Journalist Kate Bradshaw discusses her reporting series, “Uneven Ground,” on Feb. 3

Journalist Kate Bradshaw will talk about her reporting on how land use affects health in the communities of North Fair Oaks, East Palo Alto, and the Belle Haven neighborhood of Menlo Park at the Menlo Park Library on Monday, Feb. 3, from 6:30 to 8:00 pm

The Mid-Peninsula isn’t just a place where residents pay millions of dollars for their homes, an uncanny number of people drive luxury vehicles, gorgeous open spaces abound and markets teem with fresh produce.

It’s also a place where, in other neighborhoods, large numbers of families struggle to earn enough just to stay sheltered, ill-equipped streets choke with commuters cutting through to tech jobs, and parks and nutritious food options are harder to find.

How did these inequalities come to be, and how do they shape current and future disparities in environmental health in the communities of Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and North Fair Oaks?

The event will also highlight a photo exhibition at the Main Library of images from the series taken by middle school student participants in Girls to Women, an East Palo Alto-based nonprofit focused on female youth empowerment.

The “Uneven Ground” reporting series includes information from 100 interviews conducted in these communities, with the support of bilingual high school student researchers. The project was completed with the support of a 2019 California Fellowship through the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism.