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

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 …

Should Apartment Buildings Be Smoke-free?

Why Renters Need the Option to Avoid Harmful Secondhand Smoke

By Esther Schiller | October 9, 2015

A former Marine I know has been living in a six-unit apartment building in Van Nuys, in L.A.’s San Fernando Valley, for about four years. The rent is reasonable, the …

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 | July 30, 2015

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 …

300 Million Women and Girls in India Don’t Have Access to Toilets

Relieving Themselves Outside Leaves Them Vulnerable to Disease and Rape. But a New Movement Has Started to Demand Better Sanitation

by Rose George | July 30, 2015

I remember the women so clearly. They were sitting cross-legged, and they were making bricks. Because I was there in their small hamlet somewhere in India’s western Orissa state to …

My Two Oaklands

My Hometown Depends on Movement. Which Direction Should We Go Now?

The Passion for Ojibwe Culture I Inherited from My Native-American Mom—and Austrian-Jewish Dad

Championing My Heritage Began with Their Half-True American Dream

A Block Captain Explains How He Keeps His Oakland Neighborhood ‘Suburban Quiet’

It Helps to See Both the Public and the Police as Human Beings

How Being in Good Health Can Save Californians Money

An Economist Explains How Every Dollar Invested in California Public Health Is Worth $67

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