Community engagement has been a big buzzword in recent years. Cole Goins of the Center for Investigative Reporting recently shared tips with California reporters on how to think creatively about "journalism as a community change agent."
Mental Health & Trauma
“One important thing is to find your advocate,” veteran reporter John Gonzales told fellow journalists this week. “You got to find someone who is going to be there for you when you’re having trouble with access.”
Mental illness has been a trending topic in the news. While we often see stories about it, not much attention is given to how the Latino community is faring. A 2016 California Fellow sets out to change that with a series on stigma and mental health needs in Southern California communities.
California’s Central Valley has a reputation for violent communities. The region also has a reputation for higher rates of police shootings. Is inadequate access to health care and mental health services leading to more violent encounters?
Star Apartments in L.A.'s Skid Row is a dazzling vision of what homeless housing can look like. But it's not the model the city is banking on to meet its huge need for supportive housing for the region's 45,000 people without homes.
What happens when the only psychiatric hospital in California’s North Coast region shuts its doors? Where do people who are experiencing psychiatric emergencies find immediate help?
In ethnic minority communities in particular, mental illness is a serious problem since stigma too often prevents individuals from seeking and getting the help they need. But a handful of programs are making progress in overcoming these obstacles.
In California, kids and young adults in need of mental health care are getting lost in the system. Advocates say many families are stuck on waiting lists, while other youths end up in the juvenile justice system after their families run out of options that don’t involve law enforcement.
The Yurok, California’s largest Native American tribe, recently submitted an emergency declaration to Gov. Jerry Brown and the federal government in response to a rash of suicides among the tribe’s young men. What's driving this trend, and what can be done?
The Post-Dispatch special report delved into an array of problems that affect the health and well-being of people struggling daily to keep a job, the electricity running and food on the table and resist the ripple effects of violence.