Mental health advocate calls for South LA services



Protesters gather outside the LA County Jail ahead of the June sheriff election. | Daina Beth Solomon

Protesters gather outside the LA County Jail ahead of the June sheriff election. | Daina Beth Solomon

Gregory Bimin grew up in South L.A. battling both schizophrenia and alcohol addiction. He also battled to find services in his neighborhood. Hear Bimin’s story in an audio piece from Annenberg Radio News:

Now that the L.A. County Board of Supervisors is considering a major jail expansion that would create additional facilities for mentally-ill inmates, some are saying that resources should be directed toward diversion programs instead, helping to keep mentally ill offenders out of jail in the first place. [Read more…]

Students at Foshay explore digital privacy



LAUSD’s Teacher of the Year, Leslie Aaronson, spearheaded a workshop at Foshay High School in South LA on Tuesday morning. She had her students create ad campaigns about topics they were interested in. They all chose digital footprints and online security.

The students were divided into five groups and each group had their own booth at the workshop that all students of the school could attend. As the students came in their peers taught them about online security and safe Internet usage. Some students did not know that privacy settings existed in social media. Others incorrectly thought that deleting a post from the Internet meant that it would disappear permanently, when that is not the case.

The students in Aaronson’s class helped workshop attendees by having students log into their Facebook or social media accounts. The groups would then tell the students which posts should be deleted or avoided. Another group created a video tutorial that walked students through changing their privacy settings for Facebook.

Aaronson’s class chose issues with social media and online security because they are seniors heading off to college or applying for work. They know that future employers or admissions officers will look at their social media sites.

Hear the voices of Foshay students: