RACE COUNTS: A Golden State for All of Us

In 1968, California officially declared itself the “Golden State,” but the promise of California was to remain out of reach for the majority of low-income communities of color. Over the next several decades as we saw an increase of people of color residing in California, we conversely saw the slow retreat from that promise. Many of our public policies and systems, which were designed for a bygone era of California, produced worse educational outcomes, a diminishing social safety net, and collapsing infrastructure. Now 50 years later, we have another shot to reclaim the moniker of the Golden State – but this time for ALL Californians.

For nearly two years, Advancement Project California and partners sought to find answers to an important question: who has access to the California dream? Racial disparity exists in every corner of our state. The good news is that what has been done can be undone–and we are incredibly fortunate in California to have the tools for change. Community leaders are addressing racial equity head-on and ensuring that California is the Golden State for all.

What is racial equity? We define it as creating public institutions and policies that meet the needs of our changing demographics and level the playing field to create conditions for everyone in society to thrive.

RACE COUNTS offers the first ever 3D racial equity ranking in California. We look at a mix of:

1) Performance – how well all people in a given county are doing.

2) Disparity – how well racial groups in a county are doing compared to each other.

3) Impact – the total population in a county that is affected.

Why does this matter? Because the true cost of racism is more disparate systems and outcomes which becomes an accumulated intergenerational burden on people of color–and impacts all of us. Large numbers of people are held back from reaching their potential.

Our Methodology:

We leverage all three dimensions — performance, disparity, impact — to tell the real story of racial disparity in California. The mix of performance, disparity and impact go beyond current analysis in the field. We can, for the first time, quantify racial disparity, allowing us to say one county is more racially disparate than another county for an indicator, issue area, or overall. For almost two years, we worked with people on the ground and did the literature review to focus and inform our indicator list. We calculated new indicators like elected representation rate, teacher diversity and for several indicators made data available by race for the first time. We included a comprehensive list of racial groups including White, Black, Latinos, Asians, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and multiracial populations. We also analyzed data in less populous counties to create a broader view. It’s rare, and we believe important, to have these many issue areas covered in one report along with an interactive tool by county and race and with a focus on disparity.

Key Findings:

• Disparity plays out differently in different counties, but it is clear that it impacts all of us, with no county is without racial disparity.
• People of color living in counties that are known for having liberal social and economic policies are being left behind. For example, the Bay Area has the highest performing counties in the region, but it the most disparate region statewide, which includes high-population counties like Alameda and San Francisco.
• Racial disparity drives down performance, as we can see in all eight Central Valley counties which are amongst the lowest performing in the state.
• The Black community suffers from the most disparate conditions throughout California, across key issues and indicators.
• The Latino community is affected by the largest impact due to population size.
• Education is often seen as one of society’s greatest equalizers; therefore, it is concerning that the second greatest disparities we find are in the education realm.
• Crime and Justice is the most disparate key issue, incarceration the most disparate indicator and LA County is where the largest population is affected. In San Francisco, the incarceration rate for African Americans is more than 28 times higher than that of whites.

With RACE COUNTS we have the data and tools to measure and track the most harmful racial disparities all in one place. We aim to equip community and governmental leaders with the tools needed to create new conversations about unique local challenges and the actions needed to remedy them. There is a powerful coalition of organizations that can move us towards the promise of a Golden State for all. And there are active campaigns that can use our support.  Join us.