Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Mayans have been dying of drug overdoses at elevated rates. More robust health services are needed, experts say, and providers should be culturally competent and able to communicate effectively with these residents, who may not be fluent in English or Spanish.
Category: Immigration
Posted inBay Area, California, Health, Immigration
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.
Posted inCommunity, History, Immigration, Neighborhoods
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.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Bay Area, Community, Immigration, News
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.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Education, Elections, Government & Politics, Immigration, News
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 The Board of Supervisors in October made this enfranchisement, originally enacted through a 2016 ballot measure and scheduled to sunset in 2022, permanent.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Bay Area, Community, Immigration, Social Services
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.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Bay Area, California, Community, Immigration, Social Services
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.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Government & Politics, Immigration
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.
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Government & Politics, Immigration, Social Justice
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, […]
Posted in“Civic” Podcast, Community, Coronavirus, Immigration
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.