Posts Tagged ‘poverty’
Grant sends residents out of hospital, into community
UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland can add one more item to its list of achievements: a $1.3 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant.
Read MoreAlameda County residents sue over food stamps application backlog
A class action lawsuit claims that Alameda County’s Social Services Agency has a 10,657 backlog in food stamps applications, blocking some residents’ access to food.
Read MoreIn West Oakland, St. Mary’s Center reaches out to seniors hit by foreclosures, financial hardships
St. Mary’s Center in West Oakland helps some of the 71,000 seniors in Alameda County who do not have enough money to meet their basic needs; that is half of the people in Alameda County who are 65 and over. But the center is just one node in the complex and incomplete web of aid for seniors who do not have enough money to live on. “Forget the issue of any kind of dementia, long-term chronic mental health issues, substance abuse issues—just be homeless and experience the trauma of that and then figure this out,” said Carol Johnson, the director of St. Mary’s.
Read MoreWith increased poverty and more than 2,000 requests, this year’s toy drive needs more donations
Oakland’s holiday kids’ charity needs toys — lots of toys. This year’s Toy Drive, a city program that provides low-income families gifts for their children during the holiday season, has received more than 2,000 petitions. Its organizers expect this number to quadruple over the next few days.
Read MoreJobs 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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