By Donnell Williams and Antoine M. Thompson

Two weeks ago, Congress passed phase three of its COVID-19 response, the CARES ACT, a $2 trillion stimulus package that has become most well-known for its direct payments of up to $1,200 for many Americans. These payments are a much-appreciated addition to the already enacted policies like the delayed tax deadline, deferred interest on student loan payments, updated paid sick leave policies, and other actions taken to ease the impact the pandemic is causing.

One of the policies that the media has largely neglected to cover is the impact of widespread forbearance – the term for when a mortgage servicer allows homeowners to temporarily pay at a lower rate or pause payments. During the current crisis, forbearance will serve as a significant relief for many middle and low-income families. The typical mortgage can add up to nearly 30 percent of the average American family’s income, and with many individuals temporarily out of work and impacted by COVID-19, forbearance allows those funds to be reallocated to immediate life-sustaining expenses like meals and medications.

Home ownership has long been a quintessential element of the American Dream. It is more than a place to live. It is a tangible path to the middle class – and arguably the greatest investment an individual can make. Furthermore, expanding access to home ownership is key to closing the gap between socioeconomic classes, providing new economic opportunities for families, and laying the foundation for success for aspiring homeowners.

However, an often unknown part of forbearance is that although homeowners around the country are receiving much needed relief, lenders and servicers are still obligated to pay principal, interest, taxes, and insurance, on the homeowner’s behalf. Given the nature of their business, this is potentially fatal for non-bank lenders.

Non-depository mortgage servicers have limited liquidity access. And depending on the duration of the crisis at hand, non-bank servicers will not have the liquidity to advance mortgage payments at the high rate that will be necessary. This presents a challenge, considering more than half of all mortgages in recent years came from non-depository lending institutions-including larger parts of loans made to low-income families. If a solution for non-bank mortgage lenders is not found, we could backtrack on nearly a decade of housing gains and relief efforts, and require further government intervention to prevent a mortgage crisis that could mirror the events of 2008.

Now that the CARES ACT has been signed into law, it is important that regulators take the opportunity to clarify forbearance policy to not only provide needed economic relief to impacted homeowners, but also lay out guidelines for mortgage lenders to navigate this unprecedented challenge.

Unfortunately, policymakers failed to provide lenders and servicers with access to the necessary liquidity in the CARES ACT and puts the issue in the hands of regulators. Hours after Congress’ omission of liquidity to non-depository servicers, Ginnie Mae announced plans to provide liquidity in the market for servicers within the next two weeks. While this is a step in the right direction, regulators must provide additional guidance to protect lower-income Americans and allow servicers to prepare for the coming months.

Servicers open the door for homeownership for many American families. These institutions play a key role in market diversification and provide new opportunities for a diverse group of borrowers.  It is essential that regulators and Congress work to ensure that non-bank lenders and servicers receive the necessary protections and have access to needed liquidity, allowing them to continue the important role they play in helping families realize the dream of homeownership.

Donnell Williams is president and Antoine M. Thompson is national executive director of the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB).

By Lou Yeboah

You see, you’ve been warned, you’ve been talked to, the Holy Spirit has been tugging at your heart, and yet in still, you continue to indulge in sin. What sorrow awaits you. [Luke 11:44; Romans 2:5]. Listen, God has made it very clear that the, “Consequence of Sin is Death,” but “The Gift of God is Eternal Life in Christ Jesus.” [Romans 6:23]. The only reason you are not in Hell today is because of God’s grace and mercy. But be not deceived, God’s warning is clear. You play with fire, you will get burnt. Make no mistake about it! [Galatians 6:7].  Jesus made it crystal clear to both saint and sinner alike, that any person who chooses even one sin to be more important to them than Him, will be doomed to the place of Hell. I tell you, to know God and to choose to think, act, or behave outside of the Word, Will, and Way of God is very dangerous.

If God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment [2 Peter 2:4] what do you think He will do to you if you keep on sinning?  I tell you, if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where worm do not die, and the fire is not quenched. [Mark 9:43-48]. “Come NOW, and let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” [Isaiah 1:18].

I pray that the Holy Ghost will use this message to grip your soul – and make you come to your senses. Because if you do not stop sinning, one of the greatest torments in Hell for you will be every sermon you heard, every conversation spoken to you concerning repentance and every plea that was made asking you to receive Christ as your Savior, will be repeated in your mind over and over throughout eternity. “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” [Isaiah 55:6-7].

“Now I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life…” [Deuteronomy 30:19]. Because Hell is real and people are going there.

SACRAMENTO, CA—- Governor Gavin Newsom today unveiled six key indicators that will guide California’s thinking for when and how to modify the stay-at-home and other orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Governor noted that the progress in flattening the curve, increased preparedness of our health care delivery system and the effects of other COVID-19 interventions have yielded positive results. However, these actions have also impacted the economy, poverty and overall health care in California. Any consideration of modifying the stay-at-home order must be done using a gradual, science-based and data-driven framework.

“While Californians have stepped up in a big way to flatten the curve and buy us time to prepare to fight the virus, at some point in the future we will need to modify our stay-at-home order,” said Governor Newsom. “As we contemplate reopening parts of our state, we must be guided by science and data, and we must understand that things will look different than before.” 

Until we build immunity, our actions will be aligned to achieve the following: 

• Ensure our ability to care for the sick within our hospitals; 
• Prevent infection in people who are at high risk for severe disease; 
• Build the capacity to protect the health and well-being of the public; and 
• Reduce social, emotional and economic disruptions

California’s six indicators for modifying the stay-at-home order are: 

• The ability to monitor and protect our communities through testing, contact tracing, isolating, and supporting those who are positive or exposed; 
• The ability to prevent infection in people who are at risk for more severe COVID-19; 
• The ability of the hospital and health systems to handle surges; 
• The ability to develop therapeutics to meet the demand; 
• The ability for businesses, schools, and child care facilities to support physical distancing; and 
• The ability to determine when to reinstitute certain measures, such as the stay-at-home orders, if necessary.

The Governor said there is not a precise timeline for modifying the stay-at-home order, but that these six indicators will serve as the framework for making that decision.

He also noted that things will look different as California makes modifications. For example, restaurants will have fewer tables and classrooms will be reconfigured.

For more information on California’s response, visit covid19.ca.gov.

White people, historically speaking, have been very comfortable building their economies on top of Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies. This nation was born of genocide and slavery. It was raised on exploitation and exclusion. And in the face of death, Whiteness will feed Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies to the beast long before it protects us as Brothers and Sisters from a common enemy.

And that is what’s happening now. White people have figured out how to protect themselves from the Coronavirus — for the most part.

There’s a saying: “You don’t have to be faster than the bear. You just have to be faster than the slowest person running from the bear.” White people think they have this race figured out.

White communities make enough money or have enough money to stay home if they need to. They can pay for their groceries. They can pay for their utilities, Internet, and phone service. They have access to information, entertainment, and each other.

Social distancing isn’t really a problem for them. They are more likely to own property and live in less crowded environments and households. They can have their groceries delivered to them — by people who aren’t White. They can work from home. They can drive (or take an Uber) instead of relying on public transportation. If they visit family members, they aren’t going into over-stuffed and under-maintained buildings. They aren’t going to jails, prisons, and homeless shelters at the same rates, either. That’s for other families.

White neighborhoods aren’t riddled with pollution and neglect. They didn’t catch asthma from the gas refinery next door. They haven’t suffered from the cancers triggered by the chemical plants in their back yards. They don’t have the hypertension and diabetes that comes with an abundance of racism and a lack of grocery stores and hospitals. White communities aren’t immune from these pre-existing conditions, but their communities aren’t characterized by them either.

They can also protect themselves more effectively from the virus if they do have contact with the public. They can and do hoard sanitizers, cleaning supplies, and masks. They have water. They have gloves and sewing machines and an endless string of Pinterest links for how-to-make your own PPE.

White folks, for the most part, don’t have to rely on public facilities at the same rates that Black and Brown and Indigenous communities do. They don’t have to make as many stops to make their ends meet. And most of the time, they can pay a person that isn’t White to take the risk for them.

According to a study reported in the New York Times

… 75 percent of front-line workers in the city — grocery clerks, bus and train operators, janitors and child care staff — are minorities. More than 60 percent of people who work as cleaners are Latino, and more than 40 percent of transit employees are Black.

And so Black, Brown, and Indigenous people are being fed to the bear.

White folks have it figured out. Or at least they think they have figured it out well enough to play the odds on sending America back to work. They think they can outrun the bear. They aren’t immune from the coronavirus, but White folks can reasonably buffer themselves from the virus by placing Black, Brown, and Indigenous bodies between themselves and COVID-19.

According to the New York Times …

The preliminary death rate for Hispanic people in [New York City] is about 22 people per 100,000; the rate for Black people is 20 per 100,000; the rate for White people is 10 per 100,000; and the rate for Asian people is 8 per 100,000 …. In New York City, Latinos represent 34 percent of the people who have died of the coronavirus but make up 29 percent of the city’s population, according to preliminary data from the city’s Health Department. Black people represent 28 percent of deaths, but make up 22 percent of the population.

According to EcoWatch …

In Chicago, where African Americans make up 32 percent of the population, they have accounted for 72 percent of virus-related deaths and more than half of all positive test results. Similarly, in Milwaukee, Blacks make up 28 percent of the population but have been 73 percent of all COVID-19 related deaths.

And this is just a sample of the findings from the very limited statistics that are being collected from communities of color. There are gaps in what we know – and Black and Brown bodies are falling through them.

The statistics we are seeing are coming from people that have been tested. They do not count people who have been denied testing, those who are turned away from hospitals and testing centers, those who don’t have access to testing, those who don’t seek testing, or those who die at home.

In other words, we aren’t seeing what is happening to Black, Brown and Indigenous people. These communities are often located in health care deserts and don’t have access to care. If they have care, it is often substandard. These communities often lack health insurance. And those that have had experience with the health care system have been tormented and traumatized by the racism within it. They often won’t seek care as a result.

Communities of Color Likely Have Their Own Coronavirus Curve To Deal With

The coronavirus infection curve may or may not be flattening for Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. We just don’t have the data to know.

New York is pointing to a dramatic increase in deaths from the same time last year. It is very likely that many of these deaths are coronavirus victims that never went to the hospital or that were turned away once they got there. We can reasonably assume that nationwide, the Black, Brown and Indigenous communities hit hardest are still being hit hard — or they are about to be. But we just don’t know where the curve is or how to respond to it without aggressive data collection. And that is literally killing us.

White nationalists and the people that support them are fighting to put Black, Brown and Indigenous bodies in the path of the virus. In the name of their economic success, they are pushing forward a plan to re-open the economy without knowing the impact this will have on the communities of color that are already being hit hardest.

Or maybe they do know — and they are OK with it. In either case, communities of color cannot allow this to happen.

We need to demand that no re-opening plan be accepted without a complete understanding of the impact of the coronavirus on communities of color at the local, state, and national levels. That means testing, data … and a lot of both. And more importantly, no opening can occur without the permission of these Black, Brown and Indigenous communities. That means an organized and loudly articulated plan for re-opening designed by and for leaders of color.

Communities of color have an unprecedented advantage right now. Local, state, and federal government can try to force open places of businesses, but these businesses cannot function without the labor of bodies of color. And that leverage carries power.

If this power is organized and leveraged, it can be used to ensure that there is no re-opening of America until there are plans put in place to address every single issue that makes communities of color more vulnerable to exposure and mortality from COVID-19 than other communities. We have a window of opportunity to end the overcrowding, the dilapidation, the pollution, and the neglect.

Hopefully this kind of dark opportunity never happens again, but at this moment target non-White communities are in a position to take control of the economy and how it moves forward. We need to grab it.

According to a recent report published by The Nation …

Amazon warehouse workers walked off the job in Detroit, Chicago, and New York City; in the latter, they’ve now staged two strikes in as many weeks over safety and pay concerns. Workers at fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Checkers, Domino’s, and Waffle House have gone on strike in California, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee. They’ve been joined by workers at companies where workers have never gone on strike before, such as Family Dollar, Food Lion, and Shell gas stations. Instacart shoppers held a national strike on March 30, refusing to accept orders. Workers for Shipt, Target’s same-day delivery service, organized a walkout on April 7. The unrest has even spread to bus drivers, poultry workers, and painters and construction workers.

Rent strikes have also been organized in efforts to force relief for households that just can’t pay the rent. Whether it is large scale rent strikes, work strike, or a combination of these and many other creative acts of resistance, we need to put our bodies in the way of the federal plan to re-open the economy before they are put in body bags because of the coronavirus. And we need to have some very specific goals.

We need an accurate account of the coronavirus’s impact on Black, Brown, Indigenous and Intersected communities. That can’t happen without a completely new paradigm for testing and data collection. Once we know the curves of color, we can articulate a phased plan for re-starting the economy. This plan will address every single issue that makes us vulnerable to exposure, contraction, and death. And we need leadership to step up and organize the coordinated nationwide effort needed to make this a reality.

Never have the stakes been higher. And never have the potential rewards been more expansive. Communities of color need to decide when America re-opens. If we don’t, White communities will decide when we die.

If we don’t organize to stop and redirect the re-opening of the American economy, we will be little more than bear food.

California reports the state’s first COVID-19 prisoner death; officials remain slow to act as the coronavirus threatens to ravage California’s incarcerated population

CALIFORNIA, U.S.—- Families of incarcerated people and criminal justice advocates condemned the failure of state officials to act urgently in order to protect people in prisons, one of the populations most vulnerable to severe illness and death caused by the coronavirus. On Sunday, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) reported its first COVID-19 related death of an incarcerated person in custody. 

“We know what’s going to happen,” said Cyrus Dunham, an organizer with California Coalition for Women Prisoners. “In Michigan, someone weeks away from being released from prison contracted the virus and died. One day ago, 73% of people incarcerated in an Ohio state prison tested positive for COVID-19. We only have to look at the news reports from other states. This is not a surprise. This is an emergency. Gov. Newsom has two options: prevent more tragedy now, or regret it later.”

Community members and families of incarcerated people across the country have been demanding mass clemencies for more than three weeks in response to the pandemic. The media campaigns––#ClemencyCoast2Coast and #LetThemGo––trended on Twitter with tens of thousands of posts and shares, all demanding that state Governors use their vast executive power to release people from prisons, returning older and medically vulnerable people who carry the greatest risk of death from COVID-19 back to their communities.

Taking the lead from community members and advocates, recognizable names from the entertainment industries quickly embraced the movement on social media, including Orange Is the New Black author Piper Kerman, Academy Award Winner Joaqin Phoenix, musicians Kim Gordon, The Tune-Yards and actor Vella Lovell. 

As of April 21st, at 5:40pm, 122 incarcerated people in CDCR custody and 89 staff members had tested positive for COVID-19. The number of reported positive cases of coronavirus is rising daily. Multiple sources report at least two COVID-19 prisoner deaths at California Federal Prisons, and that COVID-19 safety precautions are being inconsistently applied at all institutions. 

State prisons remain overcrowded, operating at approximately 129% capacity. Gov. Newsom recently expedited the release of 3,500 people charged with non-violent offenses who were already found suitable for parole. Advocates say the biggest obstacle to mass clemency efforts, which have historical precedent, has been Gov. Newsom’s reluctance to consider people for release who have been convicted of violent offenses as a direct response to the coronavirus. Academics, criminal justice experts and community organizers maintain that if Gov. Newsom fails to consider people convicted of serious offenses for release, enough lives will not be saved.  

“There was already a crisis of care in California prisons,” said Brian Kaneda, Los Angeles Coordinator for Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), a coalition of more than 80 organizations dedicated to reducing the number of people in prisons and jails across the state. CURB has co-led demands that Governor Newsom release at least 50,000 aging and medically vulnerable people from prison––or around 40% of the total CDCR prison population––during the first stage of mass clemencies.

“Mass clemencies are a critical public health intervention that will save the lives of incarcerated people, prison staff, and their communities. Our recommendations are evidence-based. More deaths are coming,” said Mr. Kaneda. “The state has a legal and moral responsibility to protect people in its custody. Gov. Newsom has the power to save a lot of lives and show that he intends to be the Governor for all Californians during this unprecedented time.”

Tom Kulinski is far too humble a man to see himself as a hero. He just loves his job – a job that’s never been quite as important as it is during this time of crisis.

As a maintenance supervisor for National Community Renaissance (National CORE), Kulinski is a key member of the National CORE team helping to meet the housing needs of thousands of senior citizens, working families and individuals with special needs. For many of them, the world has never been a scarier place than during the current COVID-19 pandemic.

It is times like these when heroes step up in a big way. Especially, it seems, even reluctant heroes like Kulinski, who throughout this crisis has been a lifeline for the communities and residents whose buildings and living units he helps maintain. Whether it’s loading up his truck and delivering food to seniors on a Saturday or dropping off activity books for hundreds of children isolated at home, or simply being a friend to a resident who is frightened and alone, Kulinski works tirelessly to provide comfort to those who need him.

“It is that human connection and the ability to provide stability and security. I tell my kids, not everyone comes home to food on the table. Not everyone comes home to a home,” he says. “We serve so many residents, and whatever I can do to help, I’ll do it – knowing that I’m making a difference.”

Kulinski, 46, has worked at National CORE pretty much all of his adult life. He started as a security guard more than 26 years ago, but was quickly able to put his handyman skills to good use as a resident service technician (RST). 

“National CORE was my third job, and once I found it, I was here to stay,” he says.

Working for a nonprofit organization, and to do so for as many years as Kulinski has, requires a special kind of world view and commitment to mission – in the case of National CORE and the Hope through Housing Foundation, to transform lives and communities through affordable housing and life-enhancing social services.

“National CORE and Hope through Housing have always done amazing things for residents. Helping senior citizens. Helping kids. When this epidemic hit, we knew we had to do even more,” Kulinski said.

One recent Saturday morning, he got a phone call that a shipment of free food was available and needed to be picked up that day. Kulinski got in his truck, picked up the food and delivered it to residents. For many of the seniors, seeing his friendly face at the door – albeit at the appropriate six feet of social distancing – was more important than the food itself.

“A lot of seniors don’t have families nearby, and they’re looking for someone to talk to,” Kulinski said.

They’re also eager to share the generosity shown them – turning down extra food, such as bread, in order to give it to someone else.

Kulinski’s compassion and ability to connect with the residents he services is part of who he is. The father of four is happy to serve as a male role model to a young resident in need, and to make sure the seniors and families he has come to know as family can call on him at any time.

Heroes, it seems, don’t work on the clock.

EMS reports on the race to the August 14 finish line

Less than a month after the first invitations to participate in the 2020 census were mailed out, 44.8% of California’s known households have completed the questionnaire, putting the Golden State just slightly behind the country’s 45.1% rate. This despite the fact that California has 11 million people considered “hard to count” — the most of any state.

California budgeted $187.3 million for census outreach efforts to get everyone counted. It’s ahead of New York, which also dedicated tens of millions to outreach efforts. Texas, by comparison, made no statewide expenditures.

With counting set to continue into August, California at 41.8% ranks 20^th in how many households have filed by Internet. The national rate (2020census.gov/en/response-rates.html#) for Internet responses  — the Census Bureau’s preferred response methodology — currently is 39.9%.

But the San Francisco Bay Area leads the way in California’s overall response. Santa Clara, San Mateo, Alameda and Contra Costa counties all have responded above 50% so far. In 2010, those four counties all outdid the state’s 68.2%overall response rate.

San Francisco, both a county and a city, has a 41.9% response rate that’s slightly higher than the city of Fresno’s 41.5% and tops Los Angeles’ 34.4%, but trails Sacramento (45.7%), San Diego (48.8%) and San Jose (51.1%).

Nationwide, most major urban areas are responding below their states’ rates. New York City comes in at 33.9% in a state reporting at 38.3%. Houston’s 37.1% trails Texas’ 39%, Chicago’s 38.6% trails Illinois’ 48.5%, Atlanta’s 39.6% trails Georgia’s 41.5%, and St. Louis, at 36.8%, similarly trails Missouri’s 43.6%.

Major cities also typically are more challenging to enumerate. In California, that’s holding true for San Francisco and Los Angeles, but besides San Diego and San Jose , Oakland and Berkeley, too, both at 49.2% are also doing better than the state as a whole.

East Palo Alto is out-reporting Beverly Hills, 36.35% to 34.2%, but neither is as strong as San Bernardino, 40.3% or Riverside, 45.5%. All four cities hit above 60% in 2010.

As in 2010, California’s lowest response rates are coming from the counties along the Nevada border. In Sierra County, just west of Reno, only 4.9% have responded so far. In 2010, when only 44.1% of that county’s households responded, it ranked as the state’s second-most underpopulated county. Alpine County had the state’s lowest record 10 years ago, with just a 20.2% response rate. So far this year, it’s at 9.8%.

Trinity, another trouble spot, shows 5% responding, nearly all using the Internet. In Lake County, it’s the reverse — a 27.2% response rate with only 18.5% using the Internet. Within

Mendocino’s 31.7% response rate, 25.7% is by Internet.

The Central Valley is another story. In 2010, every county from Sacramento to Riverside reported at rates of at least 63%. So far in 2020, Madera County’s 36.8% is bringing up the rear. Kern County is at 39.3%, King’s at 39.4%, Tulare’s at 39.5%, Merced’s at 39.8%, and San Bernardino, Fresno and Riverside are at 40.4%, 41.6% and 42.2% respectively. Sacramento County is at 48.7%.

But some counties are much more populous than others. Even if Riverside County, the fourth-most populous in the state, ultimately reports at 80%, the number of people still not counted will exceed the entire population of Alpine County to the north.

When it comes to the census’ first-ever use of the Internet as a way to be counted, the Central Valley has so far trended more toward using mail and telephone methods than have other regions of the state. The Internet is still the primary way people respond, but in Sacramento County, 2.1% of households have used other ways. In Riverside and San Bernardino counties, it’s 4.1% and 4.7%, respectively, and 8% or more in Fresno, Kern and Merced counties and 10.7% in Tulare.

The census is not yet reporting on response rates based on ethnicity, but Indian Country, with 100 state-recognized reservations or rancherias in California alone, shows there is much to be done — rates are neither strong nor consistent.

The Table Bluff Rancheria boasts a 31.5% response rate, after totaling 38.2% in 2010, and Trinidad Rancheria, at 17.4%, has almost matched its 2010 tally of 19%. But the Tule River

Reservation’s 9.4% response, all Internet, is far below its 48.6% in 2010.

Hoopa Valley is at 3.1%, also all Internet, but the Census Bureau doesn’t report numbers for 2010. Hopland Reservation, at 25.3%, 8.9% via the Internet, hit 37.5% in 2010. Pala’s 3.6% is all Internet, with no data available for 2010.

If yours is a household not yet counted, you can change that by going to: my2020Census.gov or calling (844) 330-2020. Starting in May and continuing through Aug. 14, the Census Bureau will send out enumerators to knock on the doors of households that haven’t responded. The enumerators will visit to get the data that determines, among other things, political representation and up to $1.5 trillion in annual federal spending for more than 300 programs.

“It’s been like tons, or gallons of alcohol being thrown on the open wounds of inequality and racism in this country. And as we think about how to recover, we’re going to have to think about how to make sure that we don’t go back to where we were before,” said Angela Glover Blackwell, an African-American author and policy specialist based in Oakland.

Blackwell is the founder and president of the non-profit PolicyLink, a research institute and social action organization that advances racial and economic equity, according to the group’s website.

“It was unacceptable then and it will be unacceptable going forward,” Blackwell continued, pointing out the “painful” economic and health disparities the COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare across the United States and here in California.

She was speaking Friday during Gov. Gavin Newsom’s daily COVID-19 press conference in Sacramento. During the briefing, the governor announced that he has appointed Blackwell and 79 other prominent Californians to the state Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery.

The governor said he is charging the diverse group of social, political and economic leaders to analyze every sector of the state economy and put together a road map to economic recovery. Newsom says he expects the task force to come up with “short-term, medium-term and long-term ideas” to put California on track to once again attain the level of economic prosperity the state had reached before the pandemic: 21 consecutive months of job growth; a $20 billion budget surplus in 2019; and 20 billion more stacked away in the state reserves.

“I have asked and tasked some of the best and brightest minds that we could source —  a disproportionate number, almost exclusively, reside right here in the state of California – some of the most well-known business leaders in the world. The great social justice lawyers reside here in the state of California. Tribal leaders. Health care leaders. Small business leaders.”

Tom Steyer, the billionaire businessman, civic leader, and former US presidential candidate will co-chair the task force along with Gov. Newsom’s Chief of Staff Ann O’Leary.

Other African-American task force members include Gregory A. Adams, Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., and hospitals; Willie Adams, President, International Longshore and Warehouse Union; E. Toby Boyd: President, California Teachers Association; Stacy Brown-Philpot: CEO, TaskRabbit; Dr. Robert Ross: President and CEO, The California Endowment; among others. See the full list of members.

The impact of the global Coronavirus pandemic in California has been deep and far-reaching, hitting the finances, health, and way of life of people across class, race, and geographical lines, but especially so among African Americans and other people of color.

At press time,  the coronavirus had claimed the lives of more than one thousand Californians, and more than 28,000 more across the state had been infected by the deadly virus – with the largest concentration, more than 11,000 people, diagnosed in Los Angeles County alone.

Based on racial data the state has collected so far on mortality rates,  a disproportionate number of Black Californians have died from COVID-19: About 12 percent in a state where African Americans account for 6 percent of the total population of nearly 40 million people.

About 95 people died of COVID-19 Thursday, the deadliest day since the onset of the pandemic, and a day before the governor announced his economic recovery task force appointments.

Last week, the governor also announced that the state is officially in a “pandemic-induced recession.”

“This pandemic has forced millions of Californians out of jobs – with the most vulnerable hit the hardest,” he said. “We will use a gradual, science-based and data-driven framework to guide our re-opening timing while planning our economic recovery.”

More than 3.1 million Californians have filed for unemployment insurance since March 12, and the state unemployment rate has spiked to 5.3% from under 3% just two months ago. Before the onset of the pandemic, about 2,500 people applied weekly, on average, for unemployment insurance. Over the last few weeks, that weekly average has jumped to more than 200,000. 

“This is an amazing moment despite all the suffering,” Blackwell said. “The silver lining could be to finally understand that we cannot go forward as a nation divided as we have been between haves and have nots.”

Other members the governor appointed to the task force are California Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Los Angeles), Senate Minority Leader Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), Assembly Minority Leader Marie Waldron (R-Escondido), former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen, Walt Disney Company Executive Chairman Bob Iger, former head of the Small Business Administration Aida Álvarez and dozens of other Californians from sectors, including business, labor, health care, academia and philanthropy.

Gov. Newsom also appointed the state’s four living former governors as honorary members on the task force. They are Hon. Jerry Brown, Hon. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Hon. Gray Davis and Hon. Pete Wilson.

“We need to demonstrate for the nation that it is possible to have a recovery that is transformative, imaginative and radical,” Blackwell emphasized.

This week, Marijuana enthusiasts across the state of California — and around the world are — observing 4/20/2020.

But, this year, the famous pot smoking celebration in California, where the weed industry has been struggling to take off, has taken another twist. Like every other activity and public function, it will be happening, if it does at all, privately, away from public spaces, as the global COVID-19 pandemic that has now killed more than 1,000 Californians continues to rage.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed  issued a statement urging people to continue practicing social distancing on 4/20.

“I want to be clear with people who come to San Francisco on 4/20 to Robin Williams Meadow to celebrate 4/20, do not come to San Francisco,” warned Breed, the city’s first Black woman mayor. She was elected in 2018.

“We will not allow this unsanctioned event to occur this year especially in the height of a pandemic,” she added.

The unofficial “holiday” honoring the consumption of cannabis has become almost synonymous with California. Five high school students first coined the term “4:20” in 1971 at San Rafael High School in Marin County near San Francisco. Hippie Hill, the largest annual public pot smoking celebration in the world is held in San Francisco every year. Several more large festivals rivaling the Bay Area’s are held downstate around Los Angeles.  

In pop culture, California rappers like Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Nipsey Hussle – and 1990s urban movie classics like “Friday” —  have popularized weed smoking and created a laidback, dazed-out hip hop weed aesthetic straight out of the stereos of tricked-out whips and against the backdrop of the hazy Southern California sunshine.

In 1996, California became the first state in the United States to legalize marijuana for medical purposes. Then in 2016, by a ballot measure, Prop 64, voters approved the use of recreational marijuana, prompting big investments in the state’s weed industry. But the retail business has been slow to pick up — some say because of high state and local taxes, protests from NIMBYs, and stiff competition from a thriving untaxed illegal market that is more rooted and widespread than the legal one.  

Prop 64 included in it a provision to establish the California Community Reinvestment Grant (CalCRG) program funded by excise and cultivation taxes on cannabis. The program funds programs that assist Californians disproportionately affected by federal and state War-on-Drug policies. Among its programs, the grant helps formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society with “trauma-informed” care. The majority of those impacted were Black and Hispanic men, women and children.

Even though the state has deemed weed an essential commodity during the COVID-19 crisis, the state’s weed industry is sputtering.

Some weed smokers have been excited that the unofficial observance of weed smoking is unique this year because the date has four twenties in it. Some putting forth the suggestion that entire month of April, which is technically 4/20, like the date, be celebrated this year.

“At 4:20 on 4/20/2020, there will be four twenties,” are the words on a sign rapper Snoop Dogg is holding on a meme making its way around the internet.

But the excitement that was building up to this year’s celebration has been cooled by strict social distancing measures issued by the state during the current pandemic. Organizers of San Francisco’s “Hippie Hill” 4/20 celebration have cancelled the event.

“We take the health and safety of the public, our staff, vendors, and sponsors very seriously. We feel it’s all of our responsibility to do our part to minimize social gathering and potential spread of this virus in the community,” reads a message on Hippie Hill’s official website.

The 4/20 celebration usually takes place in Golden Gate Park, but this year organizers are urging people to stay home and smoke.

“While this event is cancelled in person, it is not cancelled in spirit! We want everyone to celebrate this historic day by staying in and supporting your local delivery services and dispensaries,” it says on the Hippie Hill website.

LOS ANGELES, CA— Free, same-day tests are now available for all LA County residents who have symptoms of COVID-19.  Symptoms include fever, cough, and difficulty breathing. 

The following factors do not affect eligibility for a COVID-19 test: 

• Immigration status
• Insurance status
• Age
• Underlying health issues

Health equity is central to Los Angeles County’s mission to build a network of free COVID-19 testing sites. There are currently 29 operational sites throughout the County. There are both drive-up and walk-up sites. To ensure the sites prioritize people who need it most, only people who are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 are eligible for these testing services at this time.  

Appointments are necessary. Here are the steps for getting a test appointment: 

• Visit the website lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs
• Answer a series of questions. The answers determine if you are eligible for an appointment. 
• If you are eligible, you will receive an appointment confirmation number by email. 
• Bring the confirmation number and photo ID to your appointment.
• People with no access to the Internet can dial 2-1-1 for help making an appointment. 
• People without a car can be tested as long as they have an appointment. The sites can accommodate pedestrians.
• There are NO walk-up appointments available for people who do not register. 
• For a full list of locations and answers to questions about testing, go tocovid19.lacounty.gov.

There is a helpful instructional video to prepare you to take the test. Test results may take up to 3-4 days. Positive test results will be notified with a phone call. Negative test results will be notified by email.

For more information, visit https://covid19.lacounty.gov/testing. To schedule a test, visit https://lacovidprod.service-now.com/rrs.