2016 BHC Youth Civic Engagement and Community Well-Being (California and BHC site reports)

Please note: reports dated earlier than June 2020 were published under our previous names: the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) or the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII).

report summary banner featuring photo of three diverse youth engaging in youth leadership programming

 

Since 2010, The California Endowment (TCE) has invested in youth leadership and youth organizing groups as a key component of its Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative.

These youth groups have sought to support the healthy development of their members while engaging them in organizing, advocacy, and other efforts to advance their community’s well-being. As part of a longitudinal evaluation, this report focuses on BHC-affiliated youth organizations in 14 BHC Sites.

This summary report draws on survey data collected from the regular participants, or “core” youth members, of 98 organizations that engage their members in grassroots organizing and advocacy, media production and cultural arts, practices that promote healing and well-being, and/or other activities. This report provides a demographic profile of participants and describes their involvement. It also presents self-reports of how youth acquire a range of civic and educational skills and experiences, while also enhancing their own well-being. Gathered just after the 5-year midpoint of the BHC initiative, survey results evidence how the BHC initiative is contributing to the leadership and healthy development of a large cohort of California’s youth.

Download the statewide report

California report

BHC Youth Civic Engagement and Community Well-Being 2016 reports (by BHC site)

Available for download for the following BHC sites (in alphabetical order by site name):

2016 Building Healthy Communities Reports

Youth Voice in School Finance: The Building Healthy Communities Initiative and Young People’s Involvement In Shaping Local Control Accountability Plans

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD, John Rodgers, and May Lin (July 2016)

BHC Youth Program Inventory Survey

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD and Abdiel Lopez (June 2016)

Californians for Justice: Supporting the Leadership and Healthy Development of Youth in Fresno, Long Beach, Oakland, and San Jose

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD and May Lin (March 2016)

Youth Leadership in South Los Angeles: Results from the Youth Program Evaluation

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD and Luna White (March 2016)

Inner City Struggle’s United Students: Supporting the Leadership and Healthy Development of Eastside Youth

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD and Gabriela Dominguez (February 2016)

Related reports

GSA Network: Supporting Leadership and Healthy Development of Youth in Boyle Heights, Long Beach, & South LA
MILPA’s Efforts to Promote Youth and Community Well-Being in Salinas (2017)

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Integration & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant integration and racial justice brings together three emphases: scholarship that draws on academic theory and rigorous research, data that provides information structured to highlight the process of immigrant integration over time, and engagement that seeks to create new dialogues with government, community organizers, business and civic leaders, immigrants and the voting public to advance immigrant integration and racial equity.

    Economic Inclusion & Climate Equity

    In the area of economic inclusion, we at ERI advance academic theory and practical applications linking economic growth, environmental quality, and civic health with bridging of racial and other gaps; produce accessible and actionable data and analysis through the data tools; and establish research partnerships to deepen and advance the dialogue, planning, and actions around racial equity, environmental justice, and the built environment.

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    ERI’s work in the area of governing power includes: conducting cross-disciplinary studies of today’s social movements, supporting learning and strategizing efforts to advance dialogues among organizers, funders, intermediaries, evaluators, and academics, and developing research-based social change frameworks and tools to inform—and be informed by—real-world, real-time efforts towards a vision of deep change.

    Publications Directory

    In 2020, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) and the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII) merged to form the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI).

    The full list of publications published under our previous and current names can be found in our publications directory.

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