NorCal Resist Archives - ChicoSol News

Ineligible for government relief, unauthorized workers suffer Nonprofits overwhelmed by need

photo courtesy of NorCal Resist

A volunteer for NorCal Resist delivers food to an immigrant family.

by Leslie Layton

Until disaster struck, Susana and her husband were employed by two Chico restaurants, supporting their three children by working in food preparation and dishwashing.

They paid social security and other taxes, but when the restaurants that employed them were closed two months ago as part of the state-mandated shelter-in-place, there was no government relief available for the family. read more

Caravan to Butte County will assist immigrants Many will receive no relief from the government

Sacramento-based NorCal Resist is asking for food and cash donations and gift cards for its May 16 Car Caravan to Butte County that will provide emergency pandemic assistance to immigrant families ineligible for government aid.

NorCal Resist organizer Autumn Gonzalez said many of the immigrant families that will be assisted with cash for rent or in other ways are Camp Fire survivors who contacted the organization’s hotline. read more

ChicoSol has confirmed the following deaths, all taking place on streets or in encampments in 2024:

River Chase Bernreuter, 25. His body was found Feb. 2 on Business Lane.

Kenneth James Corbitt, 44, whose body was found Feb. 5 on Fair Street.

Francisco Franco, 61, of Chico. His body was found Feb. 15 on Business Lane.

Julie Bergstrom, 41, of Oroville. Bergstrom was found dead Feb. 29 at the Alternate Site encampment approved by the City for unhoused individuals.

In a Jan. 17 email to ChicoSol, City Attorney John Lam said the City was not in violation of the Brown Act when it held a Jan. 6 emergency meeting.

Lam said the use of City property near The Hands sculpture in back of the Municipal Center by the nonprofit Safe Space the previous day had amounted to a “public take over.”

Safe Space, which operates an emergency winter sheltering program, ran intake in the space from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Jan. 5, an operation that it says proceeded smoothly. The group’s leadership said it believed that it was using public property as defined in the City code, and wasn’t required to get special permission.