State Briefs

The state briefs contain an overview of the demographic, economic, political, and organizing landscapes to provide general background and context for our research. They are not meant to be definitive summaries of each state but rather background data to help better understand the challenges and opportunities each state faces and inform our state-specific research on just transition and power building. Unless otherwise stated, all analysis related to industry data was sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW). All analysis related to demographic and economic data is USC ERI analysis of: IPUMS USA; U.S. Census Bureau; Woods & Poole Economics, Inc; GeoLytics, Inc; U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics; and U.S. EPA National Air Toxics Assessment. Political and organizing landscapes were researched through secondary sources, as well as existing relationships. These briefs were used by the research team both directly in the case studies in the main report to indicate trends and to inform ourselves of the broader dynamics in each state prior to conducting interviews.

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California Background Brief
Download Kentucky Background Brief
Download Louisiana Background Brief
Download New York Background Brief

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.

    Social Movements & Governing Power

    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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