Civic

This week marks three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the conflict shows no signs of ending. On the eve of this grim anniversary, Russia launched its largest drone attack yet, causing widespread destruction and civilian casualties. Days later, the U.S. voted against a U.N. resolution calling for Russia’s withdrawal. In this episode, we revisit conversations first aired on April 7, 20...

Ever since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, emboldened anti-abortion activists have used increasingly aggressive efforts to shut down abortion access in San Francisco. In October, an anti-abortion crusader entered the local Planned Parenthood brandishing a gun. And a new anti-abortion movement that launched in San Francisco is gaining popularity through TikTok posts of members performing cl...

Thank you for listening. To support this work, visit: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/donate/

LGBTQ Latin Americans come to San Francisco seeking relief from oppression and hostility. But when they join substance use disorder support groups, many encounter scorn — especially if they’re transgender. When one San Francisco couple heard that transgender Latin Americans were facing hostility in peer support groups, they formed their own. Now LGBTQ people in addiction recovery across the U.S. a...

The Navy conducted radiation experiments on humans at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, turning hundreds of servicemen and shipyard workers into unwitting “volunteers” for Cold War scientists’ biology and safety research. Check out the full series at https://sfpublicpress.org/exposed

Decades after the Navy closed a Cold War radiation research lab at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the mess isn't completely cleaned up. Neighbors in Bayview-Hunters Point are demanding accountability for the toxic legacy amid charges of environmental racism. Check out the full series at https://sfpublicpress.org/exposed

Watch for a special investigative 2 episode podcast dropping Monday, November 25th.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Latinx residents experienced higher rates of infection and deaths, and greater losses of income and homes compared with other ethnic groups. Widespread depression and anxiety resulting from the trauma led to a grassroots effort to heal the community. That’s when a UCSF psychiatrist asked them to test a new therapy that combines an app wit...

San Francisco’s proposition K is the most heated issue in this year’s local election. It asks whether the city should close a segment of the Great Highway, a coastal thoroughfare, to car traffic, so it could later become a park. Residents are divided: some welcome the idea of a park for families and community gatherings, while others worry that it will make north-south travel on the west side more...

Affordable housing is too expensive for many in San Francisco, leaving people in untenable living situations: rentals they can’t afford, overcrowded single room occupancy hotels, or tents on the street. Proposition G tries to combat that issue by proposing the creation of a fund to subsidize 550 to 600 units of affordable housing for extremely low income seniors, people with disabilities and famil...

In the November, 2024 election San Francisco voters are being asked to decide whether to approve a wide range of issues in the form of 15 local ballot propositions, including ones on a major overhaul of the city’s commission system, bond measures and other program funding, changes to the business tax system, and incentives to bolster the ranks of police, fire and other emergency services employees...

San Francisco commission reform is on the November 2024 ballot. If either Proposition D or E passes, they will change the city’s commissions in different ways, which have had a vital role in how the combined city and county of San Francisco has been governed since 1898. Civic speaks to John Monson, the co-author of a civil grand jury report “Commission Impossible.” To create this report, the jury...

There’s a glimmer of hope in San Francisco’s overdose crisis as the rate at which people are dying appears to be slowing down. But the city’s health director warned the public that the death rate may not have peaked yet. Meanwhile, health and city officials who once advocated for a place where people could safely consume substances in case of overdose have gone silent on the topic. So we provide a...

Decisions by local and state governments have major impacts on our daily lives. But as transparency about those decisions decreases, and underfunded newsrooms struggle to get answers, many affected citizens are taking matters into their own hands. San Francisco Public Press Executive Director Lila LaHood spoke with award-winning journalist Miranda Spivack, author of the  forthcoming book, “ Backro...

Increases in the number of migrants arriving in San Francisco have stress-tested the city’s shelter system, revealing the dire need for more housing and support for families. We talk to migrant parents driven out of their homes by violence and political upheaval about navigating San Francisco’s homeless response system and its impacts on their families’ health and wellbeing as they fight for a bet...

The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic led to a rise in fatal overdoses among the tens of thousands of Indigenous Maya living in the Bay area. That alarmed Latinx advocates and officials at the Mexican consulate in San Francisco. Indigenous Latin Americans are categorized as Latinx even though many speak limited Spanish. That means vital information, like drug awareness campaigns and the dangers of f...

The first years of the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us and it’s time for an early reckoning of our successes and failures. An epidemiologist shares how a lack of public trust led to unnecessary deaths. AIDS activists discuss the importance of facing trauma and a woman who lost her father to COVID is fighting for a memorial for those who died. 

Three years ago, when violence against Asian Americans spiked, local organizations took action to improve public safety. One group, the Coalition for Community Safety and Justice in San Francisco, is still doing that work. In this episode, we join them for one of their recurring community visits in the Richmond District. Outreach workers share how they connect with business owners and residents an...

Lila LaHood, publisher of the San Francisco Public Press, talks with Nuala Bishari from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sydney Johnson from KQED, and Sylvie Sturm from “Civic” and the San Francisco Public Press about their reporting on drug use, public policy and and substance use disorder treatment in San Francisco. They discuss the harm reduction philosophy and practice, San Francisco’s inconsisten...

Election Special: Voters in San Francisco registered with the Peace & Freedom, Green, Republican or Democratic parties have extra choices in the March 5th election that only come around once every four years — the party county central committees. We talk to a political strategist to discuss the power dynamics of these committees in San Francisco and find out what voters are tasked to choose. We al...

March 2024 Election Special: Mayor London Breed is facing one of the most pivotal moments of her political career as she campaigns for reelection amidst a dual crisis of addiction and homelessness. Her solution is a ballot measure that would compel welfare recipients to submit to drug addiction screening and treatment in order to get cash benefits. We explore the fierce debate that has rippled acr...

March 2024 Election Special: Why are San Francisco residents being asked to vote on County Superior Court Judges? We talk to University of San Francisco professor of politics Keally McBride about the slate of candidates, how the process works, and what people should be thinking about when considering their vote.

*Audio fixed - Previously uploaded episode was the wrong audio and has been fixed* Fentanyl-related deaths among teens more than tripled across the U.S. from 2019 to 2021. And the CDC reports that two thirds of teens who died had someone nearby who didn’t provide an overdose response. Now San Francisco high school students are signing up for training sessions on how to recognize drug abuse and rev...

Fentanyl-related deaths among teens more than tripled across the U.S. from 2019 to 2021. And the CDC reports that two thirds of teens who died had someone nearby who didn’t provide an overdose response. Now San Francisco high school students are signing up for training sessions on how to recognize drug abuse and reverse overdoses. And it’s not just teens who want to help. City residents are carryi...

The Fight for Safe Consumption Sites: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 5 As overdose fatalities reach two to three deaths a day in San Francisco, demands for supervised consumption sites are getting more urgent. But city leaders are increasingly reluctant. And health officials who once campaigned for them are now conspicuously silent. We investigate San Francisco’s long fight for safe co...