Pacific

In the Bay Area, COVID-19 has dealt a harsher economic blow to the region than initially estimated. Nearly 5,000 jobs were lost in January 2021 alone. In the City of Oakland, the unemployment rate has spiked to 9.6%, after having been at its lowest rate in decades before the pandemic... Read more

The impact of Covid-19 has laid bare many existing inequities, and civic leaders in Los Angeles are determined to turn this moment into a movement for real reform. The city has already taken steps to inject equity into government operations and policies, including updating police tactics and investing $250 million... Read more

Los Angeles County is already home to a large population of older adults; by 2030, more than 2 million people — more than 18 percent of the L.A. County population — will be older adults. This wave of demographic change prompted local leaders to create a program called Purposeful Aging... Read more

The Covid-19 pandemic has sent public health and economic shockwaves across Los Angeles County particularly felt in historically underserved communities. The pandemic has been a catalyst for recognizing the social illnesses of anti-Black racism that have long plagued the county, including sharp racial gaps in wealth, employment, and digital access,... Read more

On any given night, more than 17,000 people are confined in the Los Angeles County jail system, more than 5,000 of whom have serious mental health needs. Black residents account for less than 10 percent of the county’s population, yet 29 percent of those imprisoned are Black. In recent years,... Read more

Oakland is working to reduce racial disparities and promote economic security and opportunity for residents, especially those living in underserved neighborhoods in East Oakland. After partnering and engaging with communities in East Oakland, city officials created the Better Neighborhoods, Same Neighbors plan, which was awarded a $28.2 million multi-year Transformative... Read more

Oakland leadership seeks to ensure that all departments have the tools and resources needed to track and report on equity-centered targets aligned to key health, climate, and economic indicators. To meet these goals, the city council and mayor want to develop a performance management system, which can also help local... Read more

The L.A. Department of Water and Power (LADWP) provides reliable and safe water and electricity to 4 million residents and businesses, while also striving to provide affordable utilities to the city’s most vulnerable residents. LADWP leadership recognizes that the health and economic crises spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted... Read more

To help protect the health and well-being of Los Angeles County residents during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) implemented the largest vaccine distribution effort in its history. As the largest U.S. county, L.A. County’s vaccine equity efforts have been pivotal to the achievement... Read more

Cities and counties throughout the Bay Area face a dire affordable housing crisis. In Alameda County alone, homelessness grew by 40% from 2015 to 2017, with 41% of those experiencing homelessness reporting that a serious mental illness (SMI) impacted their ability to obtain housing. The County has been experiencing a... Read more