Placer County Community Service & Support Digest

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

The Live Your Dream grants are open to women who provide the primary financial support for their families and are enrolled in an educational program with an aim to become financially self sufficient.

Volunteers are needed for the Placer County Free Tax Prep program for the 2025 tax season.

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.

The Sacramento Region Community Foundation announced the May 2 Big Day of Giving had raised $13.2 million in donations to 826 nonprofits in El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties.

Soroptimist International of Loomis Basin recently named the recipients of $13,000 in education awards.

The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe has a time-limited opportunity to purchase a land parcel encompassing 232 acres located on a historic Nisenan Village site called Yulića near Nevada City.

The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe has a time-limited opportunity to purchase 232 acres on a Nisenan Village site called Yulića—the tribe’s best opportunity to re-establish a homeland in more than half a century.

The Placer County Board of Supervisors took action to appoint George Alves to the Placer County Planning Commission, representing District 2.

Dry Creek Conservancy has announced its Adopt-A-Creek volunteer opportunities in partnership with the city of Roseville Stormwater Management Division.

“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.

ABT Plumbing, Electric, Heating & Air is reinvigorating its ABT Gives Back program, launched as an effort to build awareness and financial support for nonprofits in the Nevada County and Placer County areas.

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.

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.

The 40 Acre Conservation League has recently acquired hundreds of acres of land in Placer County, 70 miles northeast of Sacramento—a significant step toward making outdoor experiences more inclusive.

On Dec. 11, Placer SPCA will open its doors for a festive Holiday Open House at the Placer SPCA Adoption and Education Center in Roseville.

Learning for Donner Trail Elementary School students took place in the Sierra Nevada forest on Defensible Space Stewardship Day, as the Truckee Fire Protection District and Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships helped students reduce the threat of wildfires and help community members in need.

Every Christmas for the past 30 plus years, the Tommy Apostolos shopping spree has purchased new clothes and shoes for children in need.

State law requires community colleges to spend at least half their general fund on instructors. But administrators say they want more flexibility to pay for the growing need for student services.

Tiny homes are increasingly California cities’ shelter option of choice — but how far they go in solving homelessness is a contentious question.

After years of planning a broadband system to bridge California’s digital divide, officials deprioritized some low-income areas due to unexpected costs. Gov. Gavin Newsom says he’s committed to funding the entire network, but advocates are skeptical.

Despite an influx of money to counter learning loss during the pandemic, English language arts and math test scores remain low.

With the growing use of AI, campus officials are trying to set clear guidelines for college application essays.

The facts of climate change can lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair. Some California activists are creating communities for people to talk about those feelings.

The CPUC is considering a rule that would gut the payments that solar panels on apartment buildings receive, and many housing groups are blazing mad about it.