Homelessness
According to the State of California Department of Justice, human trafficking is the world’s fastest-growing criminal enterprise, bringing in $32 billion dollars a year globally. Vanessa Russell founded Love Never Fails in 2011 to fight human trafficking in the Bay Area. She was inspired to start the organization after she found out that a student of hers was being sex-trafficked throughout California.
In a few months, Leah Kimble-Price will open the house she has been planning with her team—a home in Oakland that will serve sex-trafficked teenagers. As Kimble-Price sits in her office, she talks about her vision for the home. It will be a safe and loving place where girls can heal from trauma.
Hepatitis A outbreaks are spreading throughout Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Cruz counties—mostly among the homeless populations in those places. So healthcare workers in Oakland—a city where the homeless population has grown 26 percent over the last two years—are acting to prevent a similar outbreak.
On Thursday, city workers went on strike at the same time as the mayor’s annual “State of the City” address and held a “Real State of Oakland” picket and rally in the streets.
Volunteers from Oakland-based organizations are distributing respiratory masks to homeless people in Oakland to stave off poor air quality caused by historic wildfires in California’s Wine Country.
Once a month volunteers meet at Pepples Donut Farm in Oakland to make vegan burritos for the homeless.
During the City Council meeting, the council members discussed Oakland’s shelter crisis, the federal legislation of California firearms laws and the state of the city address.
The city of Oakland will pass an ordinance declaring a two-year emergency shelter crisis as a response to the high number of Oakland residents that are unable to obtain shelter.
California assembly members finally struck a deal late Thursday night, passing a series of bills to fund affordable housing across the state, which Oakland city leaders and housing advocates hope will pay to build and protect affordable housing in the city.