Nourishing Native American Community Five Days a Week

We Teach the Fundamentals of Health by Treating Everyone Like Extended Family

How do you empower a community to care for each family’s health when the odds are stacked against them? This is a question that we think about every day in our jobs as peer specialists at the Native American Health Center in Oakland, California.

According to the Alameda County Public Health Department, over 500 Native American babies are born in our county each year. With our colleagues at the Strong Families Tribal Home Visiting Project, we have worked with more than 50 of these children in the past two …

By Cara Little and Paty Gonzalez | November 4, 2015

When Teachers Look and Have Lived Like Their Students

A South L.A. Charter School Offers a Personalized Formula for Success

By Ky-Phong Tran | October 26, 2015

For three years, I taught English at Alliance College-Ready Judy Ivie Burton Technology Academy in South Los Angeles. It’s a charter school at the corner of Century Boulevard and Broadway, …

Every Asthma Attack Is Its Own Perfect Storm

The More We Study the Disease, the More Complex We Understand It to Be

By Anne Kelsey Lamb | October 20, 2015

About a month ago, I received a call from a journalist wanting my perspective on recent data showing an increase in asthma ER visits in certain parts of California, particularly …

The Forgotten Middle Child of California

My Small Town in the Central Valley Needs a lot of Help, but Doesn't Get Any Attention

By Gregorio Gomez | October 14, 2015

As mayor of Farmersville, I’ve had to do a lot of thinking recently about what qualities make a community truly healthy.

Farmersville, population 10,500, is right outside Visalia. Farmersville’s problems …

The Drums That Bang Out the Heartbeat of My Community

A 13-Year-Old Explains How Japanese Taiko Drumming Connects Her to the World Around Her

By Ren Zoshi | September 30, 2015

I am 13 years old, and taiko drumming is my life. Taiko are Japanese drums—big ones are the size of a Mini Cooper, and small ones are 15 inches around …

My Improbable Descent Into Homelessness

I Was Living with My Parents in Santa Monica When Our Life Began to Fall Apart

by Quinn French | September 14, 2015

The homelessness issue in America can feel like an overwhelming and abstract problem. As such, it’s understandable that politicians talk about it in broad terms and propose broad policies that …

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