Published by Los Angeles Times
Michael Tubbs writes in his notebook and stars a word in black pen for importance: “agony.”
It’s impossible to wholly describe what he has learned about Californians living in poverty during his tour across the state, but that word seems to wrap it up.
Jessica Nowlan, former Executive Director of the Young Women’s Freedom Center, in June hosted the first stop on the tour and set the tone. Her California — where young people work in the “street economy,” selling drugs or sex to get by, is the real California, she says. There is no suitable policy without voices like hers, which focus on “community-based solutions.”