Oakland

Dinora Hernandez’s three children make bracelets at home in Oakland, California. Every Tuesday, Hernandez heads to a local food bank, assistance that allows her to wire cash to family in El Salvador.

‘I want to send more money home’: Remittances are a sign of sacrifice, resilience in immigrant communities during pandemic

Economics

In all, people worldwide sent a total of $540 billion home last year, only dropping by 1.6% from 2019 — a smaller drop than during the 2009 global financial crash. 

A man in a yellow shirt helps fix the bike of an elder leaning over bike wearing casual clothes and cap

Oakland’s Chinatown finds solutions to hate crimes

Community
(Clockwise from top left) Meklit Hadero in red lighting, Sinkane stsnding in front of wooden wall, Diana Gameros standing in front of a brick wall and Hello Psychaleppo looking down at a keyboard.

Four musicians grapple with the same question: What is home?

Movement
Khafre Jay, the executive director of Hip Hop for Change, based in Oakland, says he has experienced anti-black actions from Indian Americans when visiting his in-laws in Sunnyvale, a suburb of the Bay Area that is majority South Asian.

A Black radio host calls on South Asian Americans to reject racism

Detained immigrants are seen at Otay Mesa immigration detention center in San Diego, May 18, 2018.

Trump administration retaliates against states trying to lessen use of immigrant detention

A man stands next to a white board.

Growth of Oakland’s Guatemalan community sparks interest in Mam

In Oakland, Calif., there’s a growing number of Guatemalan migrants and asylum seekers. Some speak an Indigenous language — Mam. One class offered at a community college helps English and Spanish speakers learn the language.

A man holds a boy on his lap.

California governor halts deportations of 2 Cambodian refugees, thwarting Trump administration

Immigration

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pardon of state convictions is widely interpreted as a rebuke to Trump administration policies.

A school campus with small blue buildings

Newcomer students face daunting obstacles to graduate. This California high school makes it possible.

Global Nation Education

Often, migrant teens have to work to pay for their own rent or help with family expenses.  High school can be overwhelming. Rusdale High School, just for immigrant students 16 or older, accommodates their needs to help them achieve.

A teacher speaks in front of the classroom.

In this California classroom, students teach each other their home languages — and learn acceptance

One ethnic studies teacher in Oakland, California, noticed that her students, who come from all over the world, had some trouble relating to each other. So, she created a video dictionary so that the students can teach each other words and phrases from their home country.

class

This sex trafficking survivor is moving on — by learning how to code

Jessica Hubley, one of the founders of AnnieCannons, wanted to teach survivors something that was actually viable in the job market — and in the Bay Area, where she is based, nothing made more sense than software development.