USC Equity Research Institute

Explore ERI's California Immigrant Data Portal's (CIDP) indicators, charts, and case studies to keep up with California's immigrants and those serving immigrant communities.

We recently made some "under the hood" changes to support long-term website development, so please let us know if you are having any issues accessing the tool by emailing us at [email protected].

📣 We just released our May newsletter featuring exciting ERI faculty & staff updates, a new report, a refreshed data portal, and so much more.

Check it out now:

New report, refreshed California Immigrant Data Portal, and happy AANHPI month! The City University of New York - Initiative on Immigration and Education (CUNY-IIE) is hosting a webinar featuring Black Immigrant advocates on Wednesday, May 20, at 5:00 PM ET. The panelists will be sharing insights, experiences, and strategies to better support Black immigrant students and commu...

Hispanas Organized for Political Equality (HOPE) Regional Leadership Institute has recently announced its 2026 Los Angeles Cohort. We are thrilled to share that our very own Data Analyst Lupe Renteria Salome has been selected to participate in the program!

The institute supports Latina leaders working to improve education, healthcare, and economic development in communities across Los Angeles, San Diego, the Central Valley, the Inland Empire, the Bay Area, and Imperial County.

Read more about the 2026 Los Angeles Cohort here: https://bit.ly/3PokeWR

🎉Congratulations to Center for Inclusive Democracy on this transition to an independent national organization.

At ERI, we value your commitment to rigorous, nonpartisan research and meaningful engagement, which plays an important role in strengthening democratic participation nationwide.

We look forward to what’s next!

ERI's Getting Real About Reform III report finds that counties, cities, and school districts in California would have an additional $21.4 billion in property tax revenue if commercial/industrial properties were assessed at their fair market value. For Los Angeles, there would be an additional $5.9 billion, which translates into over $600 for every Angeleno.

Read the full report now:

Getting Real About Reform III: Estimating Revenue Gains from Changes to California’s System of Assessing Commercial Real Estate - USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

On May Day, a celebration of global worker solidarity, here are some facts about California’s workforce:

- 1 in 3 workers in California is an immigrant.
- Immigrants are 27% of California’s population, 33% of its labor force, and 40% of its entrepreneurs.
- In 2023, immigrants contributed $96.7 billion in federal taxes, $59.7 billion in state and local taxes, and held $410 billion in spending power.

California is now the 4th largest economy in the world and immigrant workers play a central role. Behind these numbers are stories of our neighbors: people supporting families, building communities, and contributing to the social and civic fabric of the state.

Worker protections and immigrant inclusion are key to the well-being of all Californians.

Explore the California Immigrant Data Portal (CIDP) for more data insights like these across regions and issue areas:
https://immigrantdataca.org/

✍️ New blog up on our site!

Did you know that chronic absenteeism and equitable school funding are deeply intersected within the structure of California’s school finance system?

Read on to find out how the number of students who attend school each day (Average Daily Attendance) plays a central role in determining how much funding districts receive and how this attendance-based structure can reinforce inequity.

The Funding Trap: How Attendance Policy Shapes Who Gets to Be Present - USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

Have you had a chance to read our April newsletter 🗞️ ?

Watch #CelebratingSolidarity, celebrate Jody Agius Vallejo, read our new EJ blog The USC Black Studies Center is hosting Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and USC alumnus Aloe Blacc for an engaging conversation exploring the global influence of Black popular culture on Wednesday, April 15, at 7:00 PM, at the Salvatori Computer Science Center (SAL) 101.  Grab your tickets.

Professors Chris Benner and Manuel Pastor revisit the arguments made in their 2024 book, Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future, almost a year and a half since the election of Donald Trump. While they maintain that the clean-energy transition is inevitable, they note that progress has been made more difficult by federal rollbacks.

Still, market signals, from surging gas prices to rising EV demand, continue to push the transition forward. This brings renewed focus to key questions at the heart of Charging Forward: "What is needed to accelerate the clean-energy transition? How do we balance the speed we need to save the planet with the pace needed to build trust in communities where minerals will be extracted? And why is the Imperial Valley, in one of the poorest counties in California, the place where it all comes together?"

Read the full blog: https://bit.ly/4tqGL4o (also linked in bio)

Forward in a World on Fire: Lithium Valley at a New Crossroads - USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) Data and Analysis to Power Social Change

Data centers are rapidly expanding across the country, with over 5,000 now operational, driven by the rise of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector. Research has found that these facilities "consume a massive amount of energy and water, and have often been approved in less-than-transparent processes." As this infrastructure grows, we have to ask: at what cost to our communities?

In his latest post, ERI's Austin Mendoza reviews recent reports on data centers and highlights the growing advocacy efforts to ensure these developments, if built at all, are regulated and have minimal adverse impacts on the communities where they are located.

Read the blog:

A Review of Recent Reports on Data Centers - USC Equity Research Institute (ERI) Data and Analysis to Power Social Change