This week at The Equity Lab: How to join MLK Day celebrations + Spending your stimulus check
Dear Sacramentans,
It’s Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021, and this is The Equity Lab newsletter.
Thanks for joining us: Each week, we’ll bring you the news you need to stay informed, be engaged and feel empowered as residents of Sacramento County.
The Equity Lab is a community-funded journalism team that explores issues of equity, wealth, race, power and justice in the region. You can count on us to find the stories that can only be told in Sacramento.
3 things you need to know this week
This year’s MLK Day marches will look different: Here’s how you can join in as Sacramento groups find alternate ways to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday to accommodate COVID-19 restrictions and safety precautions.
Vaccine plans are here for people older than 65: On Wednesday, California officials acted to move everyone older than 65 into the state’s COVID-19 vaccine line, positioning them right after health care workers and skilled nursing home residents. The change was made in response to the disease’s higher death rate for older people.
Read about a holistic approach that helps people in domestic violence situations escape: How white sage, beading, more help Sacramento-area Native Americans escape domestic abuse.
How are you spending your stimulus check?
This week, Bee reporters Jeong Park and Kim Bojórquez looked at how Californians plan to spend their $600 stimulus checks. It comes down to this: Some need the money — and some can share it.
For Mary Bane and her husband in Sacramento, $1,200 will help the couple in their mid-70s get groceries delivered, avoiding trips to stores where they could contact the coronavirus.
For Gwen Schoen, also of Sacramento, the check will allow her to give money to her hairdresser.
Others said the money could help their lives after months or years of living month-to-month, whether it be finally giving them some room to dig out of their debt or paying for a bed frame that they couldn’t save up for.
The $900 billion coronavirus relief package gives $600 to single people making $75,000 or less and $1,200 to married couples making $150,000, with partial payments for some who earn more than the threshold. Families can get an additional $600 for most dependent children under age 17. [Read the full story here.]
Click here to share with us how you’re planning to spend your stimulus checks.
Stories we found interesting
These Californians don’t get stimulus checks — why advocates want Newsom to do more for them
- Some California jobs lost to COVID will never be the same. Here’s what experts say
Sacramento GOP activist surfaces in video boasting of role in U.S. Capitol siege
Sacramento pastor Tecoy Porter sees his ‘call to action,’ announces bid for California Senate
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Meet The Equity Lab team
Alex Yoon-Hendricks is our equity reporter covering a wide range of issues from COVID-19 and community impact to housing and social justice. Alex can be reached at Ayoon-hendricks@sacbee.com and Twitter @ayoonhendricks.
Marcus Smith covers Sacramento County’s Black communities for The Sacramento Bee. Marcus can be reached at msmith@sacbee.com or on Twitter @sirmarcussmith.
Keiona Williamson is the editor for The Equity Lab. Keiona can be reached at kwilliamson@sacbee.com or on Twitter @Kei_Williamson.
Jeong Park covers economic mobility in California for The Bee’s Capitol Bureau and The Equity Lab. Email him at jpark@sacbee.com or follow him on Twitter @JeongPark52.
Cathie Anderson covers health care for The Bee, and is a contributing writer for The Equity Lab. Reach Cathie at canderson@sacbee.com or on Twitter at @CathieA_SacBee.
Orizo Hajigurban is The Equity Lab’s engagement reporter. Write her at ohajigurban@sacbee.com.
Thank you for reading, and we will see you again next week!
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This story was originally published January 17, 2021 at 9:45 AM.