On January 21st, 2024, the workers of Planned Parenthood Northern California announced the formation of their union, PPNorCal United, in partnership with SEIU 1021. Redwood Voice Director Persephone Rose talks with Organizing Committee Member Syd Long about the entire ordeal—what led to unionizing, demands, upper management reception, where things stand with negotiations, and the story so far. A special thanks to Syd Long for making this video possible!
Redwood Voice’s Rory McCain covers the preliminary hearing between the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund versus the State of California regarding the lack of special education teachers in Del Norte County.
Bryce Evans of Redwood Voice has an interview with Valerie Starkey, the District 2 Supervisor of Del Norte County and a member of the Reaching Rural Del Norte representatives, about the Reaching Rural Initiative. With little information available online, the interview helps explain just what this initiative will hopefully do for rural communities. The full interview is below, with a shorter cut available here.
In early December of 2022, Bryce Evans of Redwood Voice sat down with the principal of Del Norte Highschool, Alison Eckart, to discuss the rumors of fentanyl on school grounds that had begun with the new school year. The interview itself, while centered around fentanyl, delves into several other subjects.
In September of 2021, The U.S Department of Education accepted the Yurok Tribe’s Promise Neighborhood grant application for $30 million, which created the Klamath River Promise Neighborhood, one of only seven in the nation.
Through a five year initiative, the tribe and their 16 partners will administer the $30 million throughout Del Norte County and its school district, and bring together tribes, schools, community-based organizations, local government, and parent & resident groups with the plan to improve outcomes for children and students.
Redwood Voice spoke with Josh Norris from the Yurok Tribe Education Department. He is also the initiative lead for the Klamath River Promise Neighborhood.
The Yurok Tribe has many goals to aim toward during these five years, and as the only indigenous tribe with a Promised Neighborhood Grant, they are trailblazing a better future.
Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors Meeting (ZOOM Recording)
At Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Chris Howard pressed Tom Kelem about the proposed fiscal sponsor of an LGBTQ+ Resource Database that the county had prior granted a Mental Health Service Act contract to. This was due to Queer Humboldt (the aforementioned fiscal sponsor) having values that are “anti-racist, anti-colonialist.” Supervisor Howard bombarded Mr. Kelem with questions about what exactly those values meant, expressing concern that they were hypocritical due to the county funding them. This implies that the county government of Del Norte County is pro-settler colonialism, and that threats to colonialist values will not be tolerated.
Kelem responded to the questioning that “he wasn’t there when they made those ideas.” He then defended Queer Humboldt, as they are non-profit organization willing to be the fiscal sponsor for this endeavor, that are also involved in LGBT issues, he stated that “that seemed like a really good fit to me.” Howard would not take this answer however, and then proceeded to seemingly cow the rest of the Board to not second the motion or ask any further questions. This deprives the LGBTQ+ community of Del Norte comprehensive and easy access to mental health services and resources in our area. In an already isolated community, this exacerbates the issue of feeling alone and unable to find help in Del Norte County.
In an article from The Trevor Project published December 15th, 2021 the following statistics are lined out.
LGBTQ+ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. (Johns et al., 2019; Johns et al., 2020)
The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth (13-24) seriously consider suicide each year in the U.S. — and at least one attempts suicide every 45 seconds.
The Trevor Project’s 2022 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.
The article continues to state many other statistics including how social support and practices supporting LGBTQ+ youth help curb that rate significantly. Supervisor Howard claimed during the April 26th Candidate forum that he is in favor of providing mental health services for our community, and yet when an opportunity arises to do so for an underserved population he strikes it down due to colonialist sentiment. While Supervisor Chris Howard led the questioning, no other Supervisor spoke up in defense of Mr. Kelem or the program. When one does not speak up against acts of prejudice they are no better than the one who has prejudiced.
Supervisor Chris Howard on Mental Health in Del Norte
Free COVID-19 vaccinations and tests are being given all across Del Norte County, with most clinics accepting walk-ins! Everyone 5 years of age and older are now able to get vaccinated and tested, so be sure to visit your local clinic or pharmacy.
In Crescent City, vaccinations and tests are available at:
-Sutter Coast Hospital on 800 East Washington Blvd. Mondays thru Fridays from 9am to 4pm.
-Elk Valley Rancheria on 2332 Howland Hill Rd. Vaccinations are on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am to 1pm.
Testings are on Tuesdays at the Rancheria from 1pm to 3pm / Thursdays from 1pm to 3pm at the Elk Valley Casino on 2500 Howland Hill Rd.
-Open Door Community Health Center on 550 E Washington Blvd. Vaccines will be by appointment.
In Smith River, vaccinations and tests are available at:
-The Howonquet Hall at 101 Indian Ct. on Mondays and Wednesdays from 10am to 2pm . Testings will be held the same days at the same location from 8:30am to 11:30am.
And in Klamath:
-Redwood Hotel and Casino at 171 Klamath Blvd has vaccinations and testings on Fridays from 9:30am to 11:30am.
Check out our video to see what the vaccination and testing sites look like! And for more information on where to get protected against COVID-19 in Del Norte County, visit https://www.covid19.dnco.org .
Have you received COVID-19 booster shot? The list of things that put people at risk of contracting the virus is long, which means that the list of people who need the booster shot is even longer.
Check out our video to understand why receiving a COVID-19 booster shot may be worthwhile for your health. And for more information, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/ .
It’s the kids’ turn to get protected from COVID-19! In Del Norte County, all community clinics and pharmacies are able to vaccinate children from 5-11 years old.
Children can easily contract, spread, and eventually get very sick from the COVID virus, and they could suffer the long term consequences from a viral infection. Luckily, the benefits of a vaccination outweigh the risks for the majority of people.
Check out our video where we answer all the questions parents might have about vaccinating their kids! And for more information, visit https://covid19.ca.gov/ .
This is the audio for the story that aired on KFUG Community News on 1/6/22
On Wednesday, Del Norte County Public Health released guidelines about Quarantining for Covid-19 in Del Norte. The new guidelines say that if you’ve been exposed and are unvaccinated or eligible for the booster shot and don’t have it, you must quarantine for 10 days after last contact with someone who has tested positive for Covid-19 and take a test within 5 to 7 days of last contact. If you have your booster shot or are not eligible for the booster, you only have to quarantine if you experience symptoms of Covid-19. These guidelines are more strict than the recent guidelines released by the Centers for Disease Control
KFUG contacted Del Norte County Public Health for clarification on the guidelines, we spoke with program manager, Melody Cannon-Cutts. According to Cannon-Cutts, Public Health is continuing the 10 day quarantine period previously directed by the CDC instead of the recently implemented 5 day quarantine period. According to Del Norte Public Health, this is because of concerns over rising Covid cases in Del Norte and Surrounding areas and because of concern that the 5 day quarantine isn’t long enough to protect Public Health in Del Norte County. According to Public Health, this is a County wide mandate. However it may conflict with the Del Norte Unified School District, which currently has a less restrictive policy. (We have to be clear that Public Health didn’t say it would conflict with DNUSD. I think this minor rewrite takes care of that).
As a DNUSD High School student, I have been told that the high school’s policy is that they would only require students to quarantine if they had been exposed and hadn’t been vaccinated or were experiencing symptoms, and while the Public Health Guidelines are similar, they are more restrictive than the school district’s. Public Health’s requirement of those exposed and eligible for the booster shot who have not received one is to quarantine for 10 days which could require most juniors and seniors to quarantine when they didn’t need to before. KFUG contacted the DNUSD office to check if they were changing their requirements to match those issued by Public Health on Wednesday afternoon, but we received no response by the time of recording.
In a related story, the Humboldt-Del Norte League (HDNL) has imposed a temporary mandate not allowing spectators at all HDNL athletic events beginning on January 7th until January 23rd. HDNL Commissioner, Jack Lakin, stated that this is because they are seeing rising Covid case numbers and this is likely the beginning of another surge. By taking this action, they want to help prevent more cases of Covid-19 in our area.
Since the original publication, we have found the Del Norte Unified School District’s updated Covid quarantine guidelines. The guidelines now require students to quarantine if they’ve been exposed to someone and had their vaccine more than 6 months ago without receiving a booster.
Telling the untold stories of Del Norte and Tribal Lands through amplified youth voices.
