Tag Archive: media

1. Marin gets Canal community involved in COVID-19 response plan

   August 18, 2020 11:07 am Comments Off on Marin gets Canal community involved in COVID-19 response plan

   Marin Independent Journal article by: Richard Halstead

   

   Marin’s public health officer detailed the approach to the COVID-19 crisis facing San Rafael’s predominantly Latino Canal neighborhood as the county prepares this week to continue reopening.

   Dr. Matt Willis told the Board of Supervisors Tuesday that the Marin County Department of Health and Human Services in coordination with the city of San Rafael, Kaiser Permanente, Canal Alliance, Marin Community Clinics and MarinHealth began developing a strategy in mid July to empower the community to describe the problems the Canal faced and influence how the issues are addressed.

   Willis said the Canal response effort consists of seven teams that meet weekly. The teams focus on epidemiology, outreach, health education, communication strategies, business and commerce, testing and barriers to quarantining.

   While 16% of Marin’s population is Latino, Marin’s Latino community has accounted for 74% of the county’s coronavirus infections and 13% of the deaths caused by the virus.

   On Friday, Omar Carrera, executive director of Canal Alliance in San Rafael, sent an open letter to Marin County and San Rafael officials in which he wrote, “The extreme gravity of the cluster of infections in our local Latino community has caused us to coordinate our efforts to reach out to you for a more directed, strategic, collaborative, policy-driven, and locally-responsive approach to this priority location, which has an alarmingly high concentration of cases.”

   Regarding the Canal effort, Willis told supervisors a survey of Canal residents was done to “have a better sense of the voices of the community itself to describe the challenges and barriers they’re experiencing.”

   Read the rest of this article on Marin Independent Journal website.

2. Spotlight on California: Navigating Back to School in a Coronavirus Hot Spot

   August 14, 2020 2:02 pm Comments Off on Spotlight on California: Navigating Back to School in a Coronavirus Hot Spot

   Article by: Progress Report – Unidos US

   As COVID-19 cases spiked across the South and West over the summer, California surpassed New York to become the state with the most coronavirus cases. In July, Governor Gavin Newsom responded to the surge by ordering all schools in counties with rising infections and hospitalizations to prepare to hold all classes online when schools reopen for the fall term.

   San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, a largely low-income and heavily Latino enclave in affluent Marin County, is one of the California communities where the digital divide is a huge obstacle to distance learning. The Canal Alliance, an UnidosUS Affiliate that champions immigrants and social justice, found in a survey that 57% of respondents in the Canal neighborhood lacked a computer, compared to just 10% outside the Canal. Forty-two percent of Canal residents had internet connections too slow to watch video without extended buffering or load a website in 10 seconds. Eighty-seven percent of residents outside the Canal said their connections were fast enough to do both of those things. This disparity can put Canal students at a severe disadvantage in online classes.

   Luis Martinez, a 20-year Canal resident, told the Marin Independent Journal that his family is among those struggling with slow and unreliable internet connections, and it was a problem for his three children when their kindergarten, middle school, and high school classes switched to distance learning when the coronavirus pandemic hit in the spring.

   “It’s a headache when the internet fails and slows down,” Martinez said. “It’ll log the kids out of their Zoom class and they miss out key points of the lecture. They miss out on learning.”

   To address this issue, the Canal Alliance is partnering with the city, the county, and the school district to launch a mesh WiFi network in the Canal that will serve an estimated 2,000 students with hot spots around the neighborhood. The digital divide this will help address existed before the pandemic, but the problem took on new urgency in the pandemic as learning—and just about everything else—shifted online. “It won’t cover the entire neighborhood, but it’s a critical first step,” said Air Gallegos, Canal Alliance’s education and career director.

   But getting students the tools they need to learn online is not the only challenge facing families served by Canal Alliance. For example, real estate is expensive in the mostly affluent city, so many immigrants in the Canal live in crowded homes ill-suited as makeshift classrooms.

   Roxana Cruz, a Canal parent of a University Prep Middle School student, said she had a list of worries about the coming term of distance learning, including whether her daughter will find her work space at home to be quiet and comfortable enough to get her schoolwork done, and that social isolation could affect her social and emotional well-being.

   Read the rest of this article on the Progress Report website.

3. Marin supervisors to consider ‘sanctuary’ policy demand

   11:00 am Comments Off on Marin supervisors to consider ‘sanctuary’ policy demand

   Marin Independent Journal article by: Richard Halstead

   Under pressure from activists, the Marin County Board of Supervisors plans to take up a request to declare the county an immigrant “sanctuary” jurisdiction.

   Supervisor Katie Rice, the president of the board, announced it would discuss the matter at either its Sept. 15 or Sept. 22 meeting after the activists monopolized the supervisors’ meeting earlier this week with their public comments.

   “We are really demanding that our board implement a sanctuary county ordinance to protect the rights and lives of immigrants,” Yavar Amidi, an advocacy director for ICE Out of Marin, said on Wednesday.

   

   Lucia Martel-Dow, director of immigration legal services at the Canal Alliance, said Canal Alliance would like to see the supervisors declare Marin a sanctuary county.

   “It’s a symbolic gesture that could translate into further more progressive policies,” Martel-Dow said.

   She added, however, that Doyle recently has made a series of incremental changes that reduced the number of Marin residents being picked up by ICE.

   “We absolutely recognize the progress that the sheriff has made,” Martel-Dow said. “That is not something we can just sweep under the rug.”

   In December 2018, at the request of Canal Alliance, Doyle stopped supplying ICE with inmate release date information unless the inmate had been charged with or convicted of a serious or violent crime. As a result, the number of release dates supplied to ICE dropped to 27 in 2019, down from 75 in 2018.

   Read the rest of this article on Marin Independent Journal website.

4. West Marin’s census response still well below national average

   August 12, 2020 10:57 am Comments Off on West Marin’s census response still well below national average

   Point Reyes Light article by: Braden Cartwright

   The United States Census Bureau is ending its counting efforts a month sooner than previously announced, and West Marin’s response rates are still far below expectations. With seven weeks until the count ends, fewer than four of 10 households in coastal Marin have completed the survey. The San Geronimo Valley is doing a little better, with more than half of households responding, but the area is still under the national response rate of 63 percent.

   On Tuesday, census takers began visiting households that have not yet responded, and local community organizations are continuing their outreach. “We know for a fact that there’s a lot more people living out here than are counted in the census,” said Heather Oakley, who is heading outreach for West Marin Community Services. “And it’s becoming really clear that the census builds in inequities in counties.”

   Over-the-hill residents who get mail directly to their homes have received flyers from the census bureau, but in West Marin, where mail is delivered to post office boxes, the only promotion has come from nonprofits like the Canal Alliance. West Marin usually relies on senior volunteers, but older people have been sidelined during the pandemic. Poor internet also makes it harder for some people to respond.

   Ms. Oakley said that her experience leading the census outreach has shown that the count is not just a dry governmental process; it matters. She teared up when she helped a homeless woman fill out the form, because of the bravery it took to list her address as a street corner she often sleeps at. “The feeling of being counted is really profound,” she said. “It doesn’t matter who you are or why you are here, it’s just, ‘Are you here?’” To complete the census, visit my2020census.gov. 

   Read the rest of this article on Point Reyes Light website.

5. Editorial: Overdue Wi-Fi for Canal coming just in time

   10:47 am Comments Off on Editorial: Overdue Wi-Fi for Canal coming just in time

   Marin Independent Journal editorial by: Marin IJ Editorial Board

   From limbo to a lifeline, stretching broadband connection into San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood could become a reality by the start of school.

   The timing couldn’t be better.

   Many of the neighborhood’s youngsters face, due to the COVID-19 epidemic, opening the school year with a continuation of online courses.

   The pandemic has helped underscore another example of inequities facing many residents in our county.

   In the Canal, the digital divide is not a new problem.

   

   Marin Promise and the county library were instrumental in deploying hotspots in the interim.

   The Canal Alliance also deserves a lot of credit for making the lagging progress of the initiative a public issue.

   The city school district has also helped revive the effort. Most of the students left educationally adrift by the closure of classrooms and the move to online instruction are in district schools.

   According to educators, online instruction is no replacement for classroom learning — and they are worried that many students are not keeping up.

   For Canal youngsters, many of whom are Latino and still learning English, keeping up is already a challenge.

   In addition, as districts struggled with getting teachers equipped and proficient for online instruction, little attention appears to have been given to the number of students who weren’t connected — or connecting.

   Read the rest of this article on Marin Independent Journal website.

6. Poverty, ‘structural racism’ impact virus’ spread in Marin

   August 10, 2020 10:35 am Comments Off on Poverty, ‘structural racism’ impact virus’ spread in Marin

   Catholic San Francisco Article by: Christina Gray and Lorena Rojas

   The unequal impact of COVID-19 on Hispanic and Latino communities has been noted with concern and alarm across the country, but the disparity is especially pronounced in affluent Marin County.

   People who identify as Hispanic or Latino account for 16% of the county’s population but more than three-quarters of those testing positive for the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the latest county data. Hispanic and Latino residents also account for more than half of the county’s COVID-19 hospitalizations.

   Of the more than 3,000 COVID-19 cases in Marin, nearly two-thirds are in the city of San Rafael, where the low-income Canal neighborhood is home to  many Hispanic and Latino families who support the surrounding economy with limited ability to shield from the disease but elevated risk because many jobs are “essential” ones that require physical presence.

   

   Canal Alliance, a nonprofit organization in San Rafael, is one of those organizations. The agency provides legal services, education and food to immigrants in the Canal but has recently included health services including coronavirus testing, executive director Omar Carrera said.

   “People in poor neighborhoods are more exposed to the virus,” said Carrera.

   Canal Alliance has become a bridge between the Canal community and the Marin Department of Public Health, coordinating free, walk-in COVID-19 testing on Wednesday and Friday from 1-3 p.m.

   Read the rest of this article on Catholic San Francisco website.

7. Marin County hires Spanish speakers to trace virus spread

   August 8, 2020 10:13 am Comments Off on Marin County hires Spanish speakers to trace virus spread

   The Mercury News Article by: Matthew Pera

   Marin County is bolstering its roster of Spanish-speaking public health workers in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus among the county’s Latino residents.

   The county Department of Health and Human Services is set to hire five temporary workers who speak Spanish next week through a contract with the nonprofit Canal Alliance, a San Rafael-based organization that provides services for Latino immigrants.

   The workers will serve as “contact tracers,” charged with interviewing Marin residents who test positive for the coronavirus and forming a list of people they have come in contact with. The tracers then track down the people who might have been exposed to the virus and ask them to isolate from others.

   Contact tracing is a key strategy for slowing transmission of the virus, officials said, and the county has been increasing its tracing staff since the beginning of the pandemic. Marin had 77 tracers last week, which included county employees, Marin Medical Reserve Corps volunteers and interns. About a third of them speak Spanish

   

   “For our community, language has been a huge barrier for contact investigation,” said Air Gallegos, Canal Alliance director of education and career.

   San Rafael’s Canal neighborhood, a predominantly Latino community that is home to many Spanish speakers, has been hit hard by a coronavirus outbreak, according to health officials.

   The five new contact tracers are Canal neighborhood residents, according to Gallegos.

   “It’s one thing to talk to somebody in Spanish,” she said. “But it’s different to talk to somebody who really can understand where people are coming from in this community. Being able to empathize with people and offer them support that’s meaningful to them is going to be really important in fighting COVID-19.”

   Read the rest of this article on The Mercury News website.

8. Marin Voice: Attempt to skip undocumented immigrants is unconstitutional

   August 6, 2020 9:45 am Comments Off on Marin Voice: Attempt to skip undocumented immigrants is unconstitutional

   Marin IJ News Article by Omar Carrera and Chandra Alexandre

   In June 2019, Canal Alliance and Community Action Marin were selected by the Marin County Board of Supervisors to lead countywide efforts to count all residents in the 2020 Census, with a particular focus on increasing response rates in historically undercounted communities.

   Since then, we have successfully partnered with nonprofit organizations, city and county government agencies, state and federal census offices and community members to “get out the count” and encourage everyone to respond to the census questionnaire. Canal Alliance and Community Action Marin affirm the intent stated in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that the census should reflect an exact population count irrespective of a person’s race, gender, citizenship or economic status.

   Coming just one year after a Supreme Court decision preventing President Donald Trump’s administration efforts to include a citizenship question on the census, this statement is just the latest attack by the president’s administration in its ongoing war on low-income minority communities.

   In violation of basic civil rights, this action seeks to further exclude and marginalize Latino immigrants, and creates a chilling effect for those who wish to participate, comply with census mandates and make their voices heard. The administration is attempting to redefine which people count and scare immigrants from participating in the census.

   Please stand with us in opposition to any attempt by the president’s administration to diminish their voices. We are stronger and more resilient together.

   Read rest of this article on Marin IJ.

9. San Rafael Rushes to Provide Poor Neighborhood Free WiFi

   August 4, 2020 10:19 am Comments Off on San Rafael Rushes to Provide Poor Neighborhood Free WiFi

   CBS SF BayArea Article by: Emily Turner

   San Rafael is rushing to close the digital divide by installing a Wi-Fi network in its Canal District in time for the start of school.  

   The Canal district is a low income area with about 2,000, mostly Latinx school children that has suffered from substandard infrastructure for years. We live in a digital age, but for many living in the Canal District of San Rafael, they’re living in a digital black hole, and nowhere more so than in the new world of remote learning.

   “Covid exacerbated the educational divide, because immediately schools went to online learning and online learning not only broadband but enough broadband,” Marin County’s Chief Assistant Director Javier Trujillo said.

   The lack of connectivity has long been a problem in the majority LatinX neighborhood, but now, it means the difference between whether or not a child can go to school. So an alliance of city and county government as well as private companies and nonprofits like the Canal Alliance is building a wifi mesh network for the neighborhood. 

   “Your children are your top priority. We have so many dedicated parents that just want to see their children succeed,” Air Gallegos, Canal Alliance’s educational director, said, “And to not be able to have the resources around you to make that happen is extremely hard.” 

   More than 2,000 school children are expected to be able to access the network, proponents say. Other residents will be able to access the network for services such as unemployment, rental assistance and information on the latest health orders.

   Read the rest of this article on CBS SF BayArea website.

10. Re-creating Marin after coronavirus pandemic recovery

    August 3, 2020 10:41 am Comments Off on Re-creating Marin after coronavirus pandemic recovery

    Marin Independent Journal article by: Vicki Larson

    

    Last week I spent an hour talking to some county thought leaders about what might be ahead as Marin starts to recover from the pandemic — Gabriella Calicchio, director of Marin’s cultural services, Omar Carrera, chief executive officer of Canal Alliance, and Mike Blakeley, head of the Marin Economic Forum, as part of the Commonwealth Club’s Marin Conversations series.

    Here’s one thing that became apparent to me — Marin cannot fully recover, or really even start to recover, if it doesn’t address its long-standing inequities and start looking after its essential workers, many of whom are Latino and live in the Canal.

    Marin’s Latino population has never truly thrived in a county of such abundance, but the pandemic has not only exacerbated the inequities, it also has devastated the community. Nearly 80% of Marin’s COVID-19 cases are Latino although Latinos only make up 16% of our population. That’s because they are overwhelmingly essential workers working at minimum wage, which makes affording decent housing in Marin nearly impossible. Plus, many lost their jobs and, despite Marin’s newly extended eviction ban, may soon lose their housing as well.

    While the county’s Marin Recovers details how and when businesses can reopen, it isn’t focused enough on the workforce, Carrera believes, and with no workers, there’s no business and with no business, there’s no recovery.

    “We were paying attention to businesses so they have the health protocols in place, that they understand social distancing, that they have information on educating the customers, but we didn’t care about that worker who goes back to the neighborhood. That worker is also a consumer,” he says.

    Read the rest of this article on Marin Independent Journal website.

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