What We Do
We strategize with community partners to identify funding, services and opportunities in our public systems that can be redistributed for more just outcomes for all. Our goal is to promote racial equity and build a foundation so that every Californian may thrive.
EDUCATIONAL EQUITY
The Educational Equity program expands educational opportunities and ensures appropriate school facilities for low income and disadvantaged children from birth through high school graduation. In recent years, our education work has concentrated on ensuring that there are adequate facilities for students to learn and that early care and education (ECE) opportunities are expanded and improved to provide a springboard for future academic success.
EQUITY IN COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS
We partner with communities of color to equip them with the budget and advocacy tools necessary to win sustainable investments that help all Californians thrive. Through budget and policy analysis, trainings, and campaign support, we dismantle the legacy of public disinvestment and criminalization that has created race-based disparities in our communities’ health and well-being.
Political Voice
Political Voice works to make state and local governments more participatory and representative of the communities they serve. Our goal is that all community members are able to genuinely participate in the making of effective public policy, in ways that go beyond just voting, and that governments respond equitably to community concerns. To accomplish this goal, we advocate for racially and economically just democracy reforms.
Reimagine Justice & Safety
The criminal legal system was borne out of America’s racist founding and continues to devastate communities of color. Data show that Californians of color are disproportionately policed, arrested, incarcerated, and subjected to harsher sentences than Whites. At the same time, rates of violence are disproportionately higher in low-income communities of color—despite decades of landmark investments in law enforcement and incarceration. These deep-seated harms have eroded public trust in our system of safety.