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