Los proveedores de servicios han visto un aumento reciente en el número de familias migrantes sin hogar que buscan refugio en San Francisco, y dicen que el sistema de albergues de la ciudad está saturado, y a menudo falla, para recibirlos. Los defensores locales de las personas sin hogar están pidiendo ala alcaldía que satisfaga esta urgente necesidad.
Bay Area
California Program Trains Undocumented Residents to Become Therapists and Serve Those in the Shadows
The future is uncertain for California Proposition 1, which looks like it might pass by a razor-thin margin and would expand the state’s mental health and substance abuse treatment infrastructure. As votes are still being tallied, we bring you this story from news outlet MindSite News about a San Francisco organization that is filling a glaring void in the health care system.
Community
Volunteers Race to Preserve Culturally Significant Records in Chinatown
A volunteer group led by community historian David Lei and University of California, Berkeley lecturer Anna Eng is working on a week-long project to scan boxes of documents — memos, letters, photos and other archived items.
The scanning project is a collaborative effort between historians striving to increase access to alternative historical sources and community organizations wanting the history to be restored and told.
Immigration
Afghan Employees of Bay Area Nonprofit Hope Americans Will Help Those Living Under Taliban
San Rafael-based Roots of Peace remained in the Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power, working to clear minefields and convert them to productive agricultural land, while also helping Afghan employees who wanted to leave and get their families out of the country.
Elections
With Provisional Measure Now Permanent, Noncitizen Parents Can Vote in SF’s School Board Recall Election
San Francisco residents who are not citizens but are parents may vote in school board elections, including the upcoming recall election that could remove three members of the board. The Board of Supervisors in October made this enfranchisement, originally enacted through a 2016 ballot measure and scheduled to sunset in 2022, permanent.
Community
Local Veterans Reflect on ‘Moral Obligation’ to Afghans
After the Taliban took over the Afghan government, a massive evacuation effort began, but thousands are still waiting at the airport in Kabul. Tyler Solorio, an Army veteran deployed to Afghanistan in 2011 and a policy analyst for the veterans nonprofit Swords to Plowshares, said the U.S. government has made it dangerously complicated for Afghans to get out.
Immigration
Organizers Rush to Help Afghan Refugees in Bay Area
Thousands are fleeing Afghanistan in fear of violent reprisals from the Taliban, which captured the nation in a matter of days after the U.S. began withdrawing its troops. Farhad Yousafzai said refugees are arriving in the Bay Area from Afghanistan in dire need of everything — a place to stay, a shower, health care, a change of clothes for the first time in 10 days.
US Policy Frustrates Honduran Immigrant Who Crossed Border at 14
Vice President Kamala Harris visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Friday to tour a detention facility and meet with people who have made the journey to the United States.
For San Francisco resident Soledad Castillo, who left her home country of Honduras at age 14 to cross the border, the vice president’s visit and her previous statements on immigration have been frustrating.
Government & Politics
S.F. Organizer Sees Repetition of Brutal History in Myanmar Military Coup
When Ko Ko Lay has managed to speak to his 86-year-old mother living in Myanmar under a military regime, she has told him she cannot sleep through the night. Like many civilians, she fears armed nighttime raids. “They are so worried about one day some security forces will come and will break through their door, and and they’re going to torture, and they’re going to kill,” Lay said.
On Feb. 1, after a democratic election, Myanmar military forces seized control of the government and declared a year-long state of emergency. Civilians have been protesting that takeover, and the military has responded with deadly use of force, killing hundreds, including at least 40 children.
Community
SF Fund for Undocumented Immigrants Has Disbursed Millions, but Thousands of Applicants Wait
Nearly a year into the pandemic, Undocufund has raised $3.7 million, and distributed $3.3 million, and since many recipients are families, those grants have benefitted more than 10,000 people, fund organizers estimated. But thousands of applications remain to be processed.
Immigration
S.F. Immigration Defense Unit Represents Immigrants Statewide Through Pandemic
San Francisco’s office of the public defender has a unit dedicated to defending immigrants in court. In most states, they often have no representation because there is no right to counsel in immigration cases. Francisco Ugarte, managing attorney of this unit, talked with “Civic” about how handoffs between agencies work and what happens to someone who is arrested by immigration enforcement in San Francisco, as well as a class action suit the unit helped litigate over COVID-19 outbreaks in detention facilities.