Health and Housing « Community Alliance

Freefall into Madness: The Fresno County Jail’s Barbaric Treatment of the Mentally Ill

Reported and written by Fresno State journalists Sam LoProto, Damian Marquez, Angel Moreno, Jacob Rayburn, Brianna Vaccari, Liana Whitehead and their professor Mark Arax.

For the past six years, in an effort to cut costs, the Fresno County Jail has repeatedly denied mentally ill defendants the anti-psychotic medications prescribed to them by their outside doctors—medications needed to keep them sane.

As a result, according to Fresno County judges, former nurses, correctional officers, doctors, lawyers and the families of the defendants, the jail medical staff is triggering psychotic breakdowns in people suffering from bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

The Fresno …[Read the details]

Volunteers in Fresno Unite to Help the Homeless

Volunteers from the Thursday group pass out water, oranges and bagels to the homeless living near Monterey and E streets in downtown Fresno.

By Karen Goodman

Our small group of people, mostly from the Unitarian Universalist Church, has been working directly with the homeless for more than a year. We go down every Thursday to deliver toilet paper, water and other items as needed or available. We have recently taken on some new elements in this outreach.

Working with Mike Rhodes and the Community Alliance, we are beginning to place dumpsters in the homeless encampments. Enough money has been raised from small donations to initially cover this expense. One dumpster was placed recently at H Street and San Benito Street. To directly …[Read the details]

From the Editor – April 2013

This is the garbage dump that was allowed, by the City of Fresno, to take up an entire street near Monterey and E streets in southwest Fresno. This is the pile that we found a dead dog on.

Editor Mike Rhodes

It was an honor for the Community Alliance to be a part of the ¡Que Vivan Los San Patricios! Saint Patrick’s Day Concert and Dance on March 17. The Fresno City College Old Administration Auditorium was a great venue for the 300-plus guests who participated in this benefit for the Community Alliance and activists going to Immigrant Day 2013 in Sacramento.

The music and dancers at the event were amazing—lots of people told me afterward how much they enjoyed the show. You can always count on our fund-raisers to have a progressive political …[Read the details]

The Community Alliance Helps the Homeless

Dorothy Kolen of Sista 2 Sista helps deliver toilet paper to the FCNV for Fresno’s homeless.

By Mike Rhodes

The Community Alliance newspaper has secured funding for a second year to provide portable toilets to several homeless encampments in downtown Fresno. The toilets provide the homeless with a basic public service that no person should be without. This project offers some privacy and dignity for the homeless, improves the cleanliness of the community and is essential to prevent a health crisis in the encampments.

Dorothy Kolen of Sista 2 Sista helps deliver toilet paper to the FCNV for Fresno’s homeless.

There are currently five portable toilets in three homeless encampments in …[Read the details]

Food Not Bombs!

By Kelly Borkert

People from all points will be converging on Jan. 20 at the Full Circle Brewery (620 F St.) for another great experience at the hands of Blake Jones and the Trike Shop and another tasty mix of music, fellowship and food in support of Food Not Bombs.

A variety of vegan chili and cornbread will be there, and the music is a bang-up selection of artists from here and abroad. Thereminist Jones has conjured up another stunning combination from his bag of tricks, all of them performing on the Full …[Read the details]

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Freefall into Madness: The Fresno County Jail’s Barbaric Treatment of the Mentally Ill

Volunteers in Fresno Unite to Help the Homeless

From the Editor – April 2013

The Community Alliance Helps the Homeless

Food Not Bombs!

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