11 minute read
PINOYS
ABNER GALINO, Fil-Am News Editor
Fil-Am Community
Visit www.Balita.com Saturday-Friday | December 5 - 11, 2020
Free internet to homeless; foster youth and children with disabilities
Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced the creation of the Angeleno Connectivity Trust (ACT), an initiative to help deliver internet access to vulnerable young people — including students experiencing homelessness, those in foster care, and youth with disabilities.
Working with T-Mobile’s Project 10Million, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, and several community-based organizations, ACT will off er 100 GB of free internet connectivity to students who need it the most. The agreement would provide that level of connectivity to 18,000 students for fi ve years, renewable on an annual basis.
“The COVID-19 crisis has created extraordinary challenges for our most vulnerable young people,” said Mayor Garcetti. “ACT will help ensure connectivity for students who face some of the highest hurdles, by deploying a community-led response to help close the digital divide for students too often shut out of quick or easy internet access.”
“T-Mobile’s Project 10Million is all about helping students AND educators, and we are proud to support Mayor Garcetti as he works to provide the tools and resources kids need to keep up with their connected peers,” said Mike Katz, executive vice president of T-Mobile for Business.
ACT builds upon the work of Mayor Garcetti’s Telecommunications and Digital Equity Forum, a regular convening of City agencies and private sector telecommunications actors that focuses on ways to improve internet access equitably across the City.
The initiative will identify students in need through partnerships with the City’s YouthSource and FamilySource Centers, the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), L.A. Public Library, and local organizations including Brotherhood Crusade, School on Wheels, North Valley Caring Services, and the Coalition for Responsible Community Development.
This effort comes after the Mayor’s recent announcement of a separate program to provide free internet to L.A. residents living in public housing developments. "The pandemic has exacerbated the inequities that some students face, and connectivity and accessibility aff ected our students — unhoused students — tremendously,” said Charles Evans, Executive Director of School on Wheels.
“Our students went too long without the basics: no computer, no wifi , no home, and very little hope. So we are fully committed, moving forward, to lessening the digital and connectivity divide that our students face and providing them with as many resources as possible to keep up with their studies."
To find more information about ACT, families and students can visit LAMayor.org/Connectivity or call 311. Angelenos can also visit the Get Connected Los Angeles site at GetConnectedLosAngeles.LACity.org — a partnership with the Mayor’s Offi ce, California Emerging Technologies Fund, Everyone On, Human-IT, and the City’s Information Technology Agency — to learn about free and low-cost options for Angelenos to get internet access and devices.
Mayor Garcetti is leading Los Angeles through the pandemic with a focus on ensuring equity and access to resources for all Angelenos — off ering free COVID-19 testing citywide, delivering tenant protections and rental relief funds, and providing cash assistance to some of the city’s hardest-hit households.
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Consistent with previous years, the highest incidence of Valley fever in 2019 was reported in counties in the Central Valley and Central Coast regions of California, including Kern, Kings, San Luis Obispo, Fresno, Tulare, Madera, and Monterey counties. "With the continued increase in Valley fever cases, people living and working in the Central Valley and Central Coast regions of California should take steps to avoid breathing in dusty air outside," said Dr. Erica Pan, CDPH Acting State Public Health Offi cer.
“Although the symptoms of Valley fever can be similar to those of COVID-19, it’s important that individuals with lingering cough and fatigue also talk to a healthcare provider about Valley fever, especially if they have been outdoors in dusty air. People who work primarily outdoors such as construction workers and others that dig or disturb soil should especially learn more about the prevention of Valley fever.”
Valley fever, also known as coccidioidomycosis, or “cocci”, is caused by breathing in the spores of a fungus that grows in the soil and dirt in some areas of California.
The fungal spores, which are too small to see, can be present in dust that gets into the air when it is windy or when soil is disturbed, such as digging during construction.
This fungus usually infects the lungs and can cause respiratory symptoms including cough, fever, chest pain, and tiredness.
In most people, the infection will go away on its own, but anyone who has these symptoms for more than a week should ask their healthcare provider if their symptoms could be Valley fever.
While anyone can get Valley fever, those most at-risk for severe disease include people who are Black or Filipino, adults 60 years or older, pregnant women, and people with diabetes or conditions that weaken the immune system.
In severe disease, the infection can spread to other parts of the body, and in these serious cases, prolonged antifungal medicine is required.
A person can reduce their risk of Valley fever by taking steps to avoid breathing in dust in areas where Valley fever is common:
When it is windy outside and the air is dusty, stay indoors and keep windows and doors closed.
While driving, keep car windows closed and use recirculating air conditioning, if available.
If individuals must be outdoors in dusty areas, they should consider wearing a properly fi tted N95 mask.
To raise statewide awareness of Valley fever among the general public and healthcare providers, CDPH posts data monthly, issues periodic updates, and provides educational materials on the CDPH website.
During 2019-2020, CDPH implemented a multimedia Valley fever awareness campaign to reach more people and providers, including people living in areas with moderate to high rates of Valley fever and those at risk for severe disease. Lessons learned from this awareness campaign will be used in CDPH’s continued eff orts to address Valley fever in California.
For more information on Valley fever, please visit CDPH’s “Could Be Valley Fever” webpages.
L.A. County targets rising hate crimes
By MARK HEDIN Ethnic Media Services
Los Angeles city and county officials, educators, health care providers and community-based organizations are teaming up to provide resources against hate crimes, a problem worsened by the stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To highlight this eff ort, a group of city and county offi cials and private sector executives announced the fi rst “United Against Hate Week” on Monday, Nov. 30.
The campaign comes less than a year after the county introduced the nation’s fi rst hate-crime hotline, 211. In its fi rst six months of operation, 13% of the calls to 211 were COVID-related.
“Hate is on the rise nationally, not just in our region,” said Robin Toma, director of the county Comm ission on Human Relations.
An FBI report released in mid-November found that 2019 had the most hate crimes recorded in more than 10 years, and the most hate-motivated killings since the 1990s.
“This has been a tough year in many ways,” Toma said.
“We know that this is a time of anxiety and fear that can lead to scapegoating and stereotyping.”
But at the same time, he said, people are standing up for each other and their communities. The campaign is looking forward to bringing together millions of people in that eff ort.
Debra Duardo, superintendent of the county’s Offi ce of Education which oversees 80 school districts, emphasized students “knowing that they’re welcomed, loved and included. Making sure that bullying is never ignored, always addressed and never tolerated.
“The earlier we start, the better,” she said. That means that education should be inclusive of a multicultural
LA County to launch program to help restaurants get $30K assistance
In an eff ort to assist restaurants aff ected by the COVID-19 restrictions, Los Angeles County will launch the Keep LA County Dining Grant Program on Thursday (December 3).
The Keep LA County Dining Grant will provide $30,000 to use as working capital for employee payroll expenses, capital to continue operations, payment of outstanding business expenses, and adaptive business practices needed to remain open. Preference will be given to restaurants that provided outdoor dining as of November 24, 2020.
The Program, approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on November 24, 2020, and operated by the Los Angeles County Development Authority, will be available to small businesses located in the County of Los Angeles, not including the Cities of Los Angeles and Pasadena, that can demonstrate that their business was impacted by COVID-19 through a hardship due to closure and a reduction in revenue.
Businesses that have already received assistance from other Los Angeles County Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act programs are not eligible for this Program.
“Earlier this year, restaurants made incredible sacrifi ces to align with public safety protocols in order to open for in person dining and help pay their bills,” said Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
“These restaurants, the vast majority of which employ fewer than 25 people, truly represent the small business community that drives the County’s economic engine. The recent health offi cer orders to close in person dining was a devastating blow and as a result, the Board identifi ed the need to immediately deploy grant funding to support these impacted small businesses.”
“Restaurants are integral to the economic, social, and cultural fabric of our County,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Chair Pro Tem Hilda L. Solis.
“They contribute to the historical identity of our communities and are also responsible for employing a workforce that is dependent on jobs with low barriers to entry for their livelihood. I am keenly aware that many are not in agreement with the recent temporary suspension of outdoor dining, but it is necessary to protect our collective well-being. Nonetheless, it is critical that we continue to assist this sector by providing funding to impacted restaurants so that we can help keep them afl oat while we weather this pandemic together. Together is the only way that we can beat this virus, not alone and not divided.”
“This pandemic and the recent closure of outdoor dining has been devastating to our restaurants and restaurant workers,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn.
The application period will begin Thursday, December 3, 2020, at 12:00 a.m., and be available through Sunday, December 6, 2020, at 11:59 p.m., or until 2,500 applications are received, whichever comes fi rst.
For additional program information, please visit keeplacountydining. lacda.org or call (626) 943-3833. Questions regarding the grant program can be sent to keeplacountydining@lacda.org.
All media may contact Elisa Vasquez, LACDA Public Information Offi cer, at (626) 586-1762.
community in its subject matter, such as ethnic studies, in a faculty that refl ects the community, in empowering our children to love themselves and their culture, to know their culture and to teach empathy and relationship building, sometimes beginning as early as preschool, she said.
It’s not only the right thing to do, said Maria Salinas of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, it’s
good business to help ensure “a safe, inclusive and respectful workplace.
“This is our future workforce. The most important infrastructure that business has is people,” she said.
“It’s something we are going to have to deal with for a long time,” cautioned Capri Maddox, the fi rst director of Los Angeles’ new (city) Department of Civil and Human Rights
The LGBTQ and Asian American Pacifi c Islander communities as particular targets, she said, but cited also, as recently as the Saturday after the Nov. 3 election when Joe Biden was declared president-elect, having to respond to hateful imagery painted at the large African American church of which she herself is a member.
John Baackes, CEO of LA. Care, which has 2.3 million members in the county, cited the toll that the stresses of hate and intolerance add to people’s burdens and also called for increased emphasis on mental health care. Toma emphasized that the 211 line is not just for reporting incidents, but also a guaranteed portal for getting help. “Anyone who calls 211 will get an off er of assistance,” he said. Although “we know that many more acts occur than are reported,” he said, the 211 line is “not just reporting.”
Although many calls do result in police interventions, there are also dozens of community organizations that provide assistance.
The line is open 24 hours every day and speakers of any language can use it.
The United Against Hate Week program, endorsed so far by 25 cities, features workshops, screenings, concerts and art installations up and down the state.
A list is available at https://unitedagainsthateweek.org/fi nd-events.
The campaign’s website, LAvsHate.org, off ers an array of downloadable graphics, some tailored to specifi c communities, available for sharing.
