first page of report featuring photo of a diverse of youth advocating for educational budget reformsFrom 2008 to 2019, the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) published reports under our previous name, the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE). 

July 2016

By Veronica Terriquez, PhD, John Rodgers, and May Lin

Initiated in 2010 by The California Endowment (TCE), the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative has sought to increase access to resources that promote health and well-being in 14 low-income communities across the state.

Youth Voice in School Finance is a joint publication of UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (IDEA) and USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE). The report presents the results of staff surveys of California youth organizations in the California Endowment’s Building Healthy Communities (BHC) initiative and shows how youth were involved in the educational budgeting process through the new Local Control Funding Formula legislation.

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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