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Civic

San Francisco Public Press & KSFP, Mel Baker

Civic is the flagship audio program from the San Francisco Public Press, a nonprofit news institution, covering important local issues and the unique experiences of living and working in San Francisco. The radio program airs Tuesdays and Thursdays on KSFP -LP 102.5 FM in San Francisco.

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  • 20 episodes
  • Avg 41 min
  • English

Episodes 20

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  • #458
    Thursday · 1 hr 13 min

    Civic Special: Who’s Spending Big on San Francisco’s Election?

    The League of Women Voters organized this panel discussion on money in San Francisco’s November election, held at the Internet Archive on Oct. 8. Lila LaHood, executive director of the San Francisco Public Press, moderated. panelists were Joe Rivano Barros, executive editor of Mission Local; Darius Kemp of California Common Cause; and Patrick Ford of the San Francisco Ethics Commission.

  • #457
    October 9 · 29 min

    Civic Special: Short takes on the San Francisco and State Ballot Propositions

    Make sense of the numerous November 2026 San Francisco and California ballot measures, with these one-minute explanations by reporters from the San Francisco Public Press and CalMatters. Visit SFPublicPress.org and CalMatters.org for more quick, no-nonsense and nonpartisan voter guides. 

  • #456
    September 24 · 1 hr 4 min

    Civic Special: Inside Your San Francisco Election Ballot

    he November 2026 election is pivotal at the national, state and local levels. San Francisco voters will weigh local races and propositions on Muni funding, housing, the Great Highway, taxes and how City Hall and the mayor operate, along with statewide candidates and propositions. San Francisco Public Press Executive Director Lila LaHood, KALW Executive Producer Ben Trefny and CalMatters Politics Editor Juliet Williams, outlined the issues and the candidates at a public forum at the San Francis

  • #455
    August 6 · 29 min

    End of a Healthcare Revolution: How San Francisco is Unraveling its Groundbreaking Program for Youth in Crisis

    For nearly 60 years, San Francisco built a pioneering system to care for young people in crisis. What began during the Summer of Love with the nation's first runaway youth shelter and the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic evolved into a network of specialized clinics that combined medical care, mental health treatment, sexual health services and connections to housing and social support under one roof. Now, that model is being dismantled as San Francisco shifts young patients to larger primary care cli

  • #454
    May 27 · 59 min

    Debate Over San Francisco Props C and D

    Civic Special - San Franciscans will decide on June 2nd whether to tax corporations whose CEOs make 100 times the median salary of their lowest paid workers or raise a more modest tax on larger businesses. San Francisco Public Press Executive Director Lila LaHood moderated the discussion between David Harrison, Director of Public Policy For the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and Kim Tavaglione, Executive Director of the San Francisco Labor Council at KALW radio’s public space in downtown Sa

  • #453
    May 7 · 29 min

    Inside San Francisco’s Women’s Jail

    After at least 19 women in San Francisco’s county jail alleged they were subjected to a mass strip search while deputies recorded on body-worn cameras, advocates, attorneys and city officials demanded answers. This investigative documentary examines what women say happened inside the jail’s B-pod — and the broader conditions women describe inside the facility, including prolonged lockdowns, overcrowding, lack of sunlight and untreated trauma. Through public hearings, legal records, interviews wi

  • #451
    March 18 · 58 min

    Civic Special - Crossing State Lines for Abortion Access

    The California Constitution guarantees abortion access. More people are traveling here to access reproductive health care as their own states pass aggressive laws to prohibit abortion. This episode is a recording of our March 2 live event at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco featuring a conversation with Diana Greene Foster and Mariana Horne about the current state of reproductive health care in the United States. The panel followed a showing of the short film "Red, White and Blue" and the do

  • #450
    March 6 · 29 min

    Who Decides? Trans Youth, Federal Power and the Battle Over Care

    In this episode of Civic, reporter Sylvie Sturm examines how federal policy — through executive orders, funding threats and regulatory pressure — is reshaping access to gender-affirming care for transgender youth across the United States. The debate is unfolding even though no new federal law has passed and no final rules have taken effect. Yet hospitals, clinics and families are already making decisions in response to the possibility of federal penalties. Through the story of Eric, a 15-year-ol

  • #447
    January 14 · 29 min

    Civic Special - Formerly Incarcerated Performers Headline Berkeley Rep’s Mainstage

    Guest host Rosie Bultman tells the story of the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project is culminating its run as Berkeley Repertory Theater’s first “company in residence.” A four-day festival of solo performances will feature themes from fatherhood to the prison healthcare system, as formerly incarcerated performers bring their unique experiences to broader audiences.

  • #446
    Dec 9, 2025 · 29 min

    A Return to Harm? LGBTQ Youth Conversion Therapy Supreme Court Considers Upending Protections

    This episode traces the path from the days when homosexuality was labeled a mental illness, to bans on harmful therapy meant to turn LGBTQ minors straight, to a Supreme Court showdown that could roll back those protections. Featuring voices from survivors, scientists and advocates, the story unpacks how California became home to the earliest “ex-gay” movement only to face pushback with a first-in-the-nation ban on conversion therapy — and why its fate now hangs in the balance. Dr. Hooker audio

  • #445
    Nov 26, 2025 · 58 min

    Civic Special - San Francisco “Family Zoning” Housing Plan

    As part of an effort to meet state mandated housing requirements, San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has introduced a "Family Zoning Plan" that would increase building height limitations along transit corridors. Supervisors have introduced amendments to the legislation which is being voted on December 2nd, 2025. SF Public Press Executive Director Lila LaHood and KALW Executive Producer Ben Trefny moderated a town hall conversation bringing together stakeholders with different ideas of how to mov

  • #443
    Oct 9, 2025 · 53 min

    Why Are So Many Older Adults Unhoused, and What Can You Do About It?

    Homelessness among older adults is on the rise in California. Nearly half of all single homeless adults in the state are age 50 and older, and many of them are experiencing homelessness for the first time, according to a 2024 study from the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. On Sept. 30, the Public Press hosted a screening of “No Place to Grow Old,” a documentary directed by Davey Schaupp that explores of the inner lives of three seniors experiencing homelessness in Portland, Oreg

  • #442
    Oct 2, 2025 · 29 min

    How Federal Cuts Threaten Research and Lives

    When federal science budgets are gutted, the fallout reaches far beyond labs. From Alzheimer’s trials at the University of California San Francisco to cancer studies at the Veterans Administration, critical research is stalling, science students are losing opportunities to train and launch careers, and veterans are left without lifesaving care. Hear how universities, courts, and Congress are scrambling to protect the future of science as we unpack the political fight behind the cuts — and what’s

  • #441
    Sep 4, 2025 · 34 min

    What Medicaid Cuts Mean for San Francisco

    President Trump calls it “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but critics say the latest federal budget will slash more than a trillion dollars from Medicaid over the next decade — cutting coverage for an estimated 12 million people. In San Francisco, more than 250,000 residents rely on Medi-Cal, California’s Medicaid program, along with tens of thousands of caregivers who support them. This episode of Civic from the San Francisco Public Press examines how the bill could affect local patients, long-term care workers, and the city’s healthcare safety net — with voices from those fighting to protect services that are essential to survival.

  • #440
    Aug 7, 2025 · 29 min

    Social Security Under Strain

    Staffing cuts, office closures and stricter rules are straining the Social Security system. In this episode, we hear from beneficiaries, workers, and advocates about increasingly long wait times and unanswered phone calls, what’s breaking down — and what it means for the more than 100,000 San Francisco residents who rely on the program to survive.

  • #439
    Jul 11, 2025 · 29 min

    The Silent Killer — Chronic Hepatitis B Threatens the Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

    Chronic hepatitis B can lay dormant for years until the infection has caused life-threatening damage to the liver. We hear the stories of patients living with the disease, and about how a lack of resources and infection patterns put Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders at greater risk. Researchers are working on a cure as activists and medical professionals in the San Francisco Bay Area create a unique model of care for the disease that is being copied around the U.S.

  • #438
    May 15, 2025 · 31 min

    Sidelined After Service: What Federal Cuts Mean for Veterans

    Veterans and advocates are sounding the alarm as massive federal job cuts and plans to eliminate 83,000 positions at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs — championed as “efficiency reforms” by the Trump administration — threaten to strip away critical services. In this episode, we take an in-depth look at the human toll of sweeping layoffs and the privatization push at the VA. And we spotlight community resilience, with programs like Vets in Tech, co-founded by Craig Newmark, helping vetera

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