Monday, May 3, 2021 | Sacramento, CA
Homeless residents Lana Howard and Mary Roy embrace in Sacramento’s River District on Friday, April 30, 2021.
Chris Nichols / CapRadio
Lana Howard has been homeless for two decades. Still, the 75-year-old Texas native says she’d rather live on the streets of Sacramento than in a traditional, dorm-style homeless shelter, where she describes the conditions as like “hell.”
“When you’re in a shelter, you have no privacy,” said Howard, stopping for a moment in the city’s River District. “There’s nothing there that’s yours. Even your stuff isn’t yours. I’d rather be out here than be in there.”
Project Roomkey Sheltered Thousands Of California's Homeless Residents. Will The Model Live On Post-Pandemic? ijpr.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from ijpr.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The City Council vote sets aside $3 million for the emergency shelters and eliminates criteria that made opening the centers dependent on severe weather conditions.
SACRAMENTO – After a group’s demands for greater equity and access in COVID-19 vaccine distribution fell on deaf ears, the group of concerned citizens says it remains focused on change.
Sacramentans Advocating for Vaccine Equity (SAVE) sent its initial letter out last Wednesday to members of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, Public Health Officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye, representatives of health providers such as Kaiser Permanente and Dignity Health and other stakeholders. The missive came after the governor’s office released data that showed that of the thousands of people who have received the vaccine to date, vaccines had only gone to 3 percent of African Americans statewide and 4 percent in Sacramento County.
Faye Wilson Kennedy has been on the frontlines of local advocacy since her high school years. She says she enjoys learning from her younger peers and leaders.
No one has quite figured out yet how to add to the 24 hours in a single day, but veteran community activist Faye Wilson Kennedy makes the most of the time she’s been given.
She brokers deals with local restaurants to feed the unhoused and she takes on officials for allowing toxic chemicals to be routed through communities of color. She’s also a lead organizer with Sacramento Poor People’s Campaign; immediate past chair of the Sacramento Area Black Caucus (SABC); co-founder of the Southeast Village Neighborhood Association, a founding member of the Black Parallel School Board; and serves as president of the Colonial Heights Friends of the Library. In her “spare” time, Ms. Kennedy explores her creative side, while preserving Black culture, as part of the local Sisters Quilting Collective.