Daily Bruin – Page 232

Latino homeless population found to be at disadvantage in outreach programs

A UCLA researcher found Latino homeless individuals in Los Angeles are less likely to receive support due to cultural and language barriers.

Melissa Chinchilla, a Latino policy and politics initiative researcher, published a study on the Latino homeless population in LA on Feb. 12 using 2017 data provided by the LA Homeless Services Authority and interviews she conducted with researchers and providers of homeless services and resources. Latino people make up 35 percent of LA County’s homeless population, according to LAHSA data.

Chinchilla said she found Latinos are undercounted in the LAHSA homeless count because they are more likely to live in nontraditional homeless spaces, such as converted garages and households with multiple unrelated families, and less likely than other racial groups to use public services. She added that little research has been done on Latino homelessness.

Chinchilla said while the Latino homeless population has continued to grow, it is the least likely out of all ethnic groups to engage with homeless services due to cultural beliefs and challenges with language and immigration status.

Latino people represent 30 percent of the population engaged by outreach programs, according to the study. They also make up 24 percent of the homeless population placed in interim housing and 21 percent of those placed in permanent housing.

The study found a shortage of Spanish translators in homeless services, which prevents homeless individuals who only speak Spanish from understanding the terms of rental contracts and homeless services.

Many Latino families are also unaware of their rights as tenants and are afraid to speak out even if they understand violations are being committed by their landlords, Chinchilla said. Few bilingual lawyers are counseling undocumented immigrants and low-income Latino communities, she added.

Latino homeless individuals are also less likely to utilize homeless services because of their citizenship status, Chinchilla added. She said the population is composed of people with different immigration statuses, and as a result, some homeless individuals may refuse services in fear of being disqualified for citizenship.

The study found Latino people are less likely to utilize welfare services and instead take on multiple jobs when financially troubled.

Chinchilla said Latino people were overrepresented in the criminal justice and the foster care systems, which makes them more likely to experience homelessness and distrust authorities.

Gentrification in many low-income communities in LA has fueled the displacement of Latino populations, according to the study. Only 80 percent of rental housing in LA is covered by rent control. The study states monthly increases in rent prices frequently force low-income individuals out of their neighborhoods.

Donovan Wilkes, an outreach specialist for the homeless population in Westwood, said homeless people are more receptive to services they provide when they are reached out to by staffers of the same demographics.

He added that the services his team offers include hygiene kits, snack packs, blankets and clothing. He said his team refers people to different organizations if it cannot provide them with the resources they need.

Wilkes said homeless people in Westwood are not always receptive of services, though it does not differ between ethnic groups.

“Mainly they’ve tried the system or they’ve tried one organization and it didn’t work for them, so now they think all organizations are the same,” he said.

He added some people faced restrictions such as long wait times or mental health issues that kept them from receiving support.

Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, an associate professor of Chicana and Chicano studies, said he thinks the biggest challenge that many Latino homeless individuals face is their citizenship status.

Hinojosa-Ojeda said developing a greater understanding of specific cultural needs would help address challenges the Latino homeless population faces.

He added Latino people’s access to homeless services is further restricted by what he thinks is an anti-immigrant political climate.

“People are scared to death to get anywhere near a government official,” Hinojosa-Ojeda said. “A first case of undocumented immigrants getting deported in a homeless shelter would mean the end of Latino homeless services.”

Hinojosa-Ojeda said he thinks the structure of the housing and labor market in LA limits access to housing. While there is high demand for immigrant workers, they are often underpaid and unable to afford housing in the city, which sets them up for homelessness, he said.

He added he thinks social media should be used as a platform for raising awareness of encouraging participation in homeless services. A large portion of the Latino homeless population uses cellphones and the social networking platform WhatsApp, he said.

However, Hinojosa-Ojeda said these outreach methods must be used with strategies that take the group’s linguistic and cultural needs into consideration to maximize homeless participation. For example, San Francisco and New York have established ID Programs, which help undocumented Latino individuals obtain a form of identification that helps them sign up for services without having to declare their immigration status.

Another solution to homelessness among Latino people is flexible funding provided by local governments and more collaboration between different service organizations, Chinchilla said.

Chinchilla added she thinks conducting further research will help organizations uncover the hurdles the Latino homeless population faces

Hinojosa-Ojeda said by learning more about this population and its specific challenges, authorities could find permanent solutions to homelessness among Latino people.

“(The Latino homeless population) might be the most successful candidate that graduate the transitional housing programs,” Hinojosa-Ojeda said.

Organization teaches Indian languages, helps students reconnect with roots

Abel Thomas lost most of his ability to speak his first language, Malayalam, when he immigrated to the United States in 2005 at the age of 6.

He said he was disheartened by his inability to speak with his family members who lived in India and to sustain emotional connections with them.

Thomas, a second-year psychobiology student, joined Bhasha to learn how to connect with other Indians and with his family. Bhasha is a student organization at UCLA that aims to teach undergraduates about Indian languages and culture through the instruction of postdoctoral students.

Meetings are held every Friday in Moore 1003 and consist of four hour-long sessions run by different graduate students who each teach different languages. Members have the option of learning Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, and can attend as many sessions per meeting as they want to.

Bhasha was created in 2016 by Nathaniel Varghese, a fourth-year psychobiology student; Vineet Mathew, a fourth-year computational and systems biology student; and Adarsh Nair, a fourth-year mathematics/economics student. Bhasha started as an initiative to celebrate different Indian traditions and culture, Varghese said. The founders then realized that a great way to celebrate their culture would be to learn and teach the languages of India.

However, Varghese said they realized they were not qualified to teach the languages themselves and that they needed outside help. They found teachers who could prepare language lessons for undergraduates by reaching out to the Graduate Indian Student Association and by approaching interested strangers on the street.

However, the aim of Bhasha is not to mimic a traditional classroom. Games and jokes are highly encouraged throughout the meetings to spark curiosity and foster the joy of learning in students, Varghese said. Laughter and failure are accepted as a natural part of the learning and development process, he added.

Varghese said he realizes students can find it difficult to attend another class at the end of the day, so the club aims to make meetings as enjoyable as possible for members by creating a relaxed, comedic atmosphere.

Thomas, Bhasha’s vice president, said one of his best memories of Bhasha was the first meeting he ever attended. The teacher and fellow members made multiple jokes and created a warm, inviting environment. He said he knew immediately after leaving the meeting this was an organization he wanted to be a part of.

Bhasha encourages learning for fun without the stress of having to study for a grade, Varghese said.

Bhasha allows members to not only learn the technical aspects of their language but to also gain a deeper understanding of their families’ cultures. Several Bhasha members said they think there is a cultural gap between the younger and older generations in their families and that relearning their mother languages allows them to better understand their families’ struggles and experiences.

Venya Vaddi, a first-year microbiology, immunology and molecular genetics student and a general member of Bhasha, has relatives currently living in India who only speak Hindi.

Vaddi said Bhasha has allowed her to communicate more frequently with her grandparents, aunts and uncles who live in India.

“I do want to stay in touch with my family, even though we’re in a different country, so far away. I think my parents feel they have a piece of home,” she said. “At least at home we speak our mother language. … I think that’s something I’d want to pass down to my kids.”

Vaddi added that Bhasha has allowed her to maintain her connection with her relatives.

Varghese said Bhasha hopes to one day start a YouTube channel to teach Indian languages and culture to anyone who is willing to learn.

Global malnutrition issues discussed by United Nations member at UCLA event

A director-general of the United Nations said institutions must address issues like climate change and the overconsumption of unhealthy food to tackle global malnutrition.

Jose Graziano da Silva, the director-general of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, said at an event hosted Friday by the UCLA Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy and the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law that government policies must adapt to changes in the production and consumption of food which increase both hunger and obesity globally.

Climate change worsens conditions for food security by creating uncertainty in food production, he said.

“We are back to when we are hunters and gatherers,” Graziano da Silva said. “Millions of years of agricultural development is upside-down.”

Food production in many regions of the world is diminishing due to unpredictable weather patterns, he said. A high amount of food waste also exacerbates the problem of widespread hunger, Graziano da Silva added.

“One-third of all the food produced is wasted from the production to the consumer side,” Graziano da Silva said.

Graziano da Silva called for institutional adaptations to cope with issues that affect global food production and distribution.

“We are in the moment of quick transformation – new progress, new ways of distributing food. What is lacking behind is the institutions,” he said. “You cannot prevent droughts from happening, but you can prevent drought from turning into famine.”

Julia Feygelman, a graduate student in public health, said she thought the talk was too general and did not provide any tangible solutions to the issues presented.

“It is good that these topics are being talked about, but it’s disappointing to see that the talks are not being translated into action,” she said.

Obesity is another form of malnutrition that affects a large percentage of the global population, Graziano da Silva said.

“Obesity is everywhere, facing all countries, affecting all people. It’s an epidemic,” he said. “It’s a real problem and we are not taking it seriously.”

Malnutrition costs $3.5 trillion per year globally, Graziano da Silva said, which is around 3 percent of the world’s gross domestic product.

“That’s more than the money we dispense on conflict and terrorist combat. It’s not about hunger anymore, it’s all forms of malnutrition,” he said.

Obesity is also linked with the changing ways that people consume food, Graziano da Silva said. He said people’s eating habits are changing as they cook less and eat out more often, a factor that contributes to the rising rate of obesity.

“We externalize the most important thing in our life: food. We leave it up to McDonald’s,” he said. “(Food consumption habits) are completely different from how we ate 10 years ago.”

He added obesity should be treated as a public health issue, not an individual’s problem.

“We don’t have any one international law or regulation to deal with that,” Graziano da Silva said. “We need to move from food safety to healthy food recommendations.”

He added he thinks these recommendations should be tailored to the local needs and cultural traditions of individual countries.

Asli Bali, the faculty director of the Promise Institute of Human Rights, said malnutrition extensively impacts the Los Angeles community as well.

“Food insecurity and obesity, the two sides of the coin, reside here in our community,” she said.

She said she thinks UCLA, as a university, should consider how it could generate knowledge and raise awareness of malnutrition in the local and global community.

Genome of aquarium sea otter to contribute to research, conservation efforts

A UCLA graduate student sequenced a sea otter genome to understand how the species almost went extinct hundreds of years ago.

Annabel Beichman, the graduate student leading the project, sequenced the genome of Gidget, a sea otter from the Monterey Bay Aquarium who passed away Feb. 3 from chronic health problems originating from osteoarthritis.

She said she hopes the research will show what genetic variation has been lost in the sea otter population since the 19th century – when the species was almost driven to extinction as a result of fur trading – and how it will impact conservation efforts. Gidget’s genome, along with Beichman’s research, will be published within a few months.

“Even posthumously, (Gidget) still is the face of our otter genome project, and I think it’s really amazing that her legacy continues on,” Beichman said. “She’ll help with pretty much any future genetic research people want to do (on sea otters).”

Researchers chose to sequence Gidget’s genome because she was the first otter at the aquarium to have a full veterinary examination, during which the veterinarian drew some extra blood from her to use during sequencing.

Beichman said she thinks she was the first to acquire a sea otter genome for her project, even though the British Columbia Cancer Agency was the first to publish a sea otter genome in 2017.

Gidget’s genome will be used as a template to help sequence specific genomic regions of other otters. Beichman spent a year or two sequencing Gidget’s entire genome from scratch, said Kirk Lohmueller, Beichman’s supervisor for the project and associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.

After Gidget’s genome was coded, Beichman was able to study the genes of other otters quicker since she was simply identifying target regions from Gidget’s sequence, rather than rebuilding the entire genome.

Beichman is also studying ancient DNA of otters from before the fur trade, which she extracted from skeletal remains, said Robert Wayne, an ecology and evolutionary biology professor at UCLA and Beichman’s other supervisor.

Around the 19th century, when the sea otter population was extensively hunted for their fur, the species experienced a genetic bottleneck – a rapid reduction in population size – which resulted in a loss of genetic diversity, Wayne said. Beichman said throughout the project, she partially sequenced the genomes of approximately 150 otters from around the world to piece together her research.

“You try to sort through all that gibberish and try to find all the stuff that codes for genes that can actually code for proteins and make something functional,” Beichman said. “Then, you can start to think about things like genetic adaptations over time, harmful genetic variants that may have arisen in the population, and … the history of the population.”

By studying the genomes of sea otter populations before they were nearly hunted to extinction, Beichman said she will be able to better understand the effects of the fur trade on sea otters’ genetic diversity. Genetic monitoring of sea otters, along with data before the fur trade, will help plan conservation approaches to manage the population, she said.

Wayne said if he and Beichman find that many genes were lost or find important variation that still exists in sea otter populations, they can incorporate that information into population management plans.

Beichman said ultimately she hopes to see an increase in genetic diversity and a decrease in harmful variants in the future. Based on the research, scientists may be able to find ways to induce gene flow between sea otter populations or restore historical migrations to continue increasing genotype varieties.

Sea otters are classic trophic cascades, meaning they are essential to entire marine habitats, Beichman said, and are therefore critical to healthy coastal ecosystems. She said Gidget played an active role in helping the sea otter population because her genome will be a resource for any future conservation geneticists in the field.

“There’s this weird feeling of feeling like I knew (Gidget) from afar through her genetic code. I’d always try to pay her tank a visit because it was really inspiring to see all that DNA coming together,” Beichman said. “It’s not just a big data dump of letters on my screen – all these letters somehow create this remarkable animal that’s very important to coastal ecosystems.”

State auditor finds financial transparency recommendations for UC remain incomplete

The University of California has not implemented recommendations for increased transparency from a 2017 state audit, according to a new report from a state auditor in January.

California State Auditor Elaine Howle detailed 33 recommendations for the UC to increase budget transparency in April 2017 after she found the UC Office of the President had failed to disclose $175 million in reserves.

Claire Doan, a UC spokesperson, said in an email statement that UCOP fully implemented 16 of the 33 recommendations made by Howle, including all 10 due April 2018. The remaining recommendations are due by April 2019 and April 2020. However, Doan said the CSA’s office disagreed with the UCOP report, saying that only 12 recommendations were fully implemented.

Of the 10 recommendations UCOP said were completed for April 2018’s due date, only eight were fully implemented, according to a report from a UC Board of Regents meeting in January.

The two recommendations that remain partially implemented address budgetary transparency and reserve policies. The recommendations were originally proposed to determine the amount of money the UC could reallocate to campuses.

Only three of the 10 recommendations due April 2019 have been implemented, and only one of the recommendations due in April 2020 has been implemented, according to the report from the UC regents.

Doan added that UCOP recommended in May the UC system reallocates $40 million to campuses in its 2019-2020 budget, two years earlier than the CSA recommendation suggested.

“By the end of this February, these funds will have been distributed to campuses,” Doan said.

Aidan Arasasingham, the director of legislative affairs in the Undergraduate Students Association Council External Vice President office, said he thinks UCOP is making a good effort to implement the reforms despite delays.

Arasasingham, a second-year global studies and economics student, said the audit has the potential to hurt student programs if state funding changes as a result.

“Funding toward student programs is being withheld by the state because of things like this audit,” Arasasingham said.

He added he thinks the debate should focus more on the steady decline in state funding for the UC than UCOP’s transparency.

“While we can always push for more transparency and accountability, we need to be more cognizant of the larger trend,” he said.

Ozan Jaquette, an assistant professor of higher education, said financial transparency creates a framework for holding the UC accountable.

“It’s a good thing for students and parents to know what is being spent on,” Jaquette said. “They should be able to raise concerns and then the system and campuses have to make their case.”

He added public universities across the country have been increasing budgetary transparency, such as the University of Alabama, which has made all of its transactions open to the public.

Jaquette said there are conflicting incentives for the UC to increase transparency. He added that the UC might have been nontransparent in an effort to drive up declining higher education funding from the state.

“The UC system wants more money from the state, and state funding has declined dramatically,” Jaquette said. “(It) leads to higher tuition prices and the need for the UC system to make money through other means.”

He added there is a political incentive for the UC system to not disclose reserves, as the state is less likely to increase funding if they know the UC system has large amounts of money already in reserve.

“Having this money in reserve weakens their case for asking for more state appropriations and support for higher education,” Jaquette said.

A report by the CSA’s office said the governor and California legislature directed UCOP to meet the proposed recommendations in order for the UC system to receive certain funding from the state.

Former Gov. Jerry Brown held $50 million from the UC’s budget in May 2017 until he deemed that they had implemented the CSA’s recommendations in a satisfactory manner. The money was later returned to the UC.

Jaquette added he believes California should increase funding for the UC if it wants to exercise control over UC policies.

“If California wants to tell the (UC) what to do, then California needs to pay for the (UC),” Jaquette said. “Otherwise, you’re just going to be putting your finger over 100 holes in a dam.”

Baseball comes off weekend sweep of Saint John’s, to face Loyola Marymount

The Bruins are coming off an opening weekend sweep – but John Savage said he knows the journey has just begun.

“There are some positive things (about the weekend series), but at the same time we realize it’s a long journey and we have to get better,” the coach said. “We still have a lot to work on going into Loyola (Marymount) and going into the rest of the season.”

No. 4 UCLA baseball (3-0) will play LMU (1-1) on Tuesday night, coming off a series sweep of St. John’s (0-3) in which the Bruins outscored the Red Storm 23-3 across the three games. The Bruins did not give up an earned run over the first 27 innings of the season.

Freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini will have the opportunity to continue that 0.00 ERA mark Tuesday against LMU in his first collegiate start. With Nastrini making the start against the Lions, the Bruins will have started two freshmen in their first four games of the season.

Nastrini made his debut Saturday when he came in for an inning of relief in the ninth, striking out the side.

Junior right-hander Ryan Garcia – UCLA’s presumed ace – is currently out with a flexor injury. As a result, sophomore right-hander Zach Pettway, redshirt junior right-hander Jack Ralston and freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin were all pushed up a day in the rotation over the weekend.

“We did a pretty good job of having the ‘next man up’ and guys were ready to play, ready to pitch and ready to hit,” Savage said. “I thought the awareness and the readiness were pretty good overall as a team.”

Senior outfielder Jake Pries was one of many Bruins to step up over the weekend, as he delivered a pinch-hit, RBI-triple Friday to tie the game at one apiece. Even with an unblemished record and ERA, Pries said the Bruins have one component of their game they are determined to improve: communication.

“(Savage) talked about our communication as a team,” Pries said. “That’s an aspect we can attack in this upcoming game.”

LMU is coming off a series-split against UC Santa Barbara (1-1) due to a rained-out Friday game. The Lions finished fourth place in the West Coast Conference in 2018, going 15-12 in-conference and 25-30 overall.

Since Savage joined the Bruins in 2005, the two Los Angeles-based programs have faced off 13 times, with UCLA earning eight victories and outscoring LMU 57-36. Last season, the Bruins took both contests by scores of 12-1 and 13-1.

The Bruins will have the chance to start the season 4-0 at home against the Lions at 6 p.m.

Second Take: Failure of ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ shows that costly CGI can’t save a bad film

The eyes of “Alita: Battle Angel” loom from billboards throughout Los Angeles.

James Cameron’s latest blockbuster, which released Thursday, features two hours and two minutes of computer-generated image anime eyes, calling back to the film’s anime origin. It is also noteworthy because it made $27 million its opening weekend premiere – a mere fraction of how much was needed to break even.

Of course, analysis of a film’s financial success is sometimes too soon to call after the first weekend alone. Add to that the fact that international audiences often boost action films – overseas viewers brought up the $27 million checkpoint to $130 million, a much healthier number. But with a budget of $170 million, double in profits is usually the bar of a financially viable film. It’s not clear if “Alita” will reach those heights. This isn’t the first time that movies with large budgets – much of which is funneled into CGI and special effects – have stumbled in theatrical release.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly why a movie flops. While locations and actors run up the bill, one certain aspect pushes the budget to new heights: CGI effects.

CGI and visual effects are a mainstay of the modern blockbuster, especially in profitable franchises and science fiction films. The high cost of these effects often beautifully expand a movie’s appeal, drawing in audiences who are ready to see their favorite characters battle in fantastical worlds. The incentive to use CGI in films is well-informed: All 15 of the most profitable movies of 2018 relied on CGI effects in some form.

Take, for example, “Avengers: Infinity War,” which didn’t shy away from a large production budget. In fact, it was speculated to have a budget in the range of $300 million, making it potentially one of the most expensive movies ever made. It didn’t flop under this pressure, and instead skyrocketed in profits – between $678 million domestic and $1.3 billion international, the movie topped out at a total gross of $2 billion.

But such special effects don’t benefit all movies equally. CGI takes years and millions of dollars in both equipment and specialized talent, and can sometimes span continents as different scenes are outsourced. If a film doesn’t perform up, it brings the real financial loss of thousands of millions of dollars.

A notable example is “Mortal Engines,” which cost $100 million but only brought in $15 million domestically and $65 million internationally. Another is “Skyscraper,” the Dwyane Johnson-led film that had a budget of $125 million but only recouped $68 million domestically. And you can’t forget the wild “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” which brought in only $173 million overall against a $120 million budget.

What leads some CGI movies to cause a stir and others to fade away quietly into the background? Many small factors bring about potentially strong films’ demise. But one aspect stands above the rest and can be a strong determiner of how well a movie does in the high-stakes world of CGI: the story.

It sounds painstakingly simple, but it is overlooked more than you would think. Take “Avengers” and “Skyscraper.” Do both have dazzling visual effects, tall heights and drastic falls that are not possible to achieve with practical effects? Yes. But with “Avengers,” you know the characters’ story; their multidimensional personalities draw you in as you reenter the well-built world of the franchised universe. Viewers familiar with the world are drawn into the plot’s twists and turns, not just the dizzying visual effects.

“Skyscraper” also has character motives, momentum and twists. But it doesn’t have characters you want to root for or a mind-bending premise that will keep you guessing the entire time. The plot is simple and offers little room for novelty; the only imagination comes from the CGI, while everything else in the movie is guessable within the first 15 minutes of the film.

And in case you refute that the story in “Avengers” is only profitable because of its franchise history, take both “The Meg” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” – nonfranchise films that had more compelling stories and character development, and were both box office hits. While “Bohemian Rhapsody” didn’t have as much CGI as the others, save for the stadium crowd scenes, it didn’t matter; what mattered were Freddie’s ups and downs. Films like “Alita,” which already have lacking plots and characters, don’t gain anything by enthusiastically including CGI.

CGI doesn’t equal a death blow for movies; it can visually manifest worlds that are outside of our grasp and can provide engaging entertainment. But when CGI is used as a crutch for subpar story and plot premises, the effects can be disastrous – you don’t just lose your ego when your movie is touted as a box-office failure, you lose thousands of millions of dollars to boot.