What California Must Do to Meet High School Graduation Requirements for 2030

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A survey of teacher readiness programs at California colleges and universities found that three in four offer ethnic studies preparation for their future K-12 educators, according to recent research by UCLA and Stanford University. But with uneven access to quality curriculum and a lack of dedicated funding, some public high schools may be unable to offer courses that meet the ethnic studies requirements that their students will need to graduate.

Assembly Bill 101, signed into law in 2021, requires that California high school students take one semester of an ethnic-studies-related course to graduate, beginning with the class of 2030. This means that it will apply to students entering high school next year.

The survey, led by Veronica Terriquez, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and Albert Camarillo, an emeritus professor at Stanford, sought to address potential gaps in teaching these required courses.

“We wanted to understand whether colleges and universities are taking meaningful steps to prepare future teachers to engage students in a deeper examination of the histories and experiences that shape California and the nation,” said Terriquez, a professor of urban planning and Chicana/o and Central American studies.

One challenge is that no additional state funding exists for this work. “While we found institutions have taken steps in the right direction, often with limited resources, there is still much work to be done,” Terriquez said.

Conducted in late 2024 and early 2025, the survey analyzed responses from education degree programs at 34 higher education institutions in the state — six University of California campuses, 11 California State University schools and 17 private institutions.

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Terriquez Helps Spotlight Forgotten Latina Lesbian Activists in Groundbreaking L.A. Exhibit Terriquez, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and faculty at UCLA Luskin, supports powerful exhibition that brings long-overdue recognition to Latina lesbian activism in East Los Angeles.

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A new exhibition showcasing archival collections of prominent Latina lesbians and narrating their involvement in LGBTQ+, immigrant, labor, and housing justice movements, will be presented at the Vincent Price Art Museum at East Los Angeles College.

Veronica Terriquez, director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) and professor of urban planning, supported the curation of the “On the Side of Angels” exhibition, which features materials from the CSRC Library archives: photography, posters, magazines, and video footage from the collections of policy and civil rights advocate Laura Esquivel, tenant rights attorney Elena Popp, and former CSRC librarian Yolanda Retter Vargas. The exhibition was co-curated by Vanessa Esperanza Quintero and Jocelyne Sanchez and is on view through August 30.

“Our mission is to share with the public as much history as possible, including highlighting historical moments — and people — who tend to not receive all the attention or credit for their important work,” Terriquez said. “We are incredibly proud of this exhibition because it features women who championed immigrant rights, safer working conditions, and broader acceptance of LGBTQ and other marginalized communities — efforts that have paved the way for cross-movement solidarity in Los Angeles and beyond.”

Terriquez is co-founder of the Latina Futures 2050 Lab, an initiative focused on uplifting Latina leaders, scholars, and changemakers by producing research and storytelling that informs policy, empowers communities, and shapes a more inclusive future.

Her scholarship at UCLA Luskin centers on social movements, youth civic engagement, and intersectional equity, with a particular focus on low-income communities of color.

Terriquez Highlights Stark Latina Wage Gap in New Regional Study New research reveals significant wage gap for Latina workers in Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz and Ventura counties.

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Veronica Terriquez, a professor of Urban Planning and director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center, co-authored a recent UCLA-led study that reveals a stark wage disparity faced by Latina workers in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. Despite making up nearly half of the female workforce in those regions, Latinas earn only 47–50 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic white men — a gap Terriquez attributes to systemic barriers such as limited access to quality education and occupational segregation.

“Many Latinas are the primary earners in their households, and they contribute significantly as taxpayers and community members. When they are underpaid, the impact extends beyond individual workers, affecting families’ ability to access housing, education and health care and to plan for retirement,” the authors wrote in their analysis. “The consequences of their financial challenges ripple across the entire region.”

A Chicana sociologist and longtime advocate for social justice, Terriquez also co-founded the Latina Futures 2050 Lab, a CSRC initiative dedicated to advancing research and policies that promote equity and opportunity for Latina communities.

Read all Santa Cruz County reports here.

Veronica Terriquez Part of Human Atlas of LA

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Veronica Terriquez, UCLA Luskin professor of urban planning and director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, appeared on a Spectrum News 1 broadcast about a multi-media social impact art project in Los Angeles known as “Alta.” The project, a collaboration of photographer and artist Marcus Lyon, the Getty Conservation Institute and the Los Angeles Public Library, represents how the lives of Angelenos intersect with the city and is intended to create a legacy document about Los Angeles, its people and communities. “This exhibit is particularly important at a time when so many communities are struggling. I foresee us coming out of this difficult time and rebuilding and re-imagining a United States that is stronger,” said Terriquez. She also is among the 100 participants featured through photographs, DNA maps and interviews showcased in an exhibition at LA Central Public Library (running through April 27), public activations across regional libraries, outdoor spaces, a podcast and an interactive book.

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Amplifying Latina Voices in Law and Policymaking

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By 2050, Latinas are expected to make up 13% of the U.S. population and account for 11% of the labor force. Yet Latinas comprise only 2.5% of all U.S. lawyers, account for less than 1% of all partners in law firms and have never served on the highest court in 44 states. To address this gap in Latina representation and leadership in law and policy, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute; Latina Futures, 2050 Lab; Latina Lawyers Bar Association; and UCLA Chicanx Latinx Law Review hosted the inaugural Latina Futures: Transforming the Nation Through Law and Policy symposium. The event, which took place Jan. 20 and 21 at UCLA’s Luskin Conference Center, brought together nearly 400 Latina scholars, attorneys, politicians, policy leaders and students from across the country to explore today’s legal and advocacy challenges and opportunities through a Latina lens. “This weekend, we are replacing the status quo with forward-thinking, accurate and necessary contributions from Latina leaders now and well into the future,” said Sonja Diaz, founding executive director of the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute. Diaz co-founded the Latina Futures, 2050 Lab with Veronica Terriquez, professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin and director of UCLA’s Chicano Studies Research Center. Terriquez expressed hope that the symposium would inspire participants to continue their advocacy and leadership. “We have the potential to inform social, political and economic changes that benefit the majority of this nation,” she said. “This is a long game, and it builds on the work that came before us.” — Cristian Rivera

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Building Youth Power to Influence Policy

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UCLA Luskin Urban Planning Professor Veronica Terriquez and UCLA undergraduate Kahlila Williams wrote a Stanford Social Innovation Review article on the importance of supporting youth who are joining together to work for a more equitable future. The number of youth-organizing groups in California grew from 10 to 15 in 2010 to 171 by 2019, in part due to heightened engagement from undocumented youth and the Movement for Black Lives, the authors write. This mobilization led to calls for change that included a campaign to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline, which Williams participated in as a leader in the Students Deserve group. In addition, massive voter registration and education campaigns contributed to a near tripling of youth voter turnout between 2014 and the 2018 midterm elections. “By embedding young people in relationships and activities that help them constructively respond to hardships and trauma, youth organizing can channel their energy toward building a multiracial democracy,” the authors write.

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UCLA LPPI Hosts Policy Briefing at State Capitol

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The UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute brought policy experts, advocates and state leaders together May 9 at the state Capitol for its fourth annual policy briefing to discuss critical issues affecting the Latino community. The session reflected UCLA LPPI’s commitment to strengthening the Latino presence at the Capitol and ensuring that state leaders know that every issue is a Latino issue. With over 20 legislative offices and community partners represented, the briefing served as an opportunity to hear directly from UCLA LPPI faculty experts covering COVID-19 recovery, housing insecurity and Medi-Cal expansion. Veronica Terriquez, director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center and a professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin, kicked off the expert research presentations with a focus on the impact of COVID-19 on Latino youth as they transitioned to adulthood. UCLA LPPI faculty expert Melissa Chinchilla then presented on the growing crisis of Latino homelessness and offered policy recommendations to address some of the underlying issues with housing services. Arturo Vargas Bustamante, UCLA LPPI faculty director of research and professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, ended the day with a discussion of important implementation issues related to expanding Medi-Cal access to undocumented adults age 50 and older. The community briefing offered strong policy recommendations to create transformative change for the Latino community and other communities of color throughout the state of California. — Janine Shimomura

View photos and a highlight video from the policy briefing.

 

Terriquez on Lessons Learned From L.A. Scandal

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Urban planning professor Veronica Terriquez spoke to media outlets including Newsweek and USA Today about how Los Angeles can move forward after the scandal sparked by a leaked recording of racist comments by city leaders. “Civil society leaders learned a valuable lesson here, that hate speech cannot be tolerated among Latinos or any other elected officials,” said Terriquez, who directs the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA. She said she sees hope in the overwhelming condemnation of the bigoted comments, as well as in the rising political generation’s ability to build bridges between groups. “In Los Angeles and Orange County, you see diverse coalitions across ethnicity and race,” Terriquez said. “I think that the younger generation tends to form coalitions that are more inclusive.” She concluded, “The lessons learned from this week may pave the way for the more careful selection of leaders and inclusive representation.”

Read the Newsweek article
Read the USA Today article

UC-Wide Initiative to Increase Voter Participation

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Freedom Summer, an initiative founded by UCLA urban planning and Chicano studies professor Veronica Terriquez in 2018, has spread to a UC-wide movement to help students from communities with low voting rates participate in voter outreach. The program consists of over 100 students from all nine UC undergraduate campuses as well as a few community colleges. “Seven out of 10 young people in California are young people of color,” Terriquez said. “Engaging them is an important part of building an electorate that effectively represents the people of the state.” Students in the program have been able to effect change within their communities by increasing voter participation and reducing apathy. Terriquez said youth of color tend to mobilize less than other groups, in part because high school students from low-income communities do not receive much education about civic engagement and the importance of voting. They are also less likely to be reached out to by voting organizations and political campaigns. This fuels a continual cycle of people from these communities not voting because they were never contacted. Freedom Summer is continuing to make efforts to increase voter turnout, especially by engaging students from underserved groups because they feel a stronger connection with their communities and are able to make a direct impact on local legislation. It is estimated that Freedom Summer has registered or pre-registered over 5,000 new voters this year alone.

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