California Health Report

2 weeks ago | calhealthreport.org | Ricky Rodas

On a recent weekend, Maria Casas was tending to her plots at La Madera Community Garden in El Monte. Casas carefully watered her brightly colored flowers, zucchini and plump, red tomatoes in the garden plot nestled in Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Valley. Once the tomatoes are ripe, she’ll pick them and make sauce in bulk, preserving the harvest in mason jars. “Instead of going to the store and buying what we need, we are going to the garden and harvesting it,” Casas said.

2 months ago | calhealthreport.org | Tammy Eden Shaff |Jeremy Cantor

Housing affordability and homelessness are a top concern across California communities. Solutions so far have focused on closing the gap between housing supply and demand, but that will take years, decades or generations to fully implement. In the meantime, local communities are trying to figure out how to address the conditions and challenges unhoused individuals experience that take years off their lives and make it harder for them to return to stable housing.

2 months ago | calhealthreport.org | Ricky Rodas

Wyatt Ahders had a routine. Every week, the 18-year-old would step out his front door and walk to friends’ houses in the neighborhood. Along the way, he’d stop and exchange hellos with any neighbors he passed. Then that routine was disrupted. The Ahders’ family home burned in the recent Palisades fire. Along with it, Ahders, who has autism, lost his familiar schedule that brought him a sense of security.

Mar 27, 2025 | calhealthreport.org | Claudia Boyd-Barrett

On a recent evening in downtown Oakland, seven women sat on couches arranged in a circle around a table with flickering candles, passing around a small, pink ball. Each passing of the ball signified the holder’s turn to speak, while the rest of the group listened. The women shared how they were feeling, recent challenges they’d faced and about people they were grateful for. Then it was facilitator Kusum Crimmel’s turn to speak.

Mar 19, 2025 | calhealthreport.org | Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Jessica Pequeño of Napa has been taking breaks from watching the news lately. But when she opens her social media feeds for the support groups she frequents for parents of children with disabilities, they’re full of panicked chatter about the news she’s been trying to avoid.