Cal Wellness

California’s Unincorporated Places Can Be Poor, Powerless—And the Perfect Place to Commit Murder

It’s Time to Do Better by Communities That Don’t Even Have Local Police to Call, Let Alone Defund

California’s Unincorporated Places Can Be Poor, Powerless—And the Perfect Place to Commit Murder | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

We are all unincorporated now.

Unincorporated communities—places that aren’t part of an incorporated city or town, and thus don’t have their own municipal government—live at the whims and mercies of their counties, which may or may not provide necessary services. The pandemic is giving all Californians a taste of unincorporated life, thanks to state officials deciding to let the virus-fighting performance and preferences of our counties and county governments determine whether we can shop, play in a park, or send our kids to school.

As we’re learning, life under the thumb of …

by Joe Mathews |

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There’s Hope for Fresno

To Address Poverty, the City is Nurturing Entrepreneurs, Counseling Families, and Learning to Take Pride in Itself

By Paul Bisceglio |

In 2005, the Brookings Institution released a depressing statistic about Fresno: The landlocked Californian city, about 200 miles southeast of San Francisco in the state’s Central Valley, had the highest …

There Isn’t One Answer to Ending Poverty

Mid-Sized Cities Like Fresno Should Better Capitalize on Resources and Improve Existing Opportunities to Help the Poor

In 1984, Dan Whitehurst, then-mayor of Fresno, California, appeared on Late Night With David Letterman to discuss a depressing distinction: his city had been ranked the least livable in America …

Who Can Afford Organic Kale on the Minimum Wage?

Income Has a Huge Impact on a Person’s Health—And it Will Take More Than Exercise and Good Nutrition to Change That

by Paul Bisceglio |

It’s no secret that how much money you make can affect how healthy you are. At an event co-sponsored by the California Wellness Foundation, the audience in a packed auditorium …

Why Can’t We All Go to Fancy Yoga Classes?

Economic and Cultural Disparities Have Stacked the Deck Against Healthy Choices in America. But It Doesn't Have to Be That Way

Americans have more ways to be healthy than ever before. Organic vegetables line grocery store shelves. Yoga studios crowd city streets. Fitbits remind us to skip the elevator and Rocky …

When Peer Pressure Is a Good Thing

Meet the Strivers of the Coachella Valley High School Advanced Placement Club

by Philip Hoy |

In every classroom, there is a kind of tipping point when the unmotivated students either get pulled along by the high achievers, or the unmotivated students hold the high achievers …


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