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If L.A. Crime Is Down, Why Is Fear Rising?

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Jorja Leap, adjunct professor of social welfare, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about perceptions that L.A. crime is on the rise despite statistics showing that the city is getting safer. Data alone don’t shape perceptions of safety, Leap said, noting that a person’s environment and biases are crucial factors. “When they show the films of Nordstrom being broken into … there is a sort of ‘Oh my god, that’s not supposed to happen here,’ “ Leap said. “Whereas if there’s a smash-and-grab at the Food4Less in Pacoima, then there’s the sense of, ‘Well, it’s a high-crime area.’ ” The sensationalization of high-profile, if statistically rare, crimes such as flash-mob robberies can help stoke fear, as can ominous campaign messaging about public safety during an election season, she said.

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UCLA’s New Latino Data Hub: A Catalyst for Change

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The Latino population in the United States has long been viewed as monolithic, with little acknowledgement of its rich tapestry of identities and experiences, and this mischaracterization has persisted despite tremendous growth in both the numbers and diversity of Latino communities in recent years. Because these communities — from Mexican and Puerto Rican to Venezuelan and Panamanian — are impacted by social, political and economic factors in different ways, the “one-dimensional” stereotype has obscured the significant barriers many groups face in accessing opportunities and achieving political representation and social mobility. Now, there is a new resource to help foster a better understanding of these diverse populations: the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute’s Latino Data Hub, a digital platform offering a broad range of reliable and actionable data on Latino communities across the country. Available in both English and Spanish, the free digital tool offers customizable visualizations in key areas such as family wellness, access to health insurance, access to education, employment and income. The data is available at the national, state and county level and provides granular information in areas such as nativity and citizenship, sex, gender, age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education level and employment. The Latino Data Hub, developed with funding from Casey Family Programs and the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, will “empower advocates, policymakers, community leaders, philanthropic organizations, researchers, media and other change makers to develop data-driven solutions to create stronger communities,” said Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas, research director of UCLA LPPI. — Alberto Lammers 

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Steinert-Threlkeld on Twitter, Algorithms and Transparency

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An Atlantic article on Twitter’s decision to publicly share part of the source code that determines which posts are prioritized in a feed cited Zachary Steinert-Threlkeld, assistant professor of public policy and an authority on social media data. The glimpse at the algorithm revealed technical approaches that are “pretty standard these days,” Steinert-Threlkeld said. Twitter CEO Elon Musk has invited developers and the general public to suggest changes, and Steinert-Threlkeld noted that the company may be the biggest beneficiary of the decision to pull back the curtain on part of the code. “If bugs are discovered or improvements to the algorithms are suggested and accepted, Twitter will have found a way to replace the thousands of staff who left or were fired,” he said.

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Bills on Leveraging Data for Transportation Equity

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy Tierra Bills discussed her work on transportation demand, modeling and equity in an interview with SiliconAngle during a recent Women in Data Science event. Bills leverages data to understand how transportation decisions impact distinctive groups. New data analysis tools are key to understanding transportation equity and prioritizing the needs of vulnerable communities who often get left out of the conversation, she said. “Ignoring the conditions of vulnerable communities can lead to devastating outcomes,” she said, noting that some travel models might not paint a true picture due to issues of bias and underrepresentation. Bills, who has a joint appointment in the department of civil and environmental engineering, called for using new computational tools to pinpoint mobility constraints that people have. “Behavior change is tough, but it’s necessary,” she said. “It’s critical, especially if you’re going to improve conditions for vulnerable communities.”

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CEO Tells Why Weingart Foundation Supports Latino Data Initiatives

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The UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative (UCLA LPPI) has received $125,000 in general funding over two years from the Weingart Foundation. It’s a commitment that CEO Miguel Santana said is representative of the organization’s effort to advance social and racial justice in Southern California. Not only is the grant recipient helmed by the “best and brightest of the Latino community,” Santana said, but “UCLA LPPI, along with the Luskin School, are leading in the effort to confront inequities in Los Angeles through research and analysis.” The Weingart Foundation advocates for empowering affected communities and basing social justice on robust data, choosing not to be prescriptive with its grants. Rather, Santana stressed, they “support organizations in Southern California based on the idea that they know best how to use their dollars.” Santana is one of the few Latino leaders of a philanthropic foundation. He previously served on the Luskin School’s Board of Advisors and continues to chair the Committee for Greater LA, where he and other civic leaders worked on the landmark report, “No Going Back: Together for an Equitable and Inclusive Los Angeles,” with UCLA Luskin Dean Gary Segura and professor Manuel Pastor of USC’s Equity Research Institute. “I was very fortunate to work closely with Dean Segura during my time as a board member,” Santana said. “He is a thought leader on issues for the future of SoCal, and Angelenos are lucky to have him.” —Alise Brillault

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Ong on Consequences of Census Undercount

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Paul Ong, director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge at UCLA Luskin, spoke to the Associated Press about widespread concerns about gaps in the 2020 U.S. Census data. The U.S. Census is one of the most important surveys about how Americans live, typically receiving information from 3.5 million households about family life, education, income and employment, but the pandemic resulted in fewer responses being recorded. According to Ong, there are two potential problems with the undercount. “The first is not having comparable data to track longitudinal changes over time,” he said. “The second is a far bigger issue — that is, not having the data to examine the pandemic effects.” Many researchers are concerned that there will be a significant gap in data for a momentous year including the pandemic, natural disasters and social justice protests. “For us, it is important to examine which populations and neighborhoods were most hurt,” Ong said.

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Tilly on the Intrusiveness of AI Technology

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Urban Planning Chair Chris Tilly was featured in a Fox32 news segment about the growing use of artificial intelligence technology in the food industry. Many stores such as McDonald’s and Amazon Go are testing drive-thru and AI invisible checkout systems. Tilly explained that these new technologies have an impact on both consumers and the workforce. “To some extent, workers are being replaced by this technology,” he said. “At the same time, the expansion of services like curbside pickup means that workers are being added.” While the workforce may be balanced out by the expansion of these new technologies, Tilly noted that the services can be very intrusive for consumers. “Artificial intelligence is always on, always tracking what people are doing,” he said. While the Amazon Go model has currently only been implemented in small stores with many sensors and cameras, Tilly predicted that technology will most likely allow companies to expand these services in the long run.

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Akee Highlights Need for Better Data on Experiences of Racism

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Associate Professor of Public Policy Planning Randall Akee co-authored a Brookings article with KJ Ward about the lack of available data on experiences of racism in the COVID-19 era. While the media acknowledges instances of hate crimes and racial violence that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, they are often dismissed as outliers and fail to be the subject of meaningful research. “In the absence of systematic data on this topic, we are left to these anecdotal instances, and that makes it much more difficult to identify pervasive patterns and behaviors in society,” Akee wrote. Furthermore, smaller race groups are often excluded in national surveys or are clustered in a general “other” category. A new survey explicitly oversampled for small race and ethnic groups and illustrated the pervasiveness of racism toward all non-white groups. Akee argued that collecting data by race and ethnicity is the first step to identifying, diagnosing and dismantling systemic racism in society.

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Cohen Highlights Gaps in Psychiatric Hospitalization Data

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Professor of Social Welfare David Cohen was cited in a MedPage Today article about knowledge gaps in literature surrounding youth psychiatric admissions. A recent study in the United Kingdom found that youth with certain mental health diagnoses, including substance abuse and intellectual disability — as well as youth who were Black or of an older age group — were more likely to experience involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. However, data on youth mental health treatment and hospitalization in the United States is lacking and often not available to researchers. Laws on involuntary psychiatric holds for children and teenagers vary by state. Cohen pointed out that of the 25 states in the U.S. that have publicly available data on psychiatric commitments, only five states have released any data on youth. Collecting and sharing more data on psychiatric treatment and hospitalization of minors is recommended to better understand the impact of these detentions and the populations they affect most.

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CNK Makes COVID-19 Information Available Via Online Data Map

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A new online map and data repository highlight research conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic by the UCLA Center for Neighborhood Knowledge. The interactive visualization shows how different communities in Los Angeles County have been impacted by the health crisis. It draws on data and research conducted by UCLA Luskin Research Professor Paul Ong, director of the Center for Neighborhood Knowledge, working in partnership with Ong & Associates, the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Initiative, UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, and the UCLA Luskin Institute on Inequality and Democracy. It visualizes information from a series of recently distributed research briefs that show disadvantaged communities are facing greater risks of income insecurity, job displacement and other hardships because of the economic fallout from the novel coronavirus.