The LA City Equity Index: Centering Community Voices to Drive Change

Nearly 4 million people call the City of Los Angeles home, representing an incredible spectrum of communities and cultures.  Unfortunately, people of color in LA have consistently experienced inequities driven by systemic and geographic racism: they receive lower than average wages, spend a higher share of their income on rent, have less access to greenspace, and are more likely to have negative interactions with law enforcement. 

Equitable community investments are key to improving the outcomes and opportunities for BIPOC residents. Part of this transformation can happen through the governmental budgeting process, during which decisions are made on where and how to prioritize public resources. One way to develop these priorities is through the utilization of an equity index, a geographic quantitative tool that estimates the locations that disproportionately bear the brunt of the effects of racism. It includes measures of environmental, economic, political, and health conditions, and it considers people’s lived experiences, providing a more clear and direct perspective on opportunities for addressing inequity.  

To date, the use of such indices in the City of LA has been limited. In 2020, the LA City Controller’s Office released their LA Equity Index, a series of maps that examined how various socioeconomic factors affected the lives of Angelenos. However, it did not come with recommendations for addressing measured inequities. In the Fall of 2023, the LA City Office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) launched the Measure of Access, Disparity, and Equity (MADE) Index. This index sought to highlight inequities in the distribution of resources throughout the city and thus identify areas for priority investment, but it was primarily designed for the city’s annual Capital and Technology Investment Expenditure Plan, with no clear plans for further application; additionally, it did not directly factor in race / ethnicity.  

Thus, with a goal of broadening and enhancing the impact of these efforts in mind, Catalyst California worked with Community Coalition, Inner City Struggle, Brotherhood Crusade, Black Women for Wellness, SEIU 99, and SEIU 2015, to develop recommendations for an index based on comprehensive community feedback. Through numerous facilitated discussions, a community survey of each organization’s membership, and research and analysis by Catalyst California, key priorities and related indicators were identified, evaluated, and recommended for inclusion in the Equity in Budgeting process, resulting in what we have named the LA City Equity Index. 

WHAT AN INDEX GROUNDED IN COMMUNITY LOOKS LIKE 

An equity index should provide a guide for how funding can be distributed to achieve more equitable outcomes. Thus, indicators for measuring inequity in the City of LA were identified through the community engagement process; these were subsequently categorized according to the following four key domains: 

• Safe Environments: LA City residents experience safe environments with safety from pollution, traffic injuries, and harmful policing.  
• Economy and Opportunity: LA City residents are able to equitably participate in the economy.  
• Democracy and Power: LA City residents have equitable access to participate and influence democracy.  
• Longevity and Vitality: LA City residents live with freedom from disease and illness and are able to access resources that increase community wellness.  

The resulting index represents how communities are faring on average across these domains by Zip code. Levels of need are mapped out and color-coded from lowest to highest; the darker color areas represent areas in the city with higher need whereas lighter color areas have relatively lower need.  

While the index provides one summarized picture, it is also important to understand nuances within that need. To that end, each ZIP Code in our Index also has a score for each domain. Domain scores are the average need across the indicators included in that particular domain. In our domain maps, the darker color areas show areas in the city with relatively higher need in each domain. 

Recommendations 

The resulting Index was presented to the LA City CAO’s Office with the understanding that it would be considered for integration into their MADE Index.  However, in light of the reality of budget deficits and cuts at the city level, and the uncertain future of all government resources after the 2024 Elections, we recommend the following: 

• That all agencies, departments, and offices in the City of LA adopt an equity framework in funding and resource prioritization decisions – For too long, public resources have been distributed without considering historical and present-day inequities.  We have an opportunity to finally begin to address these long-standing shortcomings, and it’s especially critical now with so many vulnerable communities continually at risk of even further divestment and impoverishment. 
• That the LA City Equity Index is adopted as a whole - The indicators in this index were identified and prioritized by community members as a whole; selectively applying only parts of the index does not honor that process or acknowledge the connections amongst each part of the index. 
• That race remains central to any efforts to apply an equity framework – Race and how it affects how people experience this community is at the backbone of the LA City Equity Index and therefore should be central to efforts to address equity in public resources.  During these times in which race-conscious policies are under constant attack, the City of LA has an opportunity to push back and demonstrate that it can break away from its racist past and establish a future where all people have equitable opportunities. 
• That any efforts towards equity are driven by community voices and experiences – A continuous process of integrating community input to ground truth data and uplift of lived experiences will be critical to ensuring any equity-focused tool, policy, or program is rooted in the genuine realities of those who will most be affected by it. That means including community voices in funding decisions, in how programs and services are designed, and throughout and after a program is implemented. 
• That the creation of an index is understood as being only part of the solution  - A genuine and thorough implementation of an index is key, but to truly shift towards a more equitable future, that implementation needs to come with real decisions, real shifts, and real reforms that have a tangible and measurable impact, not only on the data points, but on the residents of the City of Los Angeles themselves.   

True equity is more than an index, policy, or any single program; it is instead an ever-changing goal that must continually be strived for, one that can only be accomplished working hand-in-hand with the community itself. 

Methodology: For more information about how we created the index and our data sources, please visit our GitHub page.