Hot tip: I wanted to let you know that we’re offering copies of our In/Vulnerable comic book to people who donate $50 or more to Reveal. I helped write this series of illustrated stories about inequity amid the pandemic and am really proud of it!  – Sarah Mirk

This week’s podcast: The bad place

The vacant building that once housed the Riverside Academy in Wichita, Kansas, was covered in haunting graffiti: “Burn this place.” “Youth were abused here … systematically.” “This is a bad place.” The facility, run by the for-profit company Sequel Youth & Family Services, promised to help kids with behavioral problems. But state officials had cited the facility dozens of times for problems including excessive force by staff, poor supervision and neglect. 

The Salvation Army gets sued for its work-based rehab

The Salvation Army is known for its chain of thrift stores and for its bell-ringing at Christmas, but the nonprofit is also one of the largest providers of drug and alcohol rehabilitation in the United States, running about 100 rehab programs around the country. Rehab participants typically do not have to pay for a place in the residential program. But once there, the main mode of treatment is what The Salvation Army calls “work therapy” at the charity’s thrift stores, which generate more than $598 million in annual sales.  

After Reveal’s investigation into work-based rehabs, a group of five former rehab participants has filed a class-action lawsuit against The Salvation Army. The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleges that the charity violated California labor laws by not treating the workers as employees and failing to pay them minimum wage and overtime. According to the complaint, participants were required to work full time processing donations for the organization’s thrift stores or performing maintenance jobs, repairing goods or operating heavy machinery. In exchange, they received stipends of between $1 and $25 per week or “canteen cards” they could use to buy soda, chips or other snacks at The Salvation Army canteen. “There’s no nonprofit exemption to the labor code,” attorney Jessica Riggins told Reveal reporter Shoshana Walter. “Even if they do good, that’s not a reason for them to not comply with the law like every other California employer.”

Read the story: Salvation Army faces lawsuit over labor law violations
 

In the Field:  Meet the photographer who captured portraits for our PPP investigation

Photographer James Bernal spent two days traveling up and down Manchester Boulevard in Los Angeles, meeting small business owners while taking photos for Reveal’s recent investigation into the racial inequities of the Paycheck Protection Program. He stopped by Mexican restaurants, clothing stores, barbershops, bookstores and Italian cafes. James, who grew up in Miami as the son of Colombian immigrants, always wants to learn about the people he’s photographing before taking their portrait. So when he arrived at each location, he kept his camera in his bag and just talked to the business owners for a bit.

“It's always kind of awkward to take photos,” James says. “I let them know that they're in charge of their image. I want to make sure that they know that they're comfortable enough to tell me, ‘I like this. I don't like this.’” 

James never wants to be just a “stranger pointing a camera” at someone. “When we're working with communities that don't get photographed often – and who the media maybe doesn't do the best job of depicting – I want to make sure that people feel powerful. They feel good,” James says. Instead of telling the subjects of portraits to stand in a certain way or make a certain face, James tries to be open to the subject’s ideas and follow their lead. And often, that means following them into kitchens, store rooms, living rooms or wherever they feel most comfortable. “If the person is like, ‘Hey, come meet my grandma,’ I’m like, ‘All right, let's do it!’ ” James says.  

See James Bernal’s photos in our investigation: Rampant racial disparities plagued how billions of dollars in PPP loans were distributed in the U.S. and see more of James' work on his Instagram @jamesbernalphoto.

Donate $50 today and we'll send you a copy of In/Vulnerable, our award-winning comic book about inequity in the time of a pandemic.

This newsletter is written by Sarah Mirk. Have any feedback or ideas? Send them my way.