San Joaquin County Families & Children Digest

Applications are open for up to 200 low-income Black and Indigenous families in Sacramento County with children age 5 and under as part of a state-funded one-year guaranteed income pilot program.

Birth centers are popular options for families who want to deliver a baby outside of a hospital. Nineteen of them closed in California in the past decade, deepening the state’s maternity care crisis.

With its opening still months away, the Thomas Toy Teen Center is seeking donations and volunteers, and is hosting an open house on August 15.

The new Thomas Toy Community Center at 602 East Yosemite Avenue in Manteca opened for a "sneak preview" game night on July 25 and received positive reviews from local teens.

As the new school year approaches, local community group is seeking community donations to help it reach its goal of acquiring 1,500 backpacks for distribution to underprivileged children this summer.

San Joaquin County community group Ray of Hope is urgently seeking donations of food and school supplies to help fill the summer gap in meals for school age youth and to prepare for the coming school year.

The state is directly investing money for low-income students and all newborns to attend college. After two years, the program is still not widely known by the students who need the most financial assistance.

The Manteca Unified School District began its free Seamless Summer Lunch program on May 28 for children ages 2 to 18.

Lodi House Executive Director Shelby Young announced she is resigning after leading the organization for the last eight years.

The San Joaquin Board of Supervisors approved a $10,000 grant to the Tracy Boys and Girls Club to support youth sports programs.

Heiress Paris Hilton is on a mission to shine a light on the "troubled teen industry," a largely unregulated multibillion-dollar industry that is gaining public scrutiny for alleged abuse of vulnerable youths.

Evictions have exacerbated homelessness nationwide, increasing the rate of homeless infants and toddlers. Most of those children are not enrolled in early education programs.

Located at Yosemite and Fremont Avenues in Manteca, the two-story 8,000 square foot building is being renovated to as a meeting and connection space for local teens and is expected to open with limited services summer of 2024.

The state is to implement long-awaited new guidelines in 2025 despite some calls for a year’s delay.

Two San Joaquin Valley counties played a big role in developing two free apps to address the state’s youth mental health crisis.

The Assembly has until the end of January to decide the fate of the youth tackle football bill, which would prevent kids under 12 from playing the sport to protect them from brain trauma.

California’s projected budget deficit of close to $38 billion likely means some cuts are coming. Among them, Gov. Gavin Newsom has proposed ending the California State Park Adventure Pass, which offers free access to some state parks for fourth graders.

Pasadena is the only California city named a travel destination for 2024 by The New York Times. This comes despite the Los Angeles-area city being just the 45th-largest city in the state.

The 2024 California Children’s Report Card from an organization called Children Now noted that the state has failed to improve economic disparities for students. The report also dings the state for things like STEM offerings, early intervention and special education.

San Diego Unified School District has received more than $700 million in federal and state relief funds since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, with these funds ending, some schools could be facing serious deficits.

Leaders of a parental rights advocacy group announced they’re planning to sue California Attorney General Rob Bonta over the way his office has characterized a 2024 ballot initiative they authored.

Two-thirds of community college students in California admit to struggling to meet basic needs. The California Community Colleges’ Student Ambassador Program has empowered more than 50 students to act as resource guides to help them.

A law passed by the California legislature in 2023 has gone into effect banning licensed gun holders from bringing their firearms to places like playgrounds, churches and casinos. The law faces an ongoing challenge in the federal court system.

The dawn of 2024 meant that California’s minimum wage rose from $15.50 to $16 an hour. That puts the Golden State at the second-highest minimum wage for a U.S. state, trailing only Washington state at $16.28 an hour.

A 2021 law passed by the California legislature went into effect Jan. 1, requiring major retailers to maintain an aisle of toys marketed to people of either gender. The bill’s author, Evan Low, said the legislation will help kids “express themselves freely and without bias.”

California adopted several laws to increase access to contraception and abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade. The latest one eliminates out-of-pocket charges for birth control for millions of Californians.

The Van Buskirk Park renovation will include a new skate park, two full-size basketball courts, and BMX/bike trails with lights and landscaping.

In a report released by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, researchers instead lay out a plan for what society might do to improve adolescents’ interactions with social media.

Under a new law, employees in California are guaranteed five paid sick days a year, two days more than previously. Worker advocacy groups say the benefit is needed, but business groups warn of additional costs.

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.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has formally backed an August motion by two law groups to keep the Temecula Valley Unified School District from being able to notify parents about transgender children or censor instruction about race. A hearing for the motion is scheduled for Jan. 24.

The Exclusive Poultry Inc. agreed to pay $3.8 million in wages, damages and penalties in part for hiring children for dangerous work. The case is one of hundreds federal labor officials investigated last year.