I’ve never seen anything like it – a dangerous 1/2-acre park in one of the Bay Area’s most dangerous neighborhoods – the Iron Triangle in Richmond – turned into a thriving, beautiful oasis for the neighborhood’s children and families, who need the respite and the exercise. Here is a write up on it, below, with…

Here are the questions nearly 5,000 African American and Caribbean adults were asked: “How often do you receive poorer service than others at restaurants or stores?” (disrespectful discrimination); “How often do people act as if they’re better than you are” (condescending discrimination; “How often are you viewed as dishonest?” (character-based discrimination) and; “How often are…

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation just released an excellent report on obesity rates in the United States. While adult obesity rates increased in six states, that’s a slower climb than in the past, when almost all states showed increases. And rates are leveling off for children, thankfully. Surprisingly, at least to me, California has the…

In researching a book on distressed communities, nothing has become clearer than the role of education in lifting the health, and economic prospects, of a community. Yet as this article describes, poor kids face the greatest obstacles in succeeding in school. In one community I’m reporting in, a rural county in Northern California, 1 out…

This write-up has a clear, narrative summary of what’s doing on with health disparities, especially among blacks. Excellent charts too. From VOX: WHITE PRIVILEGE IS THE BEST MEDICINE Updated by Julia Belluz and Steven Hoffman on August 25, 2014, 7:00 a.m. ET With the eyes of the world on Ferguson, Missouri, our collective attention is focused on the different…