Community & Public Health

When SNAP benefits were paused on Nov. 1, millions of people were left without cash assistance to buy food. To fill the gap, restaurants like Al Pastor Papi began offering free meals to CalFresh (SNAP) recipients, food banks expanded deliveries and the city launched a philanthropy-backed partnership to distribute one-time prepaid grocery cards, but advocates warn that these pauses are only a preview of looming, long-term federal cuts that could push more than half a million Californians into food insecurity, with no quick rebound in sight.

Ninety-nine year old Ronghui Ye lives in a senior housing complex subsidized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) under the federal Section 8 program, which provides long-term rental assistance for low-income families. Residents who live in these units pay about 30% of their income in rent. Ye moved in 2000, after winning a lucky draw — a system now replaced by decades-long waiting lists.

Rural EMTs face long shifts, long transports, limited resources, rising mental-health and chronic-disease calls, and a heavy emotional toll.

For many CalFresh recipients across Orange County with large concentrations in immigrant neighborhoods like Santa Ana, Garden Grove, and Westminster, November arrived with empty EBT balances, stalled benefits, and no clear answers.

Part Three of The Mercury’s Pulse Check series explores how reduction of Ryan White funding could mean increased spread of the disease and new challenges for those living with it.

Two disaster experts and an investigative journalist share reporting strategies for covering disasters and their aftermath as federal support recedes.

For Vietnamese seniors living in a mobile home park in Santa Ana, limited English proficiency make navigating leases, code enforcement, or eviction notices difficult to understand. They teeter on the edge of eviction for failure to comply with the numerous demands from the management.

As UCSF faces a hiring freeze, Spanish-language medical interpreters say severe short-staffing is jeopardizing patient care for immigrant families.

The city has adopted a ‘multifactorial approach to a multifactorial problem’ and has seen a 37% reduction in deaths since the national peak of the crisis