Countering California鈥檚 Rightward Shift
A newly formed coalition vows to take on the MAGA multitudes in California.
California
The Possibility of Noncitizen Voting Rights
Some localities are granting limited voting rights to noncitizens, especially on issues directly affecting them.
Analysis | voting rights | 2024 Election | Maryland | Progress 2025: Voting Rights | Progress 2025 | Youth
What If 16-Year-Olds Could Vote?
A growing number of U.S. municipalities are making it possible for minors to vote.
Video | Abolition | 2024 Election | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Dortell Williams | Prison Labor
Will California End Forced Prison Labor?
Incarcerated people in California and many other states can be compelled to work for near-zero wages. A ballot proposition could change that.
Here鈥檚 How to Respond to Crime, Not React to It
A new ballot measure in California would reverse progress on reducing mass incarceration. Here's what our regular correspondent Dortell Williams has to say about it.
Cop Cities Meet Growing Resistance Nationwide
Faced with the spread of militarized police training facilities known as "cop cities," grassroots activists are taking the call to #DefundPolice to cities nationwide.
Analysis | Florida | GOP | Transgender | LGBTQ Rights | Project 2025 | Progress 2025: LGBTQ Rights | Education | Progress 2025
Unlearning Queerphobia
Schools are a powerful place to begin building an LGBTQ-affirming culture, as an antidote to fear and bigotry.
How Healing Circles Create Space for Change
Restorative justice can be a challenging approach to domestic violence, but it can also be rewarding when the people involved are participating with genuine desire to find a path forward.
Punjabi Californians Find a Lifeline Through Community Health Workers
Facing a health care system without sufficient translation services and a grueling economic landscape, Punjabi residents in Fresno, California, have created an organization to help meet their community鈥檚 unique needs.
Video | Public Safety | Abolition | Incarceration | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Dortell Williams | Punishment
Prevention, Not Prisons
Dortell Williams, who has spent more than 30 years in prison, reflects on the true causes of crime.
AI Can鈥檛 Fix Our Broken Health Care System, But People Can
AI is trained on data from our health care system as it exists, which means the data is contaminated by racial, economic, and regional disparities. But there are solutions.
Land as Reparations
Author and activist Brea Baker explores why Black land ownership is a critical aspect of reparations for Black Americans.
As Summer Swelters, Can Workers Get Heat Protections?
As temperatures continue to rise, California workers, worker protection groups, and state regulators are making progress on implementing heat regulations.
Opinion | Progress 2025: LGBTQ Rights | New York | Progress 2025 | LGBTQ | COVID-19 | Mental Health | Pride Month | Pride | Stonewall
Going Back Outside for Pride
We can no longer accept Pride events that only make room for one type of queer person鈥攐r that cater primarily to the corporations more invested in rainbow capitalism than collective liberation.
Video | Sage Vegan Bistro | regenerative farming | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Sage Regenerative Kitchen
Why This Vegan Restaurant Introduced Meat
Sage Regenerative Kitchen鈥檚 executive chef explains why she added meat to the menu鈥攁nd why she believes so deeply in regenerative farming.
Video | Father's Day | Incarceration | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Dortell Williams | Mass Incarceration | Jail
Marking Father鈥檚 Day From Behind Bars
Father鈥檚 Day is a special time for many families. But what about those families separated by incarceration?
Planning Parenthood for Incarcerated Men
An innovative sex-ed curriculum in Southern California is teaching incarcerated men about consent, birth control, and dismantling masculinity.
Opinion | school | Progress 2025: Education | Education | Progress 2025 | Parenting | George Floyd | Oakland | School to Prison Pipeline | Defunding Police
How Black Parents Got Cops Out of Oakland Schools
After adopting the George Floyd Resolution for Police-Free Schools, Oakland-area schools saw significant reductions in racist criminalization of Black and Brown kids.
Video | Criminal Justice Reform | Abolition | Pennsylvania | YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali | Life Without Parole | Dortell Williams
Facing Life Without Parole Inside a California Prison
Recent reforms in prison communications have allowed Dortell Williams, serving a life sentence without parole in California, to share his experience face-to-face for the first time.
Can California Kids Get Specialty Care Sooner?
Children are more likely to survive when treated by pediatric specialists than those trained to treat adults; but there鈥檚 a shortage of these specialists in California and nationwide.
The Water Came Early
Grappling with the fantasy and memory of flooding on California鈥檚 last remaining almond farm.
6 Ways California Can Help Kids With Disabilities Get Care
Experts and disability justice advocates say these changes could help more California families with children who have complex medical needs access the care they鈥榬e entitled to.
A Day in the Life of Parents Caring for a Child With Complex Medical Needs
California offers a suite of programs intended to help parents access medically necessary care for their children, but enrollment is complex, time-consuming, and full of bureaucratic red tape.
Will California Take Reparations to the Finish Line?
Journalist Erin Aubry Kaplan surveys the state鈥檚 reparations process and examines whether there will be compensation to Black Californians for racial harm.
Will California Do Reparations Right?
California is closer than any other state to realizing reparations for Black people. Now, the state faces a make-or-break moment.
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