Viewing the world with empathy A first-hand experience with Point-in-Time

photo by Yucheng Tang
Elvert Richardson checks for homeless people or encampments under a bridge near the Chico State campus.

by Yucheng Tang
posted Feb. 4

It was not a normal stroll.

“We need to check the lower part of the slope next to the creek. The homeless always set up their camps there,” Elvert Richardson said to me on a recent sunny Wednesday morning, while we were walking along Big Chico Creek on the north side of Chico State campus.

I was one of the 280 registered volunteers for the Point-in-Time count in Butte County on Jan. 29, there to learn about homelessness as a reporter. Every team, usually consisting of three to four people, was sent out by the Butte County Homeless Continuum of Care (CoC), a local planning body, to count unsheltered people and conduct the survey in an assigned area. read more

Protesters: Immigrants built America 'Un Día sin Inmigrantes' spurs protests in Butte County and elsewhere

photo by Yucheng Tang
Magdalen Riestra (middle in photo) organized a same-day protest for the Day without Immigrants. Some Chico State students stayed home from work or class.

by Yucheng Tang
posted Feb. 3

More than 100 people participated in a peaceful protest to show solidarity with immigrants today in Chico, and more hit the streets in Gridley and elsewhere in the state.

Participants marched around Chico State, danced spontaneously in City Plaza, and stood on the sidewalk next to the plaza, holding signs and shouting at passing vehicles.

Magdalen Riestra, 21, a public health student at Chico State, organized the protest. read more

Activist shops for empathy at Saturday market Changemaker: Charles Withuhn rolls the boulder uphill

photo by Yucheng Tang
Charles Withuhn is president of the North State Shelter Team.

by Yucheng Tang
posted Jan. 28

Editor’s note: This is the first story in a series called “Changemakers” that ChicoSol will run monthly in an effort to highlight some of the remarkable work underway in our community.

Standing in front of his booth at the Chico Certified Farmers Market, Charles Withuhn greets passersby on this winter Saturday.

He shakes hands with some and passes out newsletters or fliers produced by the North State Shelter Team (NSST). Some people stop to listen and some barely show interest. Even though some people ignore him, Withuhn — like the mythological Sisyphus who relentlessly rolled a boulder up to a mountain top only to have the boulder roll down — just keeps making attempts at conversation. read more

Hmong elders may face isolation, animosity California hotline and Oroville's cultural center offer assistance

photo by Yucheng Tang
Seng Yang, director of Butte County’s Hmong Cultural Center.

by Yucheng Tang
posted Jan. 21

Among more than a thousand reports received by the California vs Hate hotline in the first year, the most commonly cited form of hate was based on race and ethnicity.

Anti-Black bias was the most common, followed by anti-Latino and anti-Asian, said Kevin Kish, director of the California Civil Rights Department, during a Jan. 17 briefing organized by Ethnic Media Services (EMS). read more

Saving the nation begins “inside of us” Pastor Robert Morton reminds a Chico audience that hope is necessary

photo by Yucheng Tang
Keynote speaker Pastor Robert Morton

by Yucheng Tang
posted Jan. 20

Pastor Robert Morton told an audience of hundreds that “saving” the country requires “seeing value in your neighborhood” during a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., celebration held Jan. 19 at St John’s Episcopal Church in Chico.

“I’m not entirely sure how America is going to be saved,” Morton said. “But if she is, it begins in here, it begins inside of us, it begins not simply by us marching, not by us protesting, not by us arguing or fighting or being keyboard warriors in the comments section. But it begins by you seeing value in your neighborhood.” read more

People’s March on Chico prepares to fight for change Voting is important on everything from "dog-catcher to president"

by Yucheng Tang
posted Jan. 18

Hundreds of people joined the People’s March on Chico today, marching from City Plaza to the Women’s Club as many passing drivers honked in support, prompting cheers and screams from the protesters.

Lead coordinator of the People’s March Chico coalition and Women’s March Chico, Angela Silva, said the coalition formed in “response to Trump’s second election. We have welcomed in so many groups.” Silva said more than 500 people participated in the march and rally. read more