School suspensions cost communities and unfairly affect minorities, experts say

Urban Peace Movement's youth member Joel Reyes facilitates a chess lesson for DetermiNation Black Men's Group. Photo by Prince White.

A recent study suggests that not only do suspensions take a toll on students, they place a financial burden on their communities. In March, the California Dropout Research Project at UC Santa Barbara and the Center for Civil Rights Remedies at UC Los Angeles released a study revealing that school suspensions could cost communities across the state a total of $2.7 billion per graduating class.

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In Oakland, women take the lead as Airbnb hosts

Cynthia Mackey, a 56-year-old self-employed digital marketer, loves to talk about Airbnb. She laughs and smiles, growing excited as she talks about the joy that comes from opening up her home in Oakland’s Adams Point to a world of strangers. Mackey started hosting for Airbnb, an online international marketplace for booking accommodations, in July, 2013.…

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Oakland residents call for freeze on foreclosures

Oakland residents converged Tuesday on an East Oakland street that has been blighted by foreclosures, calling for a freeze on foreclosures until the Homeowners Bill of Rights comes into effect in January, 2013. California Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill into law on July 2, which and will prevent banks from forcing families their homes while they are still negotiating mortgages settlements.

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Jobs scarce for released inmates, Oakland’s working poor

When James Smith was released on parole in 2007, the Department of Corrections gave him $200 and pointed him out the door—he had no support, nowhere to go, nothing but the clothes on his back. It had been years since he had been on the outside. In a matter of months, Smith was asking his parole officer whether he could be sent back to prison rather than finish parole. Without a job, life outside proved to be difficult—too uncertain. “I couldn’t find a job,” said the 45-year-old Oakland native. “It’s like being a pariah.”

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Waiting at the Greyhound bus depot

The bold sign over the Greyhound station in Oakland says “BUS” in big letters, each bigger than a man.  There are no windows, only doors to buses.  The doors lead to terminals where the buses pull in and stop.  During the day, the doors are the only source of sunlight. At 7 a.m. on a…

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Temescal Library thinking outside the tool box

Books?  No, give me a wrench, ask many Oakland residents who use the Temescal Library. The branch holds 29,000 books, and rents out 4,000 books, CDs and movies a month.  Its Tool Lending Program, started in 2001,  checks out 3,000 tools a month and that number is growing.

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Finger-picking guitar down at Lake Merritt

I went down to Lake Merritt last weekend with my friend Jack Woodruff to shoot this audio-profile video of him working his recession-time gig as a street musician. He has played acoustic guitar for 12 years. Recently he had shoulder surgery and since he’s having a hard time finding a job in the service industry,…

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Organic roots: From the rancho to the market

By Diana Montaño/Oakland North The tropical crops of Maria Inés Catalán’s youth don’t grow in Hollister. Instead of winding through the papaya and mango trees of her native Guerrero, Mexico, here, wearing black loafers caked in mud from the past week’s rain, she steps carefully over the kale, broccoli and artichoke plants that thrive in…

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The Job Blog: The February numbers

Hey you! Welcome to The Job Blog. My name is Brittney and I am a 23-year-old television student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. As I inch toward graduation, I find myself trying to avoid all of the negative news about the economic crisis, as it will decide whether I live in my own…

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