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This story was updated at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. Apps and software platforms are built based on profit motives. Anybody with a technology budget — a bank, retailer, or even a home-services provider (like a plumber or an electrician) — can buy industry-specific software to manage their business affairs. Capitalism rules. However, software platforms do exist that can e-manage homelessness. Counting the number of people experiencing homelessness in a region has traditionally called for clipbo

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ Almost every state has opted to make voting by mail easier in light of the coronavirus pandemic, but the shift toward early and remote voting has not been uniform across the country. States that had primarily vote-by-mail systems in place before this year were better positioned for such a shift, whereas other states struggled to adapt to the surge in absentee v

This is an independent opinion. Have one of your own? Email it to [email protected] In this unprecedented year, a global pandemic, deep recession and nationwide demonstrations have all reinforced the persistent, systemic racial inequities that continue to afflict our society. These unusually challenging times have accentuated significant racial disparities in economics, health care, housing, education and police violence. Numerous previously-uninvolved community members have begun to acknowledge a res

Editor's note: This piece originally appeared on The Free and Equal Elections Foundation's website and has been republished on IVN with permission from the authors. ‍ Last week’s showdown between the sitting U.S. President and his opponent was an exhausting production that played into the divisiveness of our country, rather than focusing on solutions. Since 2008, we have been sounding the alarm on the two party system’s control of Presidential debates, while creating alternative platforms tha

West San Ysidro Boulevard in San Diego has an extra pop of color. Creatives have added fresh street art along the high-traffic thoroughfare — less than four miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. Vacant buildings, alleyways and businesses serve as canvases for a series of commissioned murals. One of the murals is the work of a self-taught cartoonist. The vibrant narrative reflects the artist’s comic strip background. It’s the first public mural created by Fifi Martinez. "It's on the abstract and o

This story was originally published by ProPublica. Monday morning, Sept. 28, California woke up sweaty, devastated, even shocked to find the state burning again. But if we’re honest, and to our great shame, no one was surprised. We’d seen this horror movie in this town. Three years ago, wildfire killed 25 people in Sonoma County. Now the Glass Fire was there, again, burning toward Santa Rosa. At 12:30 a.m., a string of seniors stood in line, many in pajamas, waiting to board an evacuation bus f

Matthew Villongco stopped by the UCLA campus to see his friends on a Thursday night during his first year of community college. An airy lounge surrounded by a glass wall, packed to the brim with students, caught his eye — The Study. He’d imagined that people would be partying. Instead, he saw collaborative studying, an atmosphere filled with chatter, not students in their own headphone-induced bubbles. That’s the scene Villongco remembered when he was accepted to UCLA as a transfer student and

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on The Fulcrum and has been republished on IVN with permission from the publisher. ‍ If the winner of the presidential election is not known on election night, it won't be an alarming surprise to most voters, a new poll shows. Only 20 percent expect the outcome will be clear the night of Nov. 3, according to polling by Politico and Morning Consult released Monday. Another 19 percent think they'll know the next day if President Trump won re-elec

Modern news consumption is frustrating. Newsrooms have been decimated. Media outlets continue to disappear. Opinion is pawned off as news. Polarized echo chambers may entertain certain factions, but they don’t serve to educate or inform. Are we entering End Days for news? I took that question to Point Loma Nazarene University professor Dean Nelson. An institution unto himself, he’s knowledgeable, thoughtful and blunt about the journalism industry. He doesn’t think the industry is broken beyo

This is Part Two of a two-part series on racism and the education system. Read Part One here. ‍ Data supporting the direct link between family income and student achievement rely mostly on test scores as the primary indicator of success. By that measure, the evidence is indisputable that schools in wealthy neighborhoods out-perform schools located in less affluent communities. In a class-based society, systemic racism in public education results in policies that serve to discriminate against t