Report: Black mothers face more barriers in the workplace
Good Morning, I’m Debbie Cruz….it’s Friday, May 9th.
Only 25% of Black mothers access paid family leave.
More on that next. But first... the headlines….
The Catholic Church has its first American pope. Pope Leo the 14th of Chicago was selected yesterday. Officials from the local Catholic university, U-S-D, said in a statement that the new pope quote “embodies the university's mission and vision, one that seeks to affirm the dignity of every human by building bridges and leading with compassion.”
The Diocese of San Diego also issued a statement asking its parishioners to pray for the Pope to “give him the wisdom, the strength and all the other gifts needed to guide” the Church “in these challenging times.”
Are San Diegans able to meet their basic needs? A coalition of nonprofits tried to answer that question in a pair of new reports.
The San Diego Housing Federation and their partners announced their findings at a conference yesterday.
Data shows the average monthly rent increased by 100-dollars from last year -- to 2-thousand 571 dollars. City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera says San Diego’s cost of living makes residents question their futures.
San Diego doesn't have a future if San Diegans don't see a future for themselves here. That's going to mean raising the minimum wage for the tourism workers who fuel this economy to $25 an hour as we proposed.
According to the report … It takes about 50 dollars an hour to live comfortably in San Diego County.
We’ll get lots of sun in San Diego County today (Friday). The desert will be toasty with possible triple-digit temperatures today (Friday) and through the weekend.
The coast is much cooler with highs in the mid-70s. Sunny today (Friday) and partly cloudy over the weekend.
Inland valley areas will see mostly sunny conditions through Saturday,
with highs in the mid-80s to low-90s and light wind.
Similar conditions for the mountains — sunny and clear with temps in the low 80s.
From KPBS, you’re listening to San Diego News Now. Stay with me for more of the local news you need.
ABOUT 300 KAISER MENTAL HEALTH WORKERS IN SAN DIEGO ARE BACK ON THE JOB THIS WEEK AFTER RATIFYING A NEW FOUR-YEAR CONTRACT. THE DEAL FOLLOWED NEARLY SEVEN MONTHS OF PICKETING, A HUNGER STRIKE, AND PRESSURE FROM GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM TO MEDIATE. FORMER UNION PRESIDENT SAL ROSSELLI SAYS THE STRIKE LED TO WINS FOR WORKERS AND PATIENT CARE.
Folks are going back to work more united than ever, and feeling that they have the power to to force Kaiser to and take care of patients, provide the mental health care that people need, and they deserve and that the law calls for.
THE CONTRACT INCLUDES 5 GUARANTEED HOURS FOR PATIENT TASKS BETWEEN SESSIONS, 20 PERCENT RAISES OVER FOUR YEARS, A DEFINED BENEFIT PENSION PLAN AND A 25-HUNDRED BONUS.
UNION LEADERS SAY THEY’LL NOW FOCUS ON LEGISLATION TO HOLD KAISER ACCOUNTABLE—AND PUSH FOR PARITY BETWEEN MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH CARE.
A NEW REPORT FROM THE SAN DIEGO BLACK WORKER CENTER EXAMINES THE CHALLENGES BLACK WORKING MOTHERS FACE. AMONG THOSE CHALLENGES: ACCESSING PAID LEAVE, POSTPARTUM CARE AND WORKPLACE PROTECTIONS.
MIDDAY EDITION SPOKE WITH THE CENTER'S EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BRISA (BREE-sah) JOHNSON, AND A LOCAL RESEARCHER, ALANA DELET (DUH-let), WHO HELPED COMPILE THE FINDINGS.
Brisa, tell me how did this report come into existence? This report actually came about as a passion project from a personal experience of mine in 2022. I had the blessing of becoming a mom for a second time around giving birth to my second son, and unfortunately. The maternity leave policy at my current job had never been used by anyone, and so it was completely outta a date, and at the time would require me to take time off work to physically heal from giving birth without any pay, Um, and so it was such a confusing process to navigate. I was really concerned if I was gonna be able to pay my bills, um, debating on if I'd even be able to have time to bond and breastfeed and be at home with my child. And even if I would have the adequate time to physically heal from giving birth. And, uh, I was hitting so many different walls with the systems as well as the maternity leave policy. And by the grace of God, I. Work in advocacy and so I had a lot of resources and connections and we were able to strengthen and completely change the maternity leave policy within the organization so that I would be taken care of financially and I wouldn't have to worry. You talked to a lot of folks. Who exactly did you survey for this report? I mean, gimme some demographics. Um, it's qualitative, which means that, um, we literally spoke to 70 different women across San Diego County. 70 different black mothers and birth givers about their experiences in pregnancy and postpartum in the workplace. Um, and then we used the data that we collected from those focus groups to develop the quantitative survey, which we then sent out. It was actually a national survey because we wanted to see not only the experiences of those here in San Diego, but also across California and across the nation, um, so that we could do some comparison. And, um, contrasting between different, uh, racial demographic groups and also different geographic areas. All right. Well, let's talk about some of the key findings there, uh, of the report. One thing you all looked into was paid maternity leave. What did you find there? Yeah, so shockingly, um, because as you said, it is paid right? California, we're lucky to have our paid family leave. And what we found in our survey, um, across all mothers, 37%, only 37% I should say, of mothers actually access the sleeve. And only 25% of black mothers access paid family leave. And we only looked at those who were eligible for this leave. Um, so we were looking at a very specific sample and that just shows what barista was talking about. There is so much red tape. There are so many, um. Roadblocks and challenges that, um, black mothers in particular are facing to access a policy that's already in existence, well, let's, let's talk more about that and zero in on the solutions. I mean, what do we need to see from employers to support black mothers in the workplace? Well, first and foremost, um, extended paid leave. Uh, right now in California we have eight weeks of paid leave and we're advocating for that to jump up to six to 12 months. Uh, we know that this is what is needed. Um, there's other countries who have, um, similar policies. We have recommendations from the CDC that say that there, there is this time needed. And so that's what we're advocating for and we would love for San Diego to be at the forefront of pushing these types of progressive policies. Bria, final word. Yeah. I think, you know, to, uh, Dr. Alana's point, I think there really is a call for collective responsibility here. You know, black folks are less than 6% in the county and city of San Diego. So to move any policy that is centered around black folks is going to take a larger demographic of people pushing this agenda. Um, and. Applying that pressure. And so collective responsibility is something that I'm hoping will come out of this report. You can find a link to the Black Worker Center's Maternal Health report. On our website, kpbs.org.
TAG: THAT WAS BRISA [BREE-SAH] JOHNSON WITH THE BLACK WORKER CENTER AND RESEARCHER ALANA DELET [DUH-let] SPEAKING WITH MIDDAY EDITION HOST JADE HINDMON. YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE FULL KPBS MIDDAY EDITION CONVERSATION AT KPBS-DOT-ORG OR WHEREVER YOU GET YOUR PODCASTS.
A RECENT REPORT BY THE SAN DIEGO COUNTY VINTNERS ASSOCIATION SHOWS ITS WINE SALES DECLINED SLIGHTLY IN 2024.
LAST YEAR’S GROSS SALES WERE NEARLY 52 MILLION DOLLARS … THAT’S FIVE PERCENT LESS THAN 20-23. BUT IT’S STILL NEARLY DOUBLE WHAT IT WAS IN 20-17.
MIKE EFFENBERGER OWNS A BOUTIQUE MICRO WINERY IN ESCONDIDO. HE SAYS THERE’S STILL GROWTH TO BE HAD IN THE SAN DIEGO REGION…. AND A COUNTY ORDINANCE HAS MADE IT EASIER TO OPEN BUSINESSES LIKE HIS.
“A lot of smaller wineries have been able to open up, and the entry level hasn't been so onerous in terms of licensing and the costs involved. So, you, you're seeing more and more small wineries that are, coming online and people are finally, understanding that, yeah, there's some good wine being made in San Diego County.”
BUT EFFENBERGER SAYS THERE HAS BEEN A CHANGE IN THE CUSTOMER BASE.
FOR A LONG TIME, BABY BOOMERS WERE GREAT WINE CONSUMERS, BUT HE SAYS THEY'RE AGING OUT... AND YOUNGER GENERATIONS ARE NOT BIG WINE DRINKERS YET.
EARLIER THIS WEEK, CALIFORNIA TOURISM OFFICIALS SAID CURRENT TARIFFS AND THE THREAT OF FUTURE ONES HAS ALREADY DEPRESSED INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL TO THE STATE.
BUT REPORTER JOHN CARROLL TELLS US SAN DIEGO AIRPORT OFFICIALS AREN'T WORRIED ABOUT IT.
“We are very excited to offer the community of San Diego another flight option to Europe.” San Diego Regional Airport Authority President & CEO Kimberly Becker says getting KLM here has been a years-long process. She’s not worried about the sinking international travel statistics when it comes to San Diego. “There’s a lot of business connectivity between San Diego and the Netherlands, and then there's a lot of business connectivity between there and San Diego. KLM JOINS BRITISH AIRWAYS, LUFTHANSA, JAPAN AIRLINES AND AIR CANADA AS THE FIFTH INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE SERVING SAN DIEGO. “With all the direct flights we have to international destinations, what it does is it really opens up the world to San Diego and San Diego to the world."
ANCHOR TAG: NEXT MONTH, ANOTHER INTERNATIONAL AIRLINE WILL LAND IN SAN DIEGO... COPA, WITH SERVICE TO PANAMA.
THE C-E-O OF SAN DIEGO YOUTH SERVICES IS CYCLING DOWN CALIFORNIA AND INTO RETIREMENT.
REPORTER KATIE HYSON SAYS HE’S CALLING IT “ONE MORE ADVENTURE” TO RAISE MONEY FOR SAN DIEGO’S LARGEST PROVIDER OF HOMELESS YOUTH SERVICES.
Walter Philips is 66 years old. Preparing to cycle 100 miles a day from San Francisco to San Diego. I don't ride as I once did as a young man. But I don't really focus on that, because any challenge that I'm facing pales in comparison to a young person faces on the streets every night. When they don't know where they're going to sleep, where they're going to get their next meal, if somebody's going to love them. His social work career has been a kind of endurance sport, too, with the last 25 years at San Diego Youth Services. When he started – Youth homelessness was invisible. People didn't want to believe that in America's finest city, we actually have kids who don't have a place to stay. He says there’s more awareness now. Still, close to 2,000 young San Diegans don’t have a safe place to sleep every night. Almost half are LGBTQ+. Philips retires at the end of June. You know what? I honestly hope my legacy is that they don't remember me. Because the piece that we really need to make sure is focused on and will carry on is our mission. His week-long ride kicks off Saturday. Katie Hyson, KPBS News
TOMORROW (Saturday), PROJECT BLANK PRESENTS PARK OPERA, A MULTI-SITE EXPERIENCE THAT REDEFINES WHAT OPERA CAN BE BY STAGING PERFORMANCES ACROSS BALBOA PARK. ARTS REPORTER BETH ACCOMANDO HAS THIS PREVIEW.
If this is what you think opera has to sound like… then think again. So this is an excerpt from the aria. And in this aria, each of the instrumental musical components include some natural world device to them. In this case, the diva, the opera singer, is a bee, a little pollinating bumble bee. That’s Leslie Leytham, artistic director of Project Blank and the pollinating bee diva of Park Opera. The Park Opera is a modular opera installation, where you take the component parts of an opera and then scatter them around a public park. And so people can take it at their own pace, take in as little or as much of it as they want. We'll give them a map when they arrive at our lobby, which will be the Moreton Fig tree. And we've got a path that we've designated for them, but people can take it at their pleasure. You can find Park Opera in unexpected places throughout Balboa Park tomorrow from 4 to 7 pm. Leave all expectations behind but be all ears. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
That’s it for the podcast today. This week, the podcast was produced by Lara McCaffrey, Andrew Dyer and Brenden Tuccinardi. It’s edited by Brooke Ruth. Find more San Diego news online at KPBS dot org. I’m Debbie Cruz. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend.
