California Issues Forum

A conversation between scholars and advocates in racial, gender, and economic policy, co-sponsored by Scholars Strategy Network and The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy’s California Explorations Project.

During Fall 2024, the California Issues Forum assembled scholars and community-based advocates across the Golden State who are working on social and economic policy issues, to discuss opportunities to better align in their efforts to promote improved opportunities and outcomes for California workers, families and communities in need.

The series consisted of three dynamic and well-attended webinars focused, respectively, on Housing and Homelessness issues, Immigration Policy and Immigrant Rights, and Youth Development and Criminal Justice. SSN chapter leaders from San Diego, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area helped to lead critical dialogues on the issues. These scholars were joined in turn by leading drivers and allies of the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy-supported California Explorations Project.

Following are brief highlights of each exchange, with accompanying partial or full video replays and select, recommended additional readings.

Housing and Homelessness

Housing & Homelessness Canva Graphic for Event

You can watch the concluding portion of the first full session in our series here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/60497VH8gMiSPHKIJJf9n1gn8nSWNvQXZWSoIjTL-T8YT1c4p6XTbvtnCSDgX5Hu.ncund5_zqd6wDj-8?startTime=1727207200000

Passcode: U8hs!PzX

Key Session Quotes

“[So much of the problem with our housing crisis is that it feeds into the larger trend of criminalizing and othering] people...[We need] a more full and holistic understanding about how [this aspect of] racial capitalism works...We’re all a part of it.” - Odilka Santiago, Assistant Professor, Sociology, University of San Diego

“One of the things we experience is that the research community does not move at the pace of advocacy...[Going forward], it’s clear there are going to be more and more places where we need our research community to be more deeply connected. One is reimagining what the role of the state should look like in solving our housing crisis...[Another] is expanding the non-speculative market in a much more robust way.” - Chione Lucia Muñoz Flegal, Executive Director, Housing California

“Academia pushes for research to be somewhat disconnected from our own biases and feelings. I find this to not only be impossible (we are human beings) but also counterproductive. It is our biases and worldview that push us into community partnerships in the first place.” - Dr. Joshua Newton, Post-Doctoral Scholar, Urban Studies and Planning, University of California, San Diego

Additional Reading and Information

Check out this recent Sacramento Bee OpEd about the need for California policymakers to do more to address the housing crisis--co-written by Chione Lucia Muñoz Flegal and Chris Iglesias
Read this Los Angeles Times OpEd about the lack of public bathrooms in California cities--by Dr. Megan B. Welsh Carroll

Immigration and Immigration Rights

Immigration & Immigration Rights Canva Graphic for Event

You can watch the entirety of the second full session in our series here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/dvPaEn5G0mH6I5G6jlGVZe_0DU4uV5hVnDqHhCtiRQIc3hOTlUiAU37vCZpM_l89.pJR8Dt2kfQcOU8Q7

Passcode: =NXNf6&n

Key Session Quotes

[We] need more data on the economic, social and cultural contributions of immigrants... However, what we want to really focus on is the micro-targeting of this data to congressional, districts [ and] to state legislative districts... because each of these leaders needs to understand how immigrants are advancing their community well-being.” - Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles

“[The goal of my] research is to think about how we can continue pushing for immigrant rights and ensure that [those] rights are not contingent on their ability to economically contribute to the country, but they’re contingent on their personhood. So we can centralize their human rights regardless of whether or not they're super high achievers, even if they're very poor, low skilled, disabled.” - Dr. Deisy Del Real, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Southern California

“Currently 70 percent of the [undocumented] population that are detained do not have legal representation, and they face an immigration system that is complex and very difficult to navigate. So part of my work has been to document the struggles of people that are in detention...” - Dr. Mirian Martinez-Aranda , Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of California, Irvine

Additional Reading and Information

Check out this Newsweek OpEd about some of the flaws with the US Department of Homeland Security's immigration policies--by Dr. Deisy Del Real.
Read this recent Los Angeles Times OpEd addressing the spike in anti-immigrant rhetoric--co-written by Henry A. J. Ramos, Angelica Salas, and C.M. Samala of the Women’s Foundation of California.

Youth Development & Criminal Justice

Youth Development Canva Graphic for Event

You can watch the entirety of the third full session in our series here:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/_rlqkEKkAg-wt4L-Vfa94rF0wQ_rDl4C1b-VtMIAnyFjY4iVgMDdhCsYrpY91rj7.Wq_rLo7wSTT6wLfl?startTime=1729796489000

Passcode: m.=R7+d%

Key Session Quotes

“While there's been a 75 percent decline in youth incarceration between 2000 and 2022–which is good–the racial and ethnic disparities still persist. And so my focus is on looking at the juvenile justice system systemically and countering [persistent] biases about young people of color, their families and communities...[We need to understand these] youth in the context of their assets and strengths and not their crimes and deficits.” - Phyllis Becker, Senior Fellow, Full Frame Initiative

“My early work looks at parental involvement in the system and its impacts on kids. And over the last 10 years or so, I've been looking at kids' own involvement specifically around the specifics of police interactions. And one of the key takeaways of that more recent work is that this is an issue for criminal justice policy, in terms of moving from a punitive to a more restorative approach, but that police contact and its effects on kids touches nearly every other dimension of their lives as well.” - Dr. Amanda Geller, Associate Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine

“We know that crime and violence do not occur in a vacuum. Crime and violence are the products of significant, preventable societal deficits related to the so-called social determinants of health, whereby numerous contributory traumas are produced from surrounding and generational poverty, disconnection from school and work and early exposure to violence, as well as nutritional and learning disadvantages. “ - Henry A. J. Ramos, Senior Fellow, The Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy

Additional Reading and Information

Read this OpEd published in The Progressive about harsh and outdated penalties for juvenile offenders in the criminal justice system--co-authored by Phyllis Becker and Henry Ramos. Also, watch this video conversation from them titled "Changing the Narrative on Youth Justice".
Check out this piece published in The Hill, about the need for our country's leaders to leave behind tough-on-crime policies and instead invest in young people--co-authored by Henry Ramos and Albino Garcia Jr.
Read this SSN policy brief about the need for better data to understand the consequences of incarceration for American families--by Dr. Amanda Geller.

Join the Conversation!

We would love to host more collaborative discussions involving scholar-practitioner exchanges in 2025! Future program topics under consideration include: Labor and Inclusive Economy issues, questions of Tax Policy and Budget Reform, and Women’s Power and Policy Advocacy in the Golden State. If you’re interested in being involved with future programming, reach out to our Director of Membership Engagement, Mandana Mohsenzadegan: [email protected]