Race and Equity

As Merced County in California's Central Valley grapples with a rising tide of violence over the past few years, local behavioral health clinicians are paying closer attention to PTSD. The county has recorded homicides in record numbers over the past two years.

In 2013, Desiree Parreira lived a parent’s worst nightmare when her 16-year-old daughter, Samantha, was shot and killed at a house party near Merced in California's Central Valley. The ensuing grief was unbearable. But in a county wracked by violence, she's not alone.

To Campbell Park. To Fairmount Park. To Lakewood, Maximo, or Melrose. The five worst elementary schools in Pinellas County­ — all among the very worst schools in Florida — have seats with their name tags on them.

Violence is a part of daily life in the most segregated elementary schools in Pinellas County, Florida. Five elementary schools had more violence than all 17 high schools combined.

First the School Board abandoned integration, leaving the schools overwhelmingly poor and black. Then they broke promises to help and stood by and did nothing as black children started failing at outrageous rates.

With a dramatic flourish, a longtime education activist recently unfurled a Confederate battle flag in front of Pinellas County School Board members, saying they had failed black students in five neighborhood schools in south St. Petersburg.

Social workers at Rhode Island’s Department of Children, Youth, and Families say they have too many cases to really make a difference in children’s lives. The agency is already facing criticism for other problems, including one of the nation’s highest percentages of foster children in group homes.

Black leaders in Florida's Pinellas County say the school district broke promises they made to settle a lawsuit accusing them of shortchanging black students. The criticism comes in the wake of the publication of "Failure Factories," a yearlong investigation by the Tampa Bay Times.

"As a journalist and as a person, there’s something therapeutic about being entrusted with someone’s personal rock bottom, and being a vessel for their story," writes journalist Jazelle Hunt. "There’s something therapeutic and powerful about standing with someone in his or her pain."

Michael LaForgia wrote this story for the Tampa Bay Times as part of a 2015 National Health Journalism Fellowship....