News

Excerpted from Laguna Beach Independent

Laguna Food Pantry was selected by Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris (D-Laguna Beach) as the 2020 Nonprofit of the Year for Laguna Beach.

Excerpted from Orange County Register

By Dan Walters

The state’s stubbornly high unemployment rate, nearly 50% higher than the national rate, means that the state Employment Development Department’s lackluster service to jobless Californians who need benefits for food and shelter will continue to draw media and political heat.

1.57 million claims unresolved

California’s unemployment department is in the hot seat — again.

Excerpted from Irvine Community News and Views

Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris has announced her selection of Families Forward of Irvine, as the 74th Assembly District’s 2020 Non-Profit of the Year.

Families Forward is a non-profit focused on ending homelessness for local Orange County families.  Families Forward exists to help families in need achieve and maintain self-sufficiency through housing, food, counseling, education, and other support services.

Excerpted from Orange County Breeze

Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris announced her selection of Families Forward of Irvine, as the 74th Assembly District’s 2020 Non-Profit of the Year. Families Forward is a non-profit focused on ending homelessness for local Orange County families. Families Forward exists to help families in need achieve and maintain self-sufficiency through housing, food, counseling, education, and other support services.

Excerpted from OC Breeze

Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris has announced that the California State Coastal Conservancy has allocated a $2,460,000 grant to acquire the 44-acre Newland Marsh property in Huntington Beach from the California Department of Transportation, and to transfer the property to the Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy (HBWC).

Excerpted from OC Breeze

In an effort to keep high-paying jobs in the state and maintain a robust laboratory force to provide COVID-19 testing, the Legislature has passed Assembly Bill 1327 with bipartisan support.

Excerpted from Coast Online

By Oceana Christopher

Share Our Selves (SOS), the Costa Mesa-based community health center, celebrated its 50th anniversary this August with the unveiling of a new mobile health unit.

Excerpted from Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s unemployment agency is not answering 60% of the calls it receives for help as the overwhelmed department struggles to work through a backlog of more than 1 million pending claims five months into the pandemic.

Employment Development Department Director Sharon Hilliard told a panel of frustrated state lawmakers on Monday that the agency is on pace to have 3,700 people working in its call center by January, up from the 350 employees prior to the pandemic.