March 2025

Equity Matters 2024 launched in partnership with the Fund for Santa Barbara, the UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy, and the USC Equity Research Institute is an update of Towards a Just and Equitable Central Coast (2021). This report includes San Luis Obispo County in addition to Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, providing a fuller picture of trends that span the tri-county region.

This research project aims to deepen our understanding of regional disparities, foster meaningful dialogue, and inform strategies that advance social, health, environmental, and economic equity. 

The report presents a data-driven narrative highlighting the persistent divide between those with greater access to resources and opportunities and those facing systemic barriers. Despite playing a pivotal role in the region’s tourism and agriculture industries, working-class and BIPOC communities continue to struggle with lower wages. Housing remains a critical issue, disproportionately affecting low-income communities. Additionally, immigrant communities face significant barriers to naturalization, further heightening economic and social barriers. 

By casting a light on these issues, Equity Matters 2024 aims to inspire actionable change and support efforts to build a more inclusive and equitable tri-county Central Coast region.

Downloads

Download the report

Read our other publications by research area

    Immigrant Inclusion & Racial Justice

    Our work on immigrant inclusion 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 inclusion 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 inclusion 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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