Category: Bakersfield

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Keeping Children Safe One Ride at a Time

This Child Passenger Safety Week (September 20 to 26), I am proud to partner with the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) and Caltrans to encourage families to take simple steps to protect children on every trip. Keeping children safe in a vehicle starts before the engine is turned on. It begins with making sure a child is riding in the right car seat and that the seat is being used correctly.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

OP-ED: How Does Your State Rank for Pre-K?

Georgia’s state-funded pre-k program for 4-year-olds was recently recognized as the largest state-funded preschool program in the nation to meet all 10 quality benchmarks, and the first universal program to do so. Georgia’s recognition is the top finding in the National Institute for Early Education Research’s new 2025 State of Preschool Yearbook. The yearbook provides an annual snapshot of state-funded preschool across the country. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia fund preschool programs.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

COMMENTARY: An Informed Vote Is a Powerful Vote

For African Americans, voting has always represented more than simply choosing a name on a ballot. It is an opportunity to participate in decisions that can shape education, employment, public safety, housing, health care, economic opportunity, and the future of our communities.

African Americans
Stefi Mar

OP-ED: If AI Is the New Language of Power, Then NAN Wants Black Communities Fluent

We are at the forefront of a fundamental shift of access and opportunity. When new technology emerges, marginalized communities are often told to catch up to systems we did not design, and adjust to landscapes that would sooner leave us behind than include us in their architecture. Often during these shifts, our communities become the least resourced, and must navigate industries whose rate of change outpaces their rate of exposure. To combat this, these communities must develop emerging systems of knowledge through internal networks of education, skill-exchange, and entrepreneurship. This is a civil rights issue.

Bakersfield
Stefi Mar

Latest Massacre in Haiti Reveals Cruelty U.S. Deportations

Heavily armed, paramilitary death squad Viv Ansanm on Sunday, Aug. 23, carried out another major massacre in the Kenscoff commune in the hills outside of Port-au-Prince. The death squad attacked survivors of previous violence who were sheltering in a church in one of the villages.