Monterey County Community Service & Support Digest

The Monterey Peninsula Foundation has awarded a grant of $60,000 to local nonprofit Community Human Services to fund two programs helping homeless youth.

Red Dress Day is May 3 in Seaside, a commemorative event to bring awareness to the issue of violence against Indigenous people.

The nonprofit Veterans Transition Center's Lightfighter Village in Marina has been completed, and the 71-unit veterans transitional living facility is welcoming its first tenants.

Food aid is one of numerous competing priorities California lawmakers will have to juggle in the face of steep potential federal cuts.

A $5 billion pot of federal money set aside to help people on the verge of homelessness pay the rent is running out of cash — and no one has a plan to keep the roughly 60,000 renters, more than 15,000 of them in California — from losing their housing after the last dollar is spent.

Ruby Marichalar couldn’t get an in-person meeting after California’s crime victim compensation fund denied her claim. She wasn’t the only one.

Read on for details about a report on the 2-year Yolo County Basic Income Program which ended in April 2024.

The largest marine sanctuary in the continental U.S. starts at the ocean’s edge in San Francisco. It’s bigger than Yellowstone National Park. And it could use a little help.The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary stretches from Marin County to the southern end of Big Sur and has a host of volunteer opportunities, from water quality monitoring to on-the-water kayaking naturalist, according to a press release Friday.

COMMUNITY VOLUNTEERS ARE proving that they play a vital role when it comes to public safety in California. The California Reentry Institute, directed by Collette Carroll to help potential parolees, has graduated more than 230 incarcerated individuals in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center.

Learn more about the annual fundraising day on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, this year falling on December 3.

A two-month running "estate sale" sale in Carmel Valley of items donated by community members raised over $43,000 to benefit the Housing for Kids Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County and Center for Spiritual Awakening in Pacific Grove.

A new housing resource hub offering navigation services and financial assistance opened at 212 North Main Street in Salinas.

Beginning Monday, 150 households in Fresno County are expected to receive a $500 prepaid card to spend on anything they’d like — no strings attached. It will be the first of 12 monthly recurring payments those Southwest Fresno and Huron residents will receive as part of a guaranteed basic income program for low-income families.

Gov. Gavin Newsom launched the community school initiative with $4.1 billion in grants to connect students and their families to medical care, counseling and other services.

Monterey Peninsula Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Monica Lal will be adding to her repertoire with her appointment to the California Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors.

Changes are coming to the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, starting with the arrival of its new executive director, Dr. Rachel Miller, in early March.

Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta will be inducted into the California Hall of Fame in a Feb. 6 ceremony. He will be part of the 17th class of leaders.

Students throughout the nation have been engaging in environmental stewardship projects, as part of NOAA’s Ocean Guardian School program.

Dorothy’s Place, a nonprofit that provides essential services and transitional support to people experiencing homelessness and extreme poverty, unveils a new sustainability plan.

The Big Sur Food & Wine Foundation has awarded 17 grants worth a record $225,000 to local organizations with funds raised in 2023. Activities included the Big Sur Fashion Show, the Ferrari Event at the Barnyard, and more.

A long-serving business community leader in Big Sur has called it quits after being at the helm of an organization that served not only businesses but the populace during good and bad times.

“Progress remains slow,” according to a recent report on faculty diversity at California’s community colleges. For Nikia Chaney, the sole full-time Black faculty member at Cabrillo College, the experience is personal.

Emery Unified took a targeted approach, including paying teachers extra to stay after school and tutor students.

State audits of the University of California and the California State University found both systems have failed to comply with decades-old state and federal laws mandating the return of Native ancestral remains and cultural artifacts. Only UCLA and Cal State Long Beach have returned a majority of their collections.

The financial aid application for undocumented students is cumbersome and confusing, and many students aren’t completing the forms. A new law streamlines the process.

Federal funding for domestic violence shelters and housing programs is declining. Advocates want the state to step in, but with a record projected deficit new spending is unlikely.

Despite a few improvements, results show students are still struggling on several fronts.

All but two California counties are delaying their implementation of a new law that makes it easier for a court to place someone in involuntary confinement if they can’t care for their own medical needs or personal safety.

The California Faculty Association is seeking a 12 percent pay increase, while university officials counter with 5 percent in each of the next three years.

In 2020, the state agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit that claimed too many students were not learning to read. As part of that agreement, the state spent over $50 million on 75 schools with the lowest reading scores.

San Diego-area nonprofits and faith organizations struggle to provide for tens of thousands of migrants border agents have released on San Diego streets.

If there’s one way to alleviate colder weather, it’s with a steaming hot bowl of soup. Pajaro Valley Prevention and Student Assistance provided exactly that.