By Charlene Crowell An estimated 3.5 million renters face the likelihood of eviction over the next two months – despite the availability of $46 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA) allocated by Congress. The crux of this looming crisis is the uneven local response to providing authorized assistance to both renters and landlords. And the ...

By Dianne Anderson Putting off that trip to the doctor’s office for regular checkups for fear of secondary consequences – namely COVID-19 exposure – is something that health advocate Starla Simmons seriously warns against. Avoiding the doctor is a bad idea, specifically when it came down to her own kids, who both have Sickle Cell ...

By Aldon Thomas Stiles California Black Media Over the last two weeks, it has been a mixed bag of wins and losses for bills concerned with the rights of people interacting with the criminal justice system. Senate Bill (SB) 262, a bail reform bill that would have established $0 bail for some offenders, was stopped ...

By Dianne Anderson When pondering the high demand for Black artistic creative types in Orange County, Debora Wondercheck need not look far. Her recent production, “Once on This Island, Jr.” portrayed a more culturally enlightened version of Hans Christian Anderson’s original, conversely featuring the complexities of how a dark-skinned Haitian girl falls in love with ...

By Edward Henderson California Black Media The election to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom is about a week away. Some mail-in ballots have already been counted. In person voting is now possible at voting centers and voting continues by mail, drop boxes and dropping off mail-in ballots at voting centers. But if you expect to be ...

Assemblymember Chris Holden’s police reform legislation, AB 26, cleared its final hurdle in the legislature on the Assembly Floor. AB 26 establishes clear guidelines for police responsibility and accountability when witnessing excessive force by another member of law enforcement. Governor Newsom has until October 10th to sign the legislation. “The vote is a big step ...

By Dianne Anderson Of all the skills that Tony Williams believes helped him traverse the hardest places of his youth, discernment tops his list, thanks to many caring mentors and coaches along the way. Growing up in Compton and through his high school years in Inglewood during the 80s seemed hopeless, everything was all about ...

by Edward Henderson California Black Media For African Americans, the right to vote was won by the passion, sacrifice and bravery of many who came before us. It is our responsibility to make sure we are doing everything in our power to ensure that our vote counts in every election held at the local, state ...

By Dianne Anderson Much of the last year saw the Orange County Community Action Partnership scrambling to get back-to-back food distributions out to many thousands that lost their jobs. Things are finally starting to settle down a bit, but no one at the agency is getting comfortable with the current situation, especially as the end ...

By Dr. Margaret Fortune I cannot aptly describe just how complicated running a school has become in the era of COVID-19. New categories of jobs have been created in schools just to contact trace, test, and track the escalation of the virus as it spreads. The county health department gave our school a one-page “decision ...