Social Movements and Governing Power

January 2020

By Veronica Terriquez and Jiayi Xu

Between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections, voter turnout among Californians aged 18 to 34 increased by 292%. Funded by the James Irvine Foundation, this report examines how Power California (a network of youth organizing and civic engagement groups that implements youth-led campaigns to educate and mobilize eligible young voters of color in low-income and communities of color) helped drive this shift.

Drawing on experiments that tested outreach via telephone calls, texting, and social media in fall 2018, the report finds that deliberate efforts to mobilize young voters of color in low-income communities made a significant difference.

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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