Advancing Equity

“Displacement can happen across any income group,” says planner Karen Chapple, “and it can happen with benefits or with losses. The policy issue is, is the diversity of the neighborhood that you had before as sustained as the new transit improvement comes in?”

Incivility has become normalized at the local level. But these incidents don’t affect everyone equally. A study of local elected officials in San Diego, Riverside, and Imperial Counties gives us a clearer picture of who gets harassed in Southern California and why. 

When it comes to improving career readiness, West Sacramento is knocking it out of the park. A paid internship program has placed over 200 high school students in local internships that equip students with industry-specific and transferable skills.

Toxic waste from the Tijuana River has created a public health, economic, and environmental nightmare for cities in San Diego County. The ongoing crisis is a classic example of a local issue that requires a bipartisan regional, state, and federal response.

It’s easy to think of anti-Asian hate as a red or purple state problem. But most incidents occur here in California. Even though anti-Asian hate decreased in 2022, experts are warning this could be an aberration. Here’s what cities can do to mitigate the next wave of hate.

A new report found that the existential effects of human-caused climate change are getting worse. The bright spot in all of this is that many cities in California are at the forefront of trying to address climate change. That’s why we must think locally but act statewide.

More cities are using civilian oversight organizations to reform and oversee their police departments. But what these organizations can do varies from city to city. Western City sat down with city attorneys from Oakland and Sacramento to discuss their cities’ approaches to civilian oversight.

Like many cities, Moreno Valley grapples with a low college completion rate. A new set of low-cost programs aims to change that. Nearly two-thirds of participants have experienced an improvement in their GPA. Most have secured full-time jobs in their fields and reported positive changes in their wages.

In the U.S., public trust is tied not just to good governance and public outreach, but also historical issues of racism. To create change and increase trust, we need to change the structure of our systems.