Intervention aimed at getting them to a Chico winter shelter
By Dave Waddell | Posted December 4, 2018
photo by Dave Waddell
Cindy Hurt
While some who had been living outside for months on a triangular island of city land seemed quite worried about their uprooting, 42-year-old Cindy Hurt said Monday’s intervention led by Chico police provided the prospects of a “solution.”
With the arrival of very cold and rainy weather, Chico PD’s so-called Target Team, along with Butte County Behavioral Health and Torres Shelter personnel, tried to usher an estimated 20 residents off the land, which is bordered by Little Chico Creek and Pine, Cypress and East 12th streets. Some residents were still packing up this morning.
Hurt, describing herself as “one of the original islanders,” said she is “used to a certain lifestyle” and had been living in a tent at the site since August.read more
Leanna Pebley, a 2018 Community Housing Improvement Program (CHIP) client, became a homeowner in March by helping in the construction of her new five-bedroom Orland house. “It is such an amazing feeling to have been a part of the construction of my home,” Pebley said.
“Whenever people are all, ‘Oh Leanna, you own a home now?’, it’s nice to say, ‘Oh, yea, we built it,’” Pebley said.
CHIP started as a partnership between Chico State and the city of Chico to help improve a small neighborhood south of campus through a housing rehab program. Since then, the nonprofit has expanded to serve seven counties including Butte, Glenn and Tehama. CHIP now assists low-income families, helping people who might otherwise lack the financial resources become homeowners through what it calls its “sweat equity” program and by providing rental and farm worker housing.read more
Although he’s dealt with typical challenges that come with being the first person in his family to attend a university, Samuel Akinwande’s route to Chico State was far from typical.
Akinwande was born and raised in Nigeria, moving at age 11 to Inglewood, where education took a backseat to everyday worry about simply making it home alive after a day’s schooling.
“We had no help in high school when pursuing higher education,” Akinwande said. “Our counselors literally gave us our transcripts and said figure it out. That’s it.”
Chico State presented its own brand of culture shock to Akinwande, now a senior in the social work and Multicultural and Gender Studies program. But he became involved in multiple clubs and activities, serving as president of the African Student Union and Associated Students’ director of university affairs.read more
The origin of Inday’s Restaurant started with a friendly neighborhood cookout 20 years ago after Ethel “Inday” Geiger emigrated from the Philippines to Chico.
Her deep craving for traditional Filipino meals was so persistent that she started preparing them at home with her husband, John Geiger.
Traditionally, Filipino homes have multiple generations living in a household. Adults often care for their aging parents while raising their own children. As a result, preparing large meals has been a regular occurrence for Inday Geiger.
To deal with hoards of leftovers, the Geigers started weekend neighborhood cookouts to share her culture, traditions and, most importantly, her food.read more
Youth activism lauded; election turmoil worried her
By Alisa Thorsen | Posted May 23, 2018
Kanako Otani
When Kanako Otani first left Hiroshima, Japan, to study at Chico State, she was afraid she would face discrimination on a daily basis. To Otani’s surprise, she found that the culture in the United States was very open, expressive and diverse.
“Here, I can pursue whatever I want and be whoever I want to be,” said Otani, who came to the United States four years ago. “In Japan we practice collectivism, so everyone tries to be the same. If you do something different you might be considered weird and a lot of people don’t like that.”
Otani, a communications major who graduated with a bachelor’s degree this spring, feels that she made the right decision to come to the United States. Her family and friends from Japan agree.read more
On this past Sunday morning, Charles Withuhn of the Chico Housing Action Team (CHAT), along with a retired contractor and nine Chico State students from the Tiny House Club, showed up behind the university’s Langdon Hall to get to work on the first tiny house in Chico. (Click on arrows to see slideshow below.)
Work begins
Students volunteer
On flatbed
Frame up
Their goal for the day: To put up the framed walls they’d previously hammered together at another work session.
Withuhn said they were building the tiny house because of the many “unsheltered” people in our community. The goal is to house for the least amount of money as many people as possible and as soon as possible. read more
