In some countries, legal representation in civil cases is a right. Not so in the U.S., which means low-income people facing a civil legal proceeding may not be able to afford an attorney. One organization looking to change that is Open Door Legal. With the help of a million-dollar city grant, the nonprofit has just cut the ribbon on two new locations in the Excelsior and Western Addition. Director Adrian Tirtanadi lays out the organization's history and vision.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. This week: San Francisco all but ends cash bail, mental health advocates deliver a letter to the Department of Public Health, Supervisors will vote on banning gas in new buildings, and Muni service changes and car-free Market Street will take effect this week.

When foster youth age out of the foster care system, they can find themselves in difficult housing and financial situations. Santa Clara County Supervisor Dave Cortese explains the reasoning behind his proposal for a pilot program in which the county would give each youth transitioning out of foster care $1,000 a month.

Brian Howey reported on the complications of assessing homelessness by counting tents for the San Francisco Public Press and explains what the numbers do and don’t show. Yesica Prado, a multimedia journalist and a Catchlight fellow for the Public Press, is producing photo essays for the Public Press that document the experiences of vehicle dwellers in San Francisco and Berkeley, and shares how city policies affect those who shelter in their cars or RVs.

The city of Redding, California, made headlines late last year when its then-mayor proposed legislation to force people to enter a shelter facility and only allow them to leave on certain conditions, like sobriety. Independent journalist Evelyn Nieves has covered homelessness extensively and has been reporting in depth on Redding’s response to homelessness, and how it parallels trends around the region and the state.

In What's New & What's Next, the Civic team offers a roundup of San Francisco news and a look at what's ahead on the city's calendar. This week: Changes in the District Attorney's office, a city supervisor announces her retirement and a candidate announces a run to replace her, and advocates plan an anti-war protest.

For years, advocates in San Francisco have pushed for the city to create its own bank, to divest from enterprises like oil pipelines and for-profit prisons, or to fund urgent needs, like affordable housing development. Jackie Fielder, co-founder of the SF Public Bank Coalition, lays out the details of how such a bank would be formed and what steps are being taken toward creating one.

The federal government has tightened requirements that adults without disabilities and without dependent children must work at least 20 hours a week to access food stamps, a change expected to go into effect in April. California and 13 other states have filed suit against the Trump administration to block the rule. Dr. Hilary Seligman, associate professor of medicine at UCSF and director of the university’s National Clinician Scholars Program explains how food stamps influence public health and what the impending policy shift, along with other proposed changes, might mean for food-insecure households in San Francisco and the Bay Area.