. Their campaign is seeking to reach the thousands of residents in San Bernardino County that have the qualifying felonies on their record; simple drug possession, petty theft under $950, shoplifting under $950, forging or writing a bad check under $950, and receipt of stolen property under $950.

What Prop 47 is seeking to accomplish is to change policies that contribute to discrimination, racial disparities in low-income communities and communities of color, and invest in our communities.

TFCF believes in the value of “treatment, not punishment is the solution.” While the United States has the greatest number of incarcerated people in the world (prisonpolicy.org), and California recently coming into compliance with the federal mandate to reduce its prison population, Prop 47 was a huge step forward in the journey towards ending mass incarceration.

While spreading community awareness about the event, Time for Change Foundation spoke to many individuals and families that needed the assistance provided through Prop 47. “We see the faces of those who need it and the numbers are staggering,” said Civic Engagement Specialist, Vanessa Perez. “We anticipate a huge turnout at this event and look forward to people getting closer to obtain employment, which is the number one struggle for people that have these felonies.”

Time for Change seeks to lower recidivism rates and provide families with the opportunity to move forward in life. Many people assume that having a record is something that only affects the individual, yet hardly ever is just one person affected. The effects of prop 47, when made available to those who need it, can change the lived experiences of entire families.

TFCF believes in the power of this initiative and have hope in the short term and long term effects that it can have in California and ultimately our nation.

The Free Felony reduction Clinic that is being held at the Way World Outreach Downtown Mission in San Bernardino, gives people the opportunity to meet with a lawyer and have their records changed for free. The event will begin at 9:00 a.m. and end at 3:00 p.m. They encourage everyone that is eligible to attend and spread the word.


By Abry Elmassian, Intern

One Homeless Voice Is Heard At LAPD Meeting On Crackdown

Dylan's story is one that many homeless people could tell: emotional problems, school failures and social dysfunction lead to self-medicating with alcohol or drugs.

"I had a good childhood," Dylan insisted. "But once the whole schooling thing started changing, that's where everything got tough."

He's bounced around a lot in the last four years. "But I'm at a good point now, at 26," he said.

He's spent a little time in rehab and done stints in sober-living homes. He's learned to roll with his moods, control his temper and walk away from trouble.

Heroin, he said, numbed the pain he felt when people didn't want him around. When he's sober he's thankful for all the people who've been willing to help at a neighborhood church, where he helps with chores and yardwork and attends weekly Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

He's found a place to sleep outdoors that's cramped but safe and clean. He has a bike, a backpack, a cellphone and a Netflix subscription. He's trying to save for an apartment and would like to enroll in Pierce College this fall.

Still, it's too soon to make this some kind of redemption trope. Living on the streets may have taken an indelible toll.

A few months ago, Dylan found a room for rent on Craigslist that he could afford. He moved in, but left after a few nights. He couldn't sleep inside; it felt hot and claustrophobic and "really crazy," he said.

"Is this some kind of deep psychologically rooted thing? It really shocked me," he said. "I'm going to have to train myself to go back to being a normal person."

Or accept that sleeping outside, in the open air, under the stars is a wonderful thing, when it's a choice not a necessity.

They're tired of side-stepping panhandlers outside the market and letting transients sully their well-kept parks. They're worried about rising crime, fueled by jumps in home burglaries and car break-ins.

That's what drew dozens of Chatsworth residents last week to the LAPD's Neighborhood Watch meeting headlined "The Homeless: A Growing Problem."

Officers blamed the crime surge on transients — reprobates and drug addicts whom cops are trying to round up or run off. In the meantime, they warned, don't keep your garage door open or leave anything in your car.

When they asked for questions, hands shot up: Is it still safe to hike in Stoney Point Park? Are home alarm systems deterrent enough? Can we block off our streets and hire security guards?

The final question came from a tattooed young man with dirt-caked sneakers and grimy hands. "My name is Dylan and I'm homeless," he said. "On nights when I have nowhere to go, where is it OK to sleep?"

I watched two women in the row in front of him reach out and pull their purses closer. The officer with the microphone reminded him that there are plenty of shelters downtown on skid row.

Dylan Fowler, 26, knows that he's part of the problem his suburban neighbors are trying to fix. He's lived on the streets, off and on, for years.

He realizes that locals consider him a nuisance. But Chatsworth is his hometown too.

"I empathize with the people around here," he told me. "I know my dad worked very, very hard for a long time to be able to afford to raise a family here. I can understand the whole thing about being an eyesore.

"But it feels unfair sometimes to be judged constantly. Personally it's just, it's kind of tragic. There are people out there to be afraid of. But I'm not one of them."

After the meeting, I stuck around and talked with Dylan for a while. He's about the same age as my daughters, and went to preschool at the park where they played soccer and basketball.

I found him thoughtful and preternaturally polite. "I make a point to hold doors open for people and make small talk with anybody I pass," he explained. "I'm hoping that just generally people will see me around and know I'm not a problem."

It's important to him that people know he's not a bad guy.

On Sunday, I took him to lunch at a neighborhood deli. He savored a bagel and vegetable omelet as if they were delicacies.

And he talked about the forces that shaped his life.

It sounded to me like he'd spent years feeling that he must be a bad guy.

"I was always a problem child," he began. "I got expelled for the first time in fourth grade." He was the class clown, always causing a ruckus, tipping over desks and tormenting teachers.

By the time he was 14, he'd been suspended so often for fighting that "they ran out of schools to send me to," he said. He landed in a Texas program for teens with emotional problems and left there two years later with a diagnosis of depression, anxiety and attention deficit disorder.

Back in Chatsworth, he became a loner.

He tried other schools geared toward troubled kids, but they didn't work out. "I realized I had no idea how to deal with normal people," he said. When he turned 18, his parents told him "it was time to get out on my own and figure things out."

He worked odd jobs and rented an apartment with a girlfriend. Then he found out that his mental health issues qualified him for federal disability payments of $850 a month.

Those checks allow many homeless people to eke out a subsistence living. But Dylan said they handicapped him: "It totally makes you lazy. It's not enough to live on.... And you can't take a job or your benefits will end."

But what really handicapped him was heroin.

At 22, he was introduced to the drug by an acquaintance. "He told us we were smoking hash," Dylan said. "Pretty much everyone I knew in the whole Valley got caught up in that problem.

"I was struggling with it for a really long time. That has a lot to do with why I ended up on the street."

Dylan's story is one that many homeless people could tell: emotional problems, school failures and social dysfunction lead to self-medicating with alcohol or drugs.

"I had a good childhood," Dylan insisted. "But once the whole schooling thing started changing, that's where everything got tough."

He's bounced around a lot in the last four years. "But I'm at a good point now, at 26," he said.

He's spent a little time in rehab and done stints in sober-living homes. He's learned to roll with his moods, control his temper and walk away from trouble.

Heroin, he said, numbed the pain he felt when people didn't want him around. When he's sober he's thankful for all the people who've been willing to help at a neighborhood church, where he helps with chores and yardwork and attends weekly Narcotics Anonymous and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.

He's found a place to sleep outdoors that's cramped but safe and clean. He has a bike, a backpack, a cellphone and a Netflix subscription. He's trying to save for an apartment and would like to enroll in Pierce College this fall.

Still, it's too soon to make this some kind of redemption trope. Living on the streets may have taken an indelible toll.

A few months ago, Dylan found a room for rent on Craigslist that he could afford. He moved in, but left after a few nights. He couldn't sleep inside; it felt hot and claustrophobic and "really crazy," he said.

"Is this some kind of deep psychologically rooted thing? It really shocked me," he said. "I'm going to have to train myself to go back to being a normal person."

Or accept that sleeping outside, in the open air, under the stars is a wonderful thing, when it's a choice not a necessity.


Via: http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-0630-banks-valley-homeless-20150630-column.html

Immigration Detention Center Expands in Southern California

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) - Immigration authorities will expand a Southern California detention facility to get more bed space for women with criminal records, immigrants with medical needs, recently arrived asylum seekers and other detainees.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is getting an additional 640 beds at a privately contracted detention facility some 60 miles northeast of Los Angeles starting in July, raising the total number of beds to 1,940.

The move helps consolidate detention space because beds are expensive and hard to find in cities such as San Francisco, said David Marin, ICE’s deputy field office director for enforcement and removal in Los Angeles. Most detainees at the center have criminal records, officials said.

The expansion of the facility in Adelanto run by GEO Group comes as the number of detained immigrants has dropped nationwide. From October 2014 to March 2015, the average number of immigrants in detention each day totaled 26,734, down 21 percent from the previous fiscal year’s daily average.

Immigrant advocates said the expansion clashes with Obama administration policies aimed at detaining fewer immigrants. They also questioned the quality of medical care at the center, which opened in 2011.

GEO Group officials declined to comment.

ICE, which announced a proposal earlier this week to consider housing transgender immigration detainees by the gender they identify with, plans to move about two dozen transgender detainees from a city-owned facility in Santa Ana to the new women’s section in Adelanto, said Virginia Kice, an agency spokeswoman.

Immigration officials also contract for space at several other area facilities that are run by law enforcement agencies. In Orange County, two jails used for immigration detainees have seen their numbers decline, said Lt. Jeff Hallock, a sheriff’s department spokesman. Those beds were about 70 percent occupied as of last week, he said.

The average daily rate that ICE must pay to house a detainee in Adelanto is $111, compared with $118 at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department facilities and $142 at centers in the San Diego area, according to ICE. The national average is $122 a day.

By: Amy Taxin
Via: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/jul/2/immigration-detention-center-expands-in-southern-c/

Suit Accuses L.A. Unified of Diverting Millions Meant for Needy Students

The Los Angeles Unified School District has illegally shortchanged high-needs students of millions of dollars meant for them under the state's new school finance system, a lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges.

The suit claims that improper accounting will cost those students more than $400 million by next June and up to $2 billion by 2020.

Under the state's landmark reform of its school funding system two years ago, districts receive more dollars for students who are low-income, learning English or in foster care. But districts are required to invest in increased or improved services for them.

At issue is $450 million in special education funds that L.A. Unified counted in 2013-14 as part of its existing spending on high-needs students -- a figure that helped set the amount of new required investments for them. The district has said it is only counting dollars spent on special education students who are also low-income, learning English or in foster care -- all told, 79% of them.

But John Affeldt of Public Advocates Inc., one of three organizations that filed the suit, said that money is being spent on special education needs -- not primarily to help students overcome learning challenges based on language, income or foster placement, as required by state law. He said L.A. Unified appears to be the only major school district in California counting special education funds in this way and that it has artifically inflated its current spending on needy students, lowering the additional amount that will be required.

"L.A. Unified is clearly violating the rules, and when L.A. violates rules the impact is felt in a very large way," Affeldt said. "That's undercutting the heart" of the law.

District officials said they were "disappointed" by the lawsuit, saying its allegations were based on a misinterpretation of the funding law.

"The Legislature clearly granted school districts -- which serve predominantly low-income students, foster youth and English language learners -- the highest degree of flexibility in determining student program needs," a district statement said. "We are confident that the District will be vindicated in this litigation. More importantly, we stand by our continuing commitment to serve our most disadvantaged students."

The plaintiffs, Community Coalition of South Los Angeles and Reyna Frias, a parent, are also suing Los Angeles County Supt. of Schools Arturo Delgado. In a letter last September, Delgado approved the district's accounting methods. County education officials declined to comment.

In addition to San Francisco-based Public Advocates, the lawsuit was also filed by the ACLU Foundation of Southern California and the Covington & Burling law firm of San Francisco. The lawsuit asks that L.A. Unified immediately recalculate its spending and increase funding for the targeted students.

"LAUSD is breaking its promise to provide my children and millions of other students in the future, with the services they need and the law says they should receive," Frias, mother of two students in district schools, said in a statement.

By: Teresa Watanabe
Via: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-lausd-funding-lawsuit-20150701-story.html