PODCAST · news
Civic
by 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.
Episodes
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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…
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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.
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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...
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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...
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Debate Over San Francisco Props C and D
June 2026 San Francisco Public Press Election Guide Yes on D campaign Chamber of Commerce Voter Guide
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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…
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Civic Presents - Rival San Francisco Chinatown Clubs Hold Congressional Candidate Forum
Read the story in The San Francisco Public Press.
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Civic Special - Crossing State Lines for Abortion Access
About the panelists Diana Greene Foster is a demographer and professor at the University of California, San Francisco. She studies the causes and consequences of unwanted pregnancy and is part of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health — commonly known as ANSIRH — which is a research…
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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...
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Civic Special - Local experts illuminate candidate races and expected measures on city ballots in June and November
What’s on the ballot this coming June and November? The San Francisco Public Press and The Frisc hosted a panel discussion to discuss the key issues. These included: the “Overpaid CEO Act,” which would modify and boost the top executive pay tax a major charter reform measure that would…
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Civic Special - Formerly Incarcerated Performers Headline Berkeley Rep’s Mainstage
Formerly Incarcerated Perform at Berkeley Rep
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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...
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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...
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Broke-Ass Stuart, Pioneer Offline-Online Influencer, Looks Back at 20 Years of Love, Death and Dive Bars.
Stuart Schuffman, aka Broke-Ass Stuart, started with a homemade zine, listing cheap eats, drinks and events. Along the way he became a TV travel host, publisher and mayoral candidate. He became an influencer offline before social media made influencer viable a career choice.
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Why Are So Many Older Adults Unhoused, and What Can You Do About It?
“No Place to Grow Old” San Francisco Public Press
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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…
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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…
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Social Security Under Strain
If you’ve experienced issues with Social Security — missed checks, delayed responses, or inaccessible services — you can file a complaint with the California Department of Justice at oag.ca.gov/socialsecurity. APPEARING IN THIS EPISODE: Kelly Dearman – Executive Director, San Francisco Department...
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The Silent Killer — Chronic Hepatitis B Threatens the Health of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
About the ‘Silent Killer’ Series The San Francisco Public Press examined recent efforts to step up diagnosis, vaccination and treatment for hepatitis B. Chronic hepatitis B affects an estimated 305,000 people in California, with the vast majority of cases affecting people in Asian American and...
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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...
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How Do We Respond to Attacks on Public Media, DEI and Democracy?
The San Francisco Public Press on April 30, 2025, hosted a fireside chat recorded for this “Civic” episode about attacks on diversity, democracy and media with Ricardo Sandoval-Palos, the public editor at PBS, and Lila LaHood, executive director of the San Francisco Public Press. In addition to...
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Progress or Political Theater? Factions Disagree on How to Clean Up San Francisco Street Conditions
San Francisco's mayor and police department are facing praise and scorn for cracking down on homelessness and visible substance use amidst shelter and treatment bed shortages and jail overcrowding.
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Journalists Are Fighting Back Against Investors Dismantling Newspapers Around the Country
Join the San Francisco Public Press for a screening of “Stripped for Parts” in San Francisco on Thursday, March 13. Details and tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/film-stripped-for-parts-american-journalism-on-the-brink-tickets-1250795746749 Website for the film:...
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Thousands Across Bay Area Are Mobilizing Against Mass Deportation
San Francisco's immigrant communities are facing a crisis as the Trump administration threatens mass deportations. For four decades, San Francisco has been a refuge for immigrants seeking a better life and a battleground for justice when federal policies target vulnerable communities. Today…
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RE-RELEASE: Ukrainians in SF Are Anxious and Angry
This week marks three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the conflict shows no signs of ending. On the eve of this grim anniversary, Russia launched its largest drone attack yet, causing widespread destruction and civilian casualties. Days later, the U.S. voted against a U.N.…
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A New Aggressive Anti-Abortion Group Was Founded in San Francisco
Ever since the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, emboldened anti-abortion activists have used increasingly aggressive efforts to shut down abortion access in San Francisco. In October, an anti-abortion crusader entered the local Planned Parenthood brandishing a gun. And a new anti-abortion...
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Thank you for listening 2024
Thank you for listening. To support this work, visit: https://www.sfpublicpress.org/donate/
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LGBTQ Latin Americans Offer Safety From Hostile Substance Use Recovery Groups
LGBTQ Latin Americans come to San Francisco seeking relief from oppression and hostility. But when they join substance use disorder support groups, many encounter scorn — especially if they’re transgender. When one San Francisco couple heard that transgender Latin Americans were facing hostility…
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Why the Navy Conducted Radiation Experiments on Humans - Exposed episode 2
The Navy conducted radiation experiments on humans at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, turning hundreds of servicemen and shipyard workers into unwitting “volunteers” for Cold War scientists’ biology and safety research. Check out the full series at https://sfpublicpress.org/exposed
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A Community of Color Contends With the Navy’s Toxic Legacy - Exposed episode 1
Decades after the Navy closed a Cold War radiation research lab at San Francisco's Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, the mess isn't completely cleaned up. Neighbors in Bayview-Hunters Point are demanding accountability for the toxic legacy amid charges of environmental racism. Check out the full…
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Special Civic episodes coming Monday
Watch for a special investigative 2 episode podcast dropping Monday, November 25th.
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Latinx in SF Use Tech for Post-COVID Trauma Recovery
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, San Francisco’s Latinx residents experienced higher rates of infection and deaths, and greater losses of income and homes compared with other ethnic groups. Widespread depression and anxiety resulting from the trauma led to a grassroots effort to heal…
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Should SF’s Great Highway Be a Park or a Roadway?
San Francisco’s proposition K is the most heated issue in this year’s local election. It asks whether the city should close a segment of the Great Highway, a coastal thoroughfare, to car traffic, so it could later become a park. Residents are divided: some welcome the idea of a park for families...
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Proposition G: Making Housing Truly Affordable for Seniors in San Francisco
Affordable housing is too expensive for many in San Francisco, leaving people in untenable living situations: rentals they can’t afford, overcrowded single room occupancy hotels, or tents on the street. Proposition G tries to combat that issue by proposing the creation of a fund to subsidize 550…
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Bonus: San Francisco Propositions November 2024
In the November, 2024 election San Francisco voters are being asked to decide whether to approve a wide range of issues in the form of 15 local ballot propositions, including ones on a major overhaul of the city’s commission system, bond measures and other program funding, changes to the business...
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Commission Impossible: San Francisco Governance on the Ballot
San Francisco commission reform is on the November 2024 ballot. If either Proposition D or E passes, they will change the city’s commissions in different ways, which have had a vital role in how the combined city and county of San Francisco has been governed since 1898. Civic speaks to John…
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Overdose Prevention Centers Save Lives, But Is SF Listening?
There’s a glimmer of hope in San Francisco’s overdose crisis as the rate at which people are dying appears to be slowing down. But the city’s health director warned the public that the death rate may not have peaked yet. Meanwhile, health and city officials who once advocated for a place where...
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Fighting Secrecy in Local Government
Decisions by local and state governments have major impacts on our daily lives. But as transparency about those decisions decreases, and underfunded newsrooms struggle to get answers, many affected citizens are taking matters into their own hands. San Francisco Public Press Executive Director…
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Is San Francisco a Sanctuary When You Don’t Have Housing?
Increases in the number of migrants arriving in San Francisco have stress-tested the city’s shelter system, revealing the dire need for more housing and support for families. We talk to migrant parents driven out of their homes by violence and political upheaval about navigating San Francisco’s...
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Unheard: The Plight of Maya Struggling with Addiction in SF
The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic led to a rise in fatal overdoses among the tens of thousands of Indigenous Maya living in the Bay area. That alarmed Latinx advocates and officials at the Mexican consulate in San Francisco. Indigenous Latin Americans are categorized as Latinx even though many...
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Forgetting the Lessons and Losses of Covid
The first years of the COVID-19 pandemic are behind us and it’s time for an early reckoning of our successes and failures. An epidemiologist shares how a lack of public trust led to unnecessary deaths. AIDS activists discuss the importance of facing trauma and a woman who lost her father to COVID...
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Group Helps Asian American Communities Feel Safe
Three years ago, when violence against Asian Americans spiked, local organizations took action to improve public safety. One group, the Coalition for Community Safety and Justice in San Francisco, is still doing that work. In this episode, we join them for one of their recurring community visits…
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Civic Roundtable: Three San Francisco Reporters Talk About Covering Drug Use and Overdoses
Lila LaHood, publisher of the San Francisco Public Press, talks with Nuala Bishari from the San Francisco Chronicle, Sydney Johnson from KQED, and Sylvie Sturm from “Civic” and the San Francisco Public Press about their reporting on drug use, public policy and and substance use disorder treatment...
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What You Might Find on Your San Francisco Ballot: Party County Central Committees
Election Special: Voters in San Francisco registered with the Peace & Freedom, Green, Republican or Democratic parties have extra choices in the March 5th election that only come around once every four years — the party county central committees. We talk to a political strategist to discuss the...
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Proposition F: Tying Cash Welfare to Drug Screening
March 2024 Election Special: Mayor London Breed is facing one of the most pivotal moments of her political career as she campaigns for reelection amidst a dual crisis of addiction and homelessness. Her solution is a ballot measure that would compel welfare recipients to submit to drug addiction...
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Making Sense of Voting on Judges in San Francisco
March 2024 Election Special: Why are San Francisco residents being asked to vote on County Superior Court Judges? We talk to University of San Francisco professor of politics Keally McBride about the slate of candidates, how the process works, and what people should be thinking about when...
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FIXED: The Grassroots Effort to Save Lives: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 6
*Audio fixed - Previously uploaded episode was the wrong audio and has been fixed* Fentanyl-related deaths among teens more than tripled across the U.S. from 2019 to 2021. And the CDC reports that two thirds of teens who died had someone nearby who didn’t provide an overdose response. Now San...
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The Grassroots Effort to Save Lives: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 6
Fentanyl-related deaths among teens more than tripled across the U.S. from 2019 to 2021. And the CDC reports that two thirds of teens who died had someone nearby who didn’t provide an overdose response. Now San Francisco high school students are signing up for training sessions on how to…
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The Fight for Safe Consumption Sites: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 5
The Fight for Safe Consumption Sites: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 5 As overdose fatalities reach two to three deaths a day in San Francisco, demands for supervised consumption sites are getting more urgent. But city leaders are increasingly reluctant. And health officials who once...
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The War on Drugs Revisited: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Part 4
The War on Drugs Revisited: San Francisco and the Overdose Crisis Some San Francisco city officials are advocating jail for unhoused people who use drugs and murder charges for people who sell drugs. Critics say their approach mirrors the abysmal failure of the 50-year-old war on drugs. In the...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
HOSTED BY
San Francisco Public Press & KSFP, Mel Baker
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Civic have?
Civic currently has 584 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Civic about?
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.
How often does Civic release new episodes?
Civic releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 584 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Civic?
You can listen to Civic on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Civic?
Civic is created and hosted by San Francisco Public Press & KSFP, Mel Baker.
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