Civil rights of the homeless to be addressed at forum in Carmel

The civil rights of homeless individuals and how to defend them will be the focus of a homeless advocacy forum on Tuesday, Sept. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula sanctuary in Carmel.

Author Mike Rhodes of “Dispatches from the War Zone” will speak prior to a presentation, question and answer period and panel discussion featuring Dr. Tia Sukin, the director of the One Starfish Safe Parking Program, and the Rev. Michael Reid, leader of the fund for Homeless Women and former associate minister at St. Mary's by the Sea Episcopal Church in Pacific Grove.

Presented by the ACLU of the Monterey Peninsula and the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Bay Social Justice Committee, the event is free and open to the public.

For more information, contact mibsmccarthy@comcast.net or call 831-659-1115.

Salinas to re-institute violence suppression unit in the wake of a spike in homicides

The Salinas Police Department will be re-forming a small Violence Suppression Unit (VSU) to gather intelligence, coordinate and conduct counter-violence operations and to support detectives in their investigations, administrators announced Monday. The unit will consist of a supervisor and two officers supported by additional officers on an overtime basis, as well as by other law enforcement agencies at the local, state and federal level as available.

The Salinas Police Department was forced to fold the violence suppression unit in July 2015 due to staffing shortages. The police department closed all units outside of patrol and investigations. This left the department with no dedicated gang enforcement/gang investigation unit.

The city has seen a spike of violence. Early Tuesday, a 20-year-old man was found dead near Chinatown, the victims of multiple gunshot wounds. He's the 27th homicide victim so far this year, and the ninth in the month of august.

Voices of California needs Salinas senior participants

Are you a senior who was born and raised in Salinas? If so, Voices of California hopes you’ll be interested in their project.

Voices of California, a project from Stanford University, is coming to Salinas to record the experiences of people who were born and raised here. The project is an attempt to record different ways of "being" Californian.

The group will be in Salinas September 11-21. If you are interested in participating this project please click here to fill out an interest form. Or call  916-806-6732.

Building Healthy Communities celebrates five-year anniversary

The East Salinas Building Healthy Communities, a 10-year project of the California Endowment, is celebrating its halfway mark with an open house intended to highlight its achievements and present plans for future projects.

The idea behind the state-wide project was to select a handful of low-income California communities that were experiencing significant health disparities. Salinas made it as one of the final 14, and the idea was to invest $10 million and leverage those moneys to bring other resources and make the community healthier.

The event will take place from 10 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, Aug. 23., at the initiative's offices on 606 Williams Road, Salinas.

For information or RSVP, email Jesus Valenzuela at jesusbhc@actioncouncil.org