Civic

Even for those eligible, it has been difficult to navigate the various coronavirus vaccine sign-up, notification, and appointment systems. In response to the disjointed publication of information from various clinics, providers, and governments, a group of volunteers with some technical know-how got together to build a statewide resource for finding vaccine appointments. What began as a spreadshee...

People who provide services to homeless individuals and families have become essential workers during the pandemic, often doing their jobs in person rather than from home. While they have been considered health workers and thus eligible for a vaccine, some have struggled to get them, even being turned away from the city’s vaccination site at Moscone Center. Mary Kate Bacalao, director of external...

The vast majority of staff and residents at the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living, one of the largest nursing homes in the region, have been vaccinated against the coronavirus. 94% of staff and 97% of residents have received the vaccine. The facility’s director of nursing and clinical operations, Peggy Cmiel, explains how this was done.

A series of violent crimes against Asian seniors in the Bay Area have sparked concern and calls to action, and a coalition of community groups organized public gatherings in San Francisco and Oakland this weekend to emphasize the need for additional resources and services to advance public safety. Lai Wa Wu, policy and alliance director at the Chinese Progressive Association, and Sara Wan, executi...

Carmen Chu is San Francisco’s new City Administrator, which means she is stepping in to a position with wide-ranging and extensive responsibilities — her office comprises more than 25 departments and programs — at a time when the city is under pressure to address the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, get residents and workers vaccinated, balance the budget and to address a corruption sc...

George Koster, host of the podcast and radio show “Voices of the Community,” returns to Civic to talk about new research on how the nonprofit sector is faring during the pandemic and share stories from nonprofits leaders he has interviewed about how they’re handling current economic challenges.

State legislation paved the way for public banks in 2019, and now, a local supervisor has authored city legislation that would create a working group to figure out how to create one in San Francisco. Jackie Fielder, co-founder of the SF Public Bank Coalition, has been advancing this model for years and outlines what this local legislation proposes.

Nine California legislators have proposed a slate of reform bills that would try to address some of the biggest obstacles to getting unemployment benefits to those who are eligible for them. Among them is state Assemblyman David Chiu, who says his office has been flooded with calls from desperate unemployed constituents.

At this year’s SF Urban Film Fest, several programs examining homelessness include activities in which participants will be asked to connect with one another. One of the films around which the events are arranged, “Quarantine Diary,” is a self-documentary about life in an RV produced by multimedia journalist Yesica Prado. She and Fay Darmawi, the film festival’s founder and executive director, dis...

Last year’s Proposition 22 allowed companies that dispatch app-based workers to continue considering them independent contractors, while adding some limited worker benefits. Veena Dubal, a professor of law at UC Hastings who conducts ethnographic and legal research on the gig economy, relays workers’ experiences and examines how the measure might be laying the groundwork for other industries to sh...

Undocumented workers have suffered severe income losses and are shut out of many types of government support. A mutual aid effort called Undocufund has raised and distributed more than $3 million. But thousands of applicants are still on a waitlist. Alejo, a co-director with Trabajadores Unidos Workers United, one of the organizations that run Undocufund, recounts the story of how the collaboratio...

The Mission District, and the city’s Latino population, have been among those hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, so the Latino Task Force has been working to help bring testing and the vaccine to where those most affected live and work. On Monday afternoon, after a new Mission vaccination center opened, Latino Task Force Health Committee Chair Jon Jacobo reflected on the effort.

This episode was updated at 8:15 p.m. on 2/3 to an extended version with the full statement from San Francisco's Covid Command Center.

Read Lauren Hepler and Emily Hoeven's reporting at calmatters.org .

San Francisco has a new poet laureate, city native and child of local organizers Tongo Eisen-Martin. He reflects on national politics in the wake of the summer uprisings against police brutality and racism, the Jan. 6 capitol riot, and the presidential inauguration and talks about the role of poetry in political organizing.

Read Portia Li's work at windnewspaper.com.

Millions of Californians have gotten a push notification on their phones asking them to opt in to get warnings from their phones if they have been in close proximity to someone who later tests positive for the coronavirus, all while keeping everyone involved anonymous. We wanted to know more about how exposure notifications work and exactly how well privacy is protected. Gennie Gebhart with the El...

Playing for Keeps will screen virtually Feb. 4-21 at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

San Francisco health officials have set an ambitious goal of vaccinating all 900,000 people who live and work in the city by the end of June, and took a step toward that goal Friday by opening a mass vaccination center at City College of San Francisco. The opening followed a hearing called by Supervisor Matt Haney earlier this week to answer outstanding questions about the city’s vaccination plan,...

As local mainstays — cafes, bars and restaurants — launch fundraisers to ask neighbors to help them survive indefinitely extended shelter-in-place orders, governments at all levels are offering up various forms of aid. In San Francisco, many of those supportive programs for businesses and workers come through the Office of Economic and Workforce Development. Director Joaquín Torres returns to Civi...

If a police officer was found to have used deadly force or inflicted serious injuries on the job, until 2019, disciplinary records about that incident had been kept secret. That changed when SB 1421, authored by state Senator Nancy Skinner, went into effect. In 2020, she moved to expand the legislation to also grant access to records about officers who engaged in biased or discriminatory behavior...

San Francisco has a vastly different attitude toward Cannabis than it did as recently as the 1990s. That's when Dennis Peron was fighting to get marijuana to HIV and cancer patients. Despite being repeatedly arrested, he helped lead the effort to legalize medical marijuana. A new documentary screening at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival from February 4 to February 21 tells his story.

Every year, organizers with the Anti Police Terror Project mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day with public actions meant to reclaim King’s radical legacy. This year they have adapted those actions to the pandemic and are working in the context of the recent riot at the US capitol. On the morning of Friday, January 15th, activists announced their plans and cited some of King’s stances and ideas that ha...

In these highlights from a recent reporter roundtable discussion, journalists share their experiences with local government agencies reducing access to records, data and interviews during emergency health orders. Hear from Lydia Chávez, executive editor at Mission Local, Trisha Thadani, a city hall reporter with the San Francisco Chronicle, Scott Morris, an investigative reporter, and independent...

After a mob of pro-Trump agitators stormed the Capitol last week, forcing a delay in the certification of the electoral vote for president, Twitter was the first social media platform to block Donald Trump from posting, with others soon following suit. Ali Alkhatib, a research fellow at the University of San Francisco’s Center for Applied Data Ethics, examines how platforms moderate content and en...