A Holiday Wish: Gov. Brown, Repeal the Maximum Family Grant Rule

Dear Governor Brown:

It's time to repeal the Maximum Family Grant rule

#LongHairDontCare... Unless You Live in Clovis

William Pleasant, smiling

Voters Agree: It’s Time to End “Theft by Cop”

Imagine you’re on your way to buy a used car and a police officer pulls you over. After asking you a few questions, the officer asks to search your car. Knowing you’ve done nothing wrong, you agree. The next thing you know, the officer is telling you that he’s suspicious that you have $2,500 in cash – and he takes it. You explain that you’re on your way to buy a car. He doesn’t believe you and tells you that if you want your cash back, you’ll have to fight for it in court.

lot full of cars

Making the Local Control Funding Formula Work

students photo via Shutterstock

Sandra Bland's Only Crime: She Knew Her Rights

Sandra Bland had a constitutional right to give her arresting officer the middle finger. She could have even told him to f*** off. Nothing in the law prevented her from being rude.

Photo by OccupyWallStNYC / Twitter

Why We Need to Dismantle Neighborhood Inequality

We need to break the cycle of poverty created by our history of discrimination. We've got to be serious about ending the residential segregation that puts success out of reach for too many of our children.

photo via Flickr

Cop: "It's Your Word Against Mine."

Griffith Fuller, Jr. Photo by Daniel A. McKee

It's Time to Repeal the Maximum Family Grant Rule

For more than 20 years, California has maintained a policy of denying financial support to babies born while their families are receiving CalWORKs basic needs grants for older siblings. This policy is known as the Maximum Family Grant (MFG) rule. The only exceptions are for reported rape and incest, and the failure of certain invasive, long-acting contraceptives.

Black and white photo of cupped hands holding a paper cut-out of a family

Shut Up and Listen: Race and Justice in Schools

Nayna Gupta