Children in low-income Black communities face higher lead exposure risks from aging schools and homes, which can lead to worse health and learning outcomes.
Health Equity & Social Justice
Native youth in California face the state's highest suicide rates despite being its smallest ethnic group. Now Medicaid cuts threaten vital Indigenous clinics offering culturally rooted mental health care.
Embracing a queer identity while being part of the Vietnamese diaspora presents significant challenges. However, when there is acceptance from family, the road to self-expression and an emotionally healthy life is within reach.
“The cuts hit everywhere,” said Harvard researcher Scott Delaney. “It's not just in the Ivies. It's not just in the Northeast. There's a story everywhere across the entire country.”
A proposed federal gun laws risk empowering abusers and weakening protections.
Although California has banned suspensions for “willful defiance” in grades K-12, both Elk Grove Unified and Sacramento City Unified school districts continued to suspend students for defiance during the 2023-24 school year, according to an OBSERVER analysis. The issue has gained new relevance as federal policies under the Trump administration threaten funding for schools that implement equity-based discipline practices.
Transracial adoption remains a complex and often debated subject, one that experts Bryan Post and Rhonda Roorda are tackling head-on.
Victor Malin Jr. endured foster care, trauma, and prison. Now he mentors youth and leads community programs to stop others from following the same path.
Black court-appointed special advocates in Sacramento work to support foster youth, especially Black teens, amid system flaws, racial disparities, and a lack of advocates.
Malachi, raised by his grandmother after a troubled childhood, now advocates for foster youth. Kinship care and family-first approaches are helping reform child welfare systems.