Latino, Asian American Areas at High Economic Risk, According to New Report
Neighborhoods with significant Latino and Asian American populations in Los Angeles County are particularly vulnerable to economic uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report sponsored by the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (LPPI) and Center for Neighborhood Knowledge (CNK) at UCLA Luskin, along with Ong & Associates. “Entire communities are in a precarious financial situation, weakening the economic base in areas that already have a history of underinvestment and limited opportunities,” said Paul Ong, lead author and CNK director. According to the report, almost 60% of Latino-majority neighborhoods and 40% of Asian-majority neighborhoods will be affected; in comparison, 12% of white-majority neighborhoods will face the same level of economic disruption caused by the global pandemic. The report includes recommendations for state and local officials to support low-wage workers in Los Angeles County. “Latinos and Asian Americans are critical to the continued success of Los Angeles County’s economy, and the impact that their families and neighborhoods will see in this crisis requires urgent action,” said Sonja Diaz, LPPI executive director. Communities that will see the greatest impacts include neighborhoods in northeast Los Angeles, South Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley, Inglewood and the northeast San Fernando Valley, the report found. The affected neighborhoods also have a high concentration of foreign-born residents. “Now is the time for elected officials to ensure that low-wage workers have a safety net in this time of crisis to ensure the safety and well-being of all communities,” Ong said.
Empowering Asian American and Pacific Islander Communities Through Stories
The Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA Luskin has co-authored a report aimed at combating discrimination toward Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) through storytelling. The report, “AAPIs Connect: Harnessing Strategic Communications to Advance Civic Engagement,” was published in partnership with the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund, a national initiative established in 2014 to foster a culture of civic participation within Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. “Reaching ethnic populations is extremely challenging given linguistic and cultural barriers, and we hope that this report will empower community stakeholders, public agencies and elected officials to more effectively connect with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders,” said Paul Ong, the center’s director and one of the principal investigators. The authors note that the Asian community in the United States has been cast as apathetic or less civically engaged — a reflection of historically lower voter registration and turnout rates — and have faced specific discrimination and barriers at the polls. A survey of the fund’s grantees underscored that the majority of local AAPI groups have little to no strategic communications capacity or infrastructure. The impact of the COVID-19 global health crisis makes this need more urgent, said EunSook Lee, AAPI Civic Engagement Fund director. “We hope this report can serve as a call to action to philanthropy to support organizations that have the cultural competency and linguistic capacity to reach and engage AAPI communities.”
Peterson Evaluates Health of Decade-Old ACA
The state of the 10-year-old Affordable Care Act is the subject of a new article by Public Policy Professor Mark A. Peterson in a special two-issue publication of the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. The advance publication of Peterson’s study, “The ACA a Decade In: Resilience, Impact, and Vulnerabilities,” is included in the first issue of the Duke University Press journal. Peterson, former editor of the journal, writes that in the decade since its enactment, the political health of the ACA — popularly known as Obamacare — has looked precarious. “It decidedly lacked the popular acclaim of the sort that arose to undergird programs like Social Security and Medicare,” Peterson says, but he adds that it has remained “viable and consequential despite Republican efforts to end it.” He also points out that, while the impact on insurance coverage has been substantial, it remains distant from universal coverage. “The ACA has revealed perhaps surprising resilience, put insurance cards into the hands of millions previously outside the system, and even contributed to some degree of reduced financial burdens,” Peterson argues. “At the same time, all of these gains have been incomplete, remain vulnerable and are threatened by underlying forces in the political economy.” Assessing the strengths and vulnerabilities of the act in its first 10 years, Peterson cautions that a path to a more secure future for either the ACA — or a more ambitious successor — is far from clear.
Lawmakers Urged to Launch Universal Vote-by-Mail in Response to Health Crisis
Voting officials should begin planning now to implement a national vote-by-mail program for the remaining primaries and the presidential general election in November, according to a new white paper from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which is an advocacy project of the Latino Policy and Politics Initiative at UCLA Luskin. The paper [download here] represents an early call to action amid concern that the novel coronavirus will negatively impact election turnout. Congress is encouraged to provide funding and guidance for mail balloting as part of measures seeking to mitigate the economic and societal impacts of the current health crisis. “States around the country are pushing back primary and runoff elections in the hope that election procedures can return to normal at a later time,” said Chad Dunn, co-founder of the UCLA Voting Rights Project and co-author of the report. “But hope is not a plan. We must prepare now to protect the fundamental right to vote.” The white paper highlights a number of recommendations, including a universal online registration system, creation of a standardized mail ballot, and security measures to ensure ballot validity. Such measures would encourage widespread voter participation. “The 2020 election could have record turnout for young voters and communities of color, groups that must be engaged in deciding the future of our country and on issues that affect our local communities,” said Matt Barreto, UCLA Voting Rights co-founder and co-author of the paper. “Voting is the foundation of our democracy, and vote-by-mail offers a solution to challenges that range from busy work schedules to global pandemics.”—Eliza Moreno
Wray-Lake Elected to SRA Executive Council
The Society for Research on Adolescence (SRA) announced the appointment of Associate Professor of Social Welfare Laura Wray-Lake to its executive council. Established in 1984, SRA is a community of researchers aiming to further understanding of adolescence and enhance the well-being of youth in a globalized world. As an executive council member, Wray-Lake will advance the mission of SRA by promoting and disseminating high-quality research on adolescence, championing diversity of scholars and scholarship, and prioritizing the next generation of scholars in the field. Wray-Lake’s research documents patterns of developmental change in civic engagement across adolescence and young adulthood. Her current projects include a study of civic development among socioeconomically, racially and ethnically diverse adolescents, and a qualitative study documenting civic experiences of youth of color in high-poverty urban neighborhoods. Wray-Lake has been an SRA member since 2005 and has served in leadership roles continually since 2009. As the emerging scholar representative, she spearheaded several initiatives, including student conference travel awards, mentor-student conference reviewing and an emerging scholars lounge. She has also served on the nominations, consensus and publications committees. SRA hosts biennial meetings and publishes the Journal of Research on Adolescence to encourage and foster global exchange and research collaboration across disciplines.
Lens Awarded Grant to Research Black Neighborhoods
Michael Lens, associate professor of urban planning and public policy, was awarded a Russell Sage Foundation (RSF) Pipeline Grant to support his research on the evolution of black neighborhoods and the spatial and economic mobility of the black community. The grant recognizes “outstanding work on black urbanism by an amazing scholar,” UCLA Luskin Dean Gary Segura said. In partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, RSF awarded 18 grants to early- and mid-career tenure-track scholars from underrepresented backgrounds in the social sciences to promote diversity. With his award, Lens will further explore under what conditions black neighborhoods flourish or fail. Lens will summarize the trajectories of black neighborhoods in the U.S. since the 1970s to address current policy debates surrounding housing, segregation, neighborhood effects and race. The RSF grants were awarded to scholars conducting innovative research on economic mobility and access to opportunity. Research projects by Lens and the 17 other scholars who received Pipeline Grants explore gentrification, segregation, housing policy, education and social capital, among many other topics.
Sudanese Refugees United by Soccer
“It’s more than just a game.” Global Public Affairs at UCLA Luskin hosted the staff of iACT, a Los Angeles-based NGO, and players from the soccer team the organization co-created with Sudanese refugees, Darfur United. Souleyman Jassir, the cultural ambassador and goalkeeper for the team, told his story at the March 5 event. It’s one of struggle, perseverance and hope, as Souleyman was forced to flee Darfur as a young child out of fear of genocide and settled in a refugee camp in eastern Chad. “When I was a boy, all I did was run. Run away. It’s probably why I was good at soccer,” he only half-joked. Souleyman talked about losing family members and being separated from his mother for weeks, thinking he wouldn’t see her again. He was happily mistaken. Souleyman now lives in Concordia, Kansas, with his family after being relocated there through the U.S. State Department Refugee Resettlement Program and is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Despite this new life and all of the challenges and opportunities brought with it, Souleyman thinks that Darfur United has never been more important. “There are people all over, from the USA to Sweden. When we can all come together to play, it represents hope and a better future for Sudan,” he explained. Darfur United is currently hosting a training camp in Los Angeles in preparation for the CONIFA World Football Cup 2020 in North Macedonia, where stateless teams from around the world will compete. — John Danly
View photos from the event, courtesy of iACT.
