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Social Movements and Governing Power

From 2008 to 2019, the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) published reports under our previous name, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE). 

February 2014

By Manuel Pastor, Jennifer Ito, and Anthony Perez

In 2010, The California Endowment (TCE) launched a new $1 billion, 10-year strategic investment in 14 Building Healthy Communities (BHC) places.

This initiative represented a significant shift in grant-making from supporting health delivery systems to focusing on policy and systems change. Recognizing that it was doing something big yet unsure where it would go, TCE commissioned USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) to provide two guideposts: numbers and a narrative.

The “numbers” were a set of data profiles for each of the 14 BHC places to see where they are doing well and where they can improve in relation to equity and their regions. See below to view/download the profiles.

And this report, There’s Something Happening Here…A Look at The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Initiative represents the “narrative”. It is an attempt to help simplify what is a complex and dynamic initiative, and to support efforts to shape its future. PERE’s narrative puts forth a three-part storyline linked together by an overarching concept of “Just Health”—a vision for California centered on equity.

Download report

Narrative: A Look at The California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities Initiative
Baje la publicación en español

Download the Data Profiles

These data portraits for the 14 BHC sites contain PERE analysis from U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2005-09 and the U.S. Office of Immigration Statistics.

 

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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