USC Equity Research Institute (ERI)

Major budget shortfalls are forcing governments and public institutions throughout California to make difficult decisions. The mounting fiscal challenges underscore the limitations of incremental budget adjustments and temporary revenue measures. There is increasing pressure to pursue new revenue options—and revisiting the structural foundations of our property tax system is one of the options likely to be considered.

Since 2015, we have estimated the potential revenue gains if commercial / industrial property were assessed at fair market value as opposed to the current system which is based on acquisition value. Our current findings: Assessing all commercial / industrial real property at fair market value could bring in an additional $18.2 billion to $25.1 billion statewide (with a mid-point estimate of $21.4 billion) in 2028-29, which is the earliest year in which such a reform could be implemented.

A statewide assessment of Native-led organizations working to build power in American Indian/Alaska Native communities. The inspiration for this report draws from two earlier efforts to understand and strengthen community power through data and storytelling. Building on these foundations, and recognizing the vital role Native-led organizations play in advancing the health and well-being of Native communities across California, the California Native Vote Project (CNVP) and the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health (CCUIH) partnered with the USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) and Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) to design and conduct a statewide survey of Native-led organizations engaged in “power-building.”

The recent attacks on immigrants have harmed communities and sown fear. People are being taken in unmarked vehicles and disappeared without their right to due process. People are not going to work, businesses and restaurants are shutting down, food prices are on the rise, schools, hospitals, and churches are no longer safe.

For more on Orange County’s immigrant communities, read “Orange County’s future depends on supporting immigrants today” an Op-Ed published in the Orange County Register by Jody Agius Vallejo and Sean Angst.

The recent attacks on immigrants have harmed communities and sown fear. People are being taken in unmarked vehicles and disappeared without their right to due process. People are not going to work, businesses and restaurants are shutting down, food prices are on the rise, schools, hospitals, and churches are no longer safe.

California is home to a very large and diverse immigrant population, including Black immigrants. Understanding the demographic, social, and economic realities of California’s Black immigrant communities is essential to advancing racial and immigrant justice statewide. The interactive charts on this webpage provide data statewide to support the lived experiences of Black immigrants. By making this data accessible, we hope to strengthen the work of advocates and community leaders, supporting their efforts to challenge inequities, push for transformative policies, and uplift the voices of Black immigrants across California.

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.

Los Angeles County is home to many diverse Indigenous Migrant communities from what is now known as Mexico and Central America however data and reports on Latinx immigrant communities as a whole often obscures and effectively erases these communities in their analysis. A newly released report, “Indigenous Migrants in Los Angeles County” provides an opportunity to learn more about these diverse communities through the work of Comunidades Indigenas en Liderazgo (CIELO), an Indigenous women-led community-based organization, and preliminary research conducted by CIELO and the USC Equity Research Center. Community data gathering efforts such as survey data from CIELO’s outreach events offer a unique opportunity to better understand the diversity of Indigenous Migrant communities throughout Los Angeles County.

We offer this guide for movement builders and philanthropic allies who are looking for indicators to track changes, shifts, and transformations in California’s power-building infrastructure. It is based on developments in the power-building field in California, national reports on power-building metrics, and interviews with California-based advisors and partners. While there is a wide breadth of measures to collect and track, we focus on a specific set of strategies that power-building groups are deploying and evolving over the next decade—and thus shaping the types of learning and evaluative measures and indicators.