Series of articles from non-profit spotlights Salinas

The non-profit Zocalo Public Square took an in-depth look at Salinas in a project called “Salinas: California’s Richest, Poor City.”

There’s a theme to all of the stories, what happens in this small Central Coast town could easily happen in other cities in California.

“I think that is a good thing that people want to use us as a test subject,” Salinas High School Biology Teacher Juan Govea said.

The journalism non-profit came across Salinas native and now Salinas High School Teacher Juan Govea and asked him to contribute.

His article is titled “High School are America’s True Melting Pots.”

“The article talks about the beauty of Salinas High School and how we incorporate a lot of diversity, force a lot of people to be around each other and communicate with each other,” Govea said. “And a lot of the kids that do that learn a lot from that.”

Govea said violence has always been a part of Salinas, but said there are many people working to improve some eye-opening statistics.

The homicide rate in Salinas is nearly four times the national average and twice that of Los Angeles, according to Zocalo.

Zocalo also reports nearly 40 percent of the people living in Salinas do not have a high school diploma, but only 19 percent don’t statewide.

“You can look at numbers all you want but until you meet the people, hard to judge it properly,” Govea said.

Govea said the potential he sees in his students everyday is a sign that progress is happening in this city. If Salinas is a test, he said the city will pass.

You can find the project on the non-profit’s website: http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2015/07/28/if-you-care-about-california-then-you-should-care-about-salinas/inquiries/connecting-california/